More Money for Nothin'

This morning on “Meet The Press” the most pertinent quote of the entire program was, “Fighting over the budget is going to be like fighting over sheets on the Titanic.” Interesting and possibly true.  Right now we are dealing with a crossroads of two  budgets. The 2011 budget is still in continuing resolution and the 2012 budget proposal will be rolled out by Barack Obama February 14^th. The Congress will either approve or deny this budget. They will mostly likely reject much of it due to the lack of considerable cuts that they promised constituents.

Budget cuts  are the theme of the day. With huge cuts proposed by the GOP budget and Obama even jumping on the cut wagon the question arises: Is now the time to be shaving down the spending? Many will argue that now is the time considering our fragile economy that the government MUST continue to invest in. However, Boehner and Schilling both made it clear today on Meet the Press that spending is not the answer, in fact, we must cut spending.  So, let’s take a look at the cuts in-depth. They fall into three categories: Obama cuts, GOP cuts, and not mentioned…Here we go.

Obama cuts for 2012: 2/3 cuts, 1/3 tax increases

·         Placing limitations on Pell Grants, and requiring that interest accrue on student loans while the student is still in school.

·         Heating and energy assistance to low-income families.

·         Corporate tax reform.

·         New taxes on the wealthy.

·         Airport grants.

·         Water treatment grants.

·         Community service block grants.

·         Defense savings as outlined by Robert Gibbs.

GOP Cuts 2011: Keep in mind they want to cut 60 programs so only the biggest are listed here. 

·         Department of Education

·         Environmental Protection Agency

·         Job training programs

·         Rental assistance programs and Section 8 Housing.

·         Law enforcement

·         Energy

·         Health Care

·         Americorps

·         Public Broadcasting

·         Contraceptives to low-income families

·         National Institutes of Health

·         The CDC

Not Mentioned

Not much is being said about the elephants in the room.

·         Medicare

·         Medicaid

·         Social Security

Hmmm…

Undoubtedly the House cuts will reach resistance when they hit the Democratic dominated Senate. Undoubtedly Obama’s 2012 proposed tax increases and cuts not deep enough will reach resistance when they go to the Republican dominated House. Thus, I still appreciate the quote, “Fighting over the budget is going to be like fighting over sheets on the Titanic.” It does seem that either way the ship is going down. It’ll be interesting to see what Barack Obama actually proposes and what actually happens with the House and the Senate do with all of it. Most definitely it’ll be interesting to hear about the beasts that are Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Stay tuned for sure!

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