Breaking before President Obama delivers his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night is the revelation that he will propose a spending freeze on all non-security and non-”entitlement” portions of the federal budget, keeping a major chunk of domestic government spending at the level pf the budget for fiscal year 2011.
While the freeze will significantly impact an unknown number of government programs, the White House says the president will reaffirm that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will not be included in the spending freeze, which amounts to a spending cut of about $400 billion when accounting for inflation.
President Obama, on the defensive as Congressional Republicans press to rein in spending, will propose to extend for another two years the three-year partial freeze of domestic programs that he suggested in 2010, and will call for $78 billion in military spending cuts, when he delivers the annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
The extended freeze of domestic programs other than automatic entitlements or programs relating to security, which would save more than $400 billion through fiscal year 2021, would be “a down payment toward reducing the deficit,” said an administration official who declined to be identified by name discussing the speech in advance. “In areas outside the freeze, we also will be looking for cuts and efficiencies.”
Those exempted areas include most of the federal budget, including the biggest and fastest-growing spending categories like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and national security, along with interest payments on the nation’s debt.
There are some things that are too important to compromise.
Especially when Obama’s idea of “compromise” is to stick it to the middle class as the repugs bellow that he’s not sticking it to us enough.
Just when I didn’t think I could be anymore disappointed inObama. Yet another issue where he caved to specious Republican arguments. I don’t know why Mