Posted on 01/26/2010 12:50:13 PM PST by mojito
Under mounting pressure to rein in mammoth budget deficits, President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a three-year freeze on federal funding that is not related to national security....
Although the freeze would shave no more than $15 billion off next year's budget -- barely denting a deficit projected to exceed $1 trillion for the third year in a row -- White House officials said it could save significantly more during the next decade....
The spending freeze would affect only about one-eighth of the nation's $3.5 trillion budget, the bulk of which is devoted to entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which are responsible for much of the future increase in spending. It would not restrain funding for the $787 billion economic stimulus package Obama pushed through Congress early last year, nor would it apply to a new bill aimed at creating jobs, which Democrats have identified as their top priority in the run-up to November's congressional elections....
It is also unlikely to affect the approximately $900 billion health-care bill, which has been on life-support since the Massachusetts vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Brilliant!
A spending freeze on every single item in the FY 2011 federal budget except 99% of it.
I thought it was the war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan, and "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the military, and too many bases that was the cause of the deficit?
You mean I've been LIED TO ???
Obama deserves no respect. He should be a laughing stock.
A contradiction?
“The two faces of Obama reveal more than just a man hard-wired to work both sides of a room.”
Instant replay of the last State of the Union speech?
A Trillion dollar Deficit is not a freeze.
I Obama ELIMINATED everything he just wants to freeze, the budget deficit would be 1,000 Billion dollars - twice the size of the worst deficit of GWB!
This clown plays three card monte with the taxpayer all day long!....first he creates a gazillion dollar budget deficit and then says he’ll have a budget freeze and save 1/100 of what he’s already spending? What a supreme Chicago street hustling jackass he is!.....
You lie, Buckwheat!.....
should be a laughing stock.
SHOULD BE???? He already is!!!!
http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-13-1988-debate-transcript
COMPTON: Thank you, Bernie. Mr. Vice President, yes, we read your lips: no new taxes. But despite that same pledge from President Reagan, after income tax rates were cut, in each of the last five years, some Federal taxes have gone up, on Social Security, cigarettes, liquor, even long distance telephone calls. Now that’s money straight out of people’s wallets. Isn’t the phrase, no new taxes, misleading the voters?
BUSH: No, because I’m pledged to that, and yes, some taxes have gone up. And the main point is, taxes have been cut, and yet income is up to the Federal Government by 25 percent in the last three years. And so what I want to do is keep this expansion going. I don’t want to kill it off by a tax increase. More Americans at work today than at any time in the history of the country, and a greater percentage of the work force. And the way you kill expansions is to raise taxes. And I don’t want to do that, and I won’t do that. And what I have proposed is something much better. And it’s going to take discipline of the executive branch; it’s going to take discipline of the congressional branch. And that is what I call a flexible freeze that allows growth about 4 percent or the rate of inflation but does not permit the Congress just to add on spending. I hear this talk about a blank check. The American people are pretty smart: they know who writes out the checks. And they know who appropriates the money. It is the United States Congress. And by two to one, Congress is blamed for these deficits. And the answer is to discipline both the executive branch and the congressional branch by holding the line on taxes. So I’m pledged to do that. And those pessimists who say it can’t be done, I’m sorry, I just have a fundamental disagreement with them
SHAW: Gov. Dukakis, your one-minute response.
DUKAKIS: Ann, the Vice President made that pledge. He’s broken it three times in the past year already. So it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. And what I’m concerned about is that if we continue with the policies that Mr. Bush is talking about here this evening, the flexible freeze somebody described it the other day as a kind of economic slurpee he wants to spend billions on virtually every weapons system around. He says he’s not going to raise taxes, though he has broken that pledge repeatedly. He says he wants to give the wealthiest one percent of the people in this country a five-year $40 billion tax break, and we’re going to pay for it. And he’s been proposing all kinds of programs for new spending costing billions. Now if we continue with these policies, this trillion and a half dollars worth of new debt that’s already been added on the backs of the American taxpayer is going to increase even more, and if we continue with this for another four years, then I’m worried about the next generation, whether we can ever turn this situation around. No, we need a chief executive who is prepared to lead; who won’t blame the Congress; who will lead to bring down that deficit, who will make tough choices on spending
SHAW: Governor
DUKAKIS: will go out and do the job that we expect of him and do it with the Congress of the United States. (Applause)
SHAW: And to Governor Dukakis.
