Exclusive: President Obama to Propose Budget Freeze and Earmark Ban Tonight

ABC News ^

[Sub-Driver]

Exclusive: President Obama to Propose Budget Freeze and Earmark Ban Tonight

January 25, 2011 11:11 AM

Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose an overall budget freeze, ABC News has learned.

The proposals come as the president prepares to tackle the deficit and debt and as he faces a House of Representatives in Republican hands, many of whose members include those affiliated with the Tea Party who may be willing to embrace both moves.

The president will propose some new spending in certain areas that address the speech’s theme of “How We Win the Future”: innovation, education and infrastructure. But those increases will be proposed as part of an overall budget freeze, which given the annual rate of growth is often seen in Washington, DC, budgeting as a cut.

The FY 2011 budget was $3.8 trillion. Last year President Obama proposed a three-year hard freeze on non-security discretionary spending, to save $250 billion over the next decade; this would be much broader.

As for earmarks, President Obama has long been critical of the process in which members of Congress insert their pet projects into legislation without having them first go through the normal appropriations process, but Congress has continued to put billions of dollars of such projects in bills that arrive at the president’s desk.

After the midterm elections, which President Obama called a “shellacking,” he cited earmarks as a reason why some voters may have gone for the GOP.

[Pollster1]

Freezing the budget at an unsustainable level is not an acceptable answer. They have to slash all wasteful spending. Any money beyond what we needed in 2006 is clearly optional and should be cut immediately unless there is an overwhelming reason for that spending. As far as I'm concerned, even that spending should be justified line item by line item or eliminated. It's time to phase out the massive waste that our federal government has become and restore the Constitution and the concept of enumerated powers.

[PogySailor]

Yep.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Sure.
After raising our Debt by a couple of TRILLION dollars and shoving burdeing social programs not wanted by the people down our throats now that his party is not in total control he wants a spending freeze and no earmarks. What an assclown.

[3niner]

Freeze the budget at unprecedented high levels. Who falls for this crap?

[stillafreemind]

LOL..
It’s a little late in the game for Obama to worry about budget freeze and ear tags. What the heck, that horse done fled the barn!

[Yooper4Life]

He won’t have to run on the republican ticket. There’ll be enough republicans in the house who show their love for him as a democrat. Those sitting all over the place tonight will insure his re-election in 2012. I give up with this republican party. The leadership should ORDER the damned people to sit where they’re supposed to sit. But instead they embrace this crap.
***********************

Yup - this is a lose/lose for the idiot GOP. If they stand up and cheer, they show “unity” and indicate to the sheep public how “great” Zero is, thereby helping him and the Rats in 2012.

If they stay seated, the either look like idiots, or they will be labeled haters, or both.

They walked right into the Rat Trap — sadly, they probably did it knowlingly.

[Zeppo]

Time to get into a bidding war.

“I’ll see you and raise you by a cut of an additional trillion dollars”...

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Freeze the budget at unprecedented high levels. Who falls for this crap?

About 65% of the population and 100% of the MSM?

2012 here we come. That is ALL he needs to get to and he knows it. That is when his real agenda will happen, and he will say and do anything to get to that point. (Except repeal Obamacare.)

[Gabrial]

“Freezing” the budget at insane and unsustainable historical highs is a sure way to destroy America.

The budget needs to be rolled back at least 20% or this country is toast.

Repeal Obamacare
Reduce Health and Human Services budget by 30%
Cut all other budgets except Defense by a mandatory 20%
Give all Congress a 20% cut in pay
Take back all the bonus money money paid to the criminal managers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and use it to pay the interest on our national debt.

[EdReform]

Precisely. The boy is a bald-faced liar. Joe Wilson was right.

This speech is nothing but a ruse.

[Mr. K]

Yes! Let’s Ban Earmarks AGAIN!

One of these times it will actually work

[traditional1]

As soon as he proposes freezing the handout-levels at the current exhorbitant rate, the Republicans seated in the “photo-op placement arrangement” should get up, and move to the Republican Section of The House. Let the Usurper KNOW that the out-of-control Progressive Agenda put in place in the last 6 years is what put the country in its current situation, and the HANDOUTS ARE GOING TO BE STOPPED, PERIOD.

[familyop]

Well, he can propose an earmark ban, but that’s not going to happen. And he probably knows it. The ship of bipartisan, government funded “progressives” is sinking. Enjoy the ride, and don’t buy anything that you don’t need.