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Posted on 01/25/2011 11:40:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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 a five year budget freeze on non-security related discretionary spending, 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 within the context of a proposed partial budget freeze.
The FY 2011 budget was $3.8 trillion; $1.415 trillion of which was discretionary spending. The president's proposal would save, according to estimates, roughly $400 billion.
Last year President Obama proposed three-year hard freeze on non-security discretionary spending, which White House officials said would save $250 billion over the next decade. (Non-discretionary spending includes items such as Social Security and Medicare.)
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.
“I’m a strong believer that the earmarking process in Congress isn’t what the American people really want to see when it comes to making tough decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent,” the president said.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
yes! let’s freeze it at 1.4 trillion dollar deficit levels!!!
what a dumb A$$ HOLE he is
Congress didn’t pass a budget. They passed a resolution the budget was whatever they cared to spend. Nobody will call them on that-just watch!
This is a farce. If he were serious, he would be working to get it rolled back to 2007 levels. He, personally, has driving the debt and deficit spending through the roof, and now he wants to freeze it at that obscene level. Will be interesting to see if the Repubs buy into this.
This is a farce. If he were serious, he would be working to get it rolled back to 2007 levels. He, personally, has driving the debt and deficit spending through the roof, and now he wants to freeze it at that obscene level. Will be interesting to see if the Repubs buy into this.
Suddenly, every union bailout will be defined as essential to National Security
Max out the credit cards and then proclaim that he isn’t going to use them anymore.
So far, “Mr. Market” does not like the freeze idea.
This is simply another version of the old DC game called “Kick The Can”.
A new entry into the Newspeak Dictionary.
wholly smokes batman hes using the gop playbook cause they werent gonna give him one red cent anyways. this guy is truly brilliant rhodes worthy. excuse me im gonna throw up
It worked so well last year that this year 0bama's proposing a five year freeze.
Physician heal thyself.
is this Groundhog’s Day? I’ve already heard this all before from him!
...the bull$h!t is going to pile up so fast we’re going to need shovels to keep from getting buried....
Increase spending by $3, then reduce spending by $1, then say, lets freeze our current spending level. Spending increase is still $2 higher than before
Yeah, now that he got his laundry list checked off. And the media will trumpet him as the hero of austerity and discipline after tonight.
I thought he cut off earmaks when he was a candidate for the Presidency.
Is he just getting around to it or just repeating the same lie.
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