COMPTON: Governor, let me follow up on that by asking you you’ve said it many times that you have balanced ten budgets in a row in Massachusetts. Are you promising the American people here tonight that within a four-year presidential term, you will balance the federal budget?
DUKAKIS: No, I’m not sure I can promise that; I don’t think either one of us can really. There is no way of anticipating what may happen. I will say this: that we will set as our goal a steady, gradual reduction of the deficit, which will require tough choices on spending; it will require a good strong rate of economic growth; it will require a plan that the president works out with the Congress doesn’t blame them, works it out with them, which brings that deficit down; it will require us to go out and collect billions and billions of dollars in taxes owed that aren’t being paid in this country. And that’s grossly unfair to the average American who is paying his taxes and paying them on time and doesn’t have any alternative: it’s taken out of his paycheck. Mr. Bush says we are going to put the IRS on every taxpayer. That’s not what we are going to do. I’m for the taxpayer bill of rights. But I think it’s unconscionable, Ann, that we should be talking or thinking about imposing new taxes on average Americans when there are billions out there, over $100 billion, in taxes owed that aren’t being paid. Now, I think if we work together on it, and if you have a president that will work with the Congress and the American people, we can bring that deficit down steadily, $20, $25, $30 billion a year, build economic growth, build a good strong future for America, invest in those things which we must invest in economic development, good jobs, good schools for our kids, college opportunity for young people, decent health care and affordable housing, and a clean and safe environment. We can do all of those things, and at the same time build a future in which we are standing on a good strong fiscal foundation. Senator Bentsen said, as you recall at the debate with Senator Quayle, that if you give any of us $200 billion worth of hot checks a year, we can create an illusion of prosperity. But sooner or later that credit card mentality isn’t going to work. And I want to bring to the White House a sense of strength and fiscal responsibility which will build a good strong foundation under which this country, or above which country can move, grow, invest, and build the best America for its people and for our kids and our grandkids.
SHAW: Mr. Vice President, your response.
BUSH: The Governor has to balance the budget in his state he is required to by law. He has raised taxes several times. I wish he would join me, as a matter of fact, in appealing to the American people for the balanced budget amendment for the federal government and for the line-item veto. (Applause) I’d like to have that line-item veto for the president, because I think that would be extraordinarily helpful. And I won’t do one other thing that he’s had to do: took $29 million out of his state pension fund that’s equivalent at the federal level of taking out of the Social Security trust fund. I’m not going to do that; I won’t do that. (Applause) And so I’m still a little unclear as to whether he’s for or against the tax increase. I have been for the taxpayer bill of rights all along. And this idea of unleashing a whole bunch-an army, a conventional force army, of IRS agents into everybody’s kitchen I mean, he’s against most defense matters, and now he wants to get an army of JRS auditors going out there. (Laughter) I’m against that; I oppose that. (Boos and applause)
SHAW: I’m going to say this and I’m going to say it once to every person in this auditorium: what these candidates are about is of utmost seriousness to the American voters; they should be heard and you should be quiet. If you are not quiet, I am going to implore the candidates to do something about quieting their own partisans. But we cannot get through this program with these outbursts. Margaret Warner for Governor Dukakis.
The new Demonrat mantra! Woof, woof, let granny eat dog food...spoof on 'let them eat cake'. obama's war on seniors See the links in post 43-46 and on the last page.
Expanding support for families balancing work with caring for elderly relatives with a $102.5 million Caregiver Initiative adding $52.5 million in funding to Department of Health and Human Services caregiver support programs that provide temporary respite care, counseling, training, and referrals to critical services. The administration says the extra funding will allow nearly 200,000 additional caregivers to be served and 3 million more hours of respite care to be provided. It also adds $50 million to programs that provide transportation help, adult day care, and in-home services, such as aides to help seniors bathe and cook, help which eases the burden for family members and helps seniors stay in their homes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.