Outside the Beltway

Comments

1. Brummagem Joe says:
   Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 09:52

   I guess we’ll have to wait and see a similar chart on the Republican proposals.How much thicker will they make that yellow bar be do you think?
2. Doug Mataconis says:
   Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 09:57

   Joe

   As I said in my post yesterday, I have no more confidence in the GOP than I do Obama. However, it’s his budget on the table right now
3. Axel Edgren says:
   Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 10:27

   I realize that Obama has to convince the human voters in America (the animals hate him and will always hate him no matter what) that what they want is wrong, and that he knows better. In short, he has to lead and not just be a boss. Instruct and create a new narrative.

   But how can he lead such a diverse, distracted, lazy and unsound organization? Most of the media and most of the common knowledge and culture in the US is know non-conducive to leadership! I don’t know where he should begin.
4. mantis says:
   Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 12:22

   Considering the only thing either party will even propose is cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, that’s actually a significant cut. Now if we could only seriously discuss defense, Social Security, and Medicaid like adults…

   I notice Doug Ross, dishonest little shit that he is, puts the TARP in with entitlements. As was plain in this chart on OTB the other day, TARP is a barely visible piece of the pie. Another note from Doug’s post:

   On March 4, 2009, I wrote an article that included the statement “Obama’s destruction of the economy is intentional.”

   Two years later, my point is proved. Case closed.

   His budget proposal is so reckless, so wild, so egregious that there can be no doubt of his goal. I can only conclude that he seeks the destruction of America’s capitalist system, free enterprise, and our way of life.

   Alex is writing about just this sort of thing today. That’s the kind of crap you read and link to, Doug? Do you believe the president has accomplished a preconceived plan to destroy America, too?
5. sam says:
   Tuesday, 15 February 2011 at 13:18

   On the Republican “plan”, see, Bruce Bartlett, GOP Cuts Budget with an Axe Instead of a Scalpel:

   On Feb. 9, House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers, R-KY, announced $74 billion in budget cuts in fiscal year 2011, which began on Oct. 1, 2010. Enacting large budget cuts in the current fiscal year when it’s almost half over is very foolish. Congress can’t cut spending that has already been spent, so it must cut very heavily from a small spending base to achieve meaningful savings.

   Scott Lilly, who was staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, explains another problem. Because the Republicans are cutting the budget in such haste, many members, including those on the Appropriations Committee, really have no idea what is going on or what the effects of these cuts will be on people and programs. As Lilly explains:

   “With many of the 93 freshmen members of the House still asking rudimentary budget questions such as: ‘what is the difference between an authorization and an appropriation?’ or ‘how do outlays differ from budget authority?’ the time frame that Rep. Rogers and his leadership are committed to means that not only will those voting on the proposal have little opportunity to understand it but the authors themselves will not have fully vetted or completely understood what they are proposing. There have been no hearings, no requests for testimony, and no opportunity even for staff charged with proposing the cuts to do agency-by-agency analysis of the possible negative consequences. Members will vote next week on the package without fundamental knowledge of how major budget changes in literally thousands of federal programs will impact the country in general or their own constituents in particular.”

   In another commentary, Lilly explains how the meat-ax approach to budget cutting that Republicans have adopted would affect one agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation:

   “It has been operating at an annual rate of $7.8 billion since October. (The threat of a Senate filibuster in December forced Congress to abandon efforts to complete legislation that would have funded the president’s request to increase FBI funding to the level above $8 billion a year.) Since we will soon pass the halfway mark for the current fiscal year, the Bureau has already spent close to half its $7.8 billion. [House Budget Committee chairman Paul] Ryan’s proposed cut of $44 billion applied across the board to all programs in the one-eighth of the budget subject to cuts would result in reducing FBI spending by almost $750 million, leaving it with less than $3.2 billion for operations for the remainder of the year — about 19 percent less than operated on for the first half of the year.”

   Children shouldn’t be allowed to play with axes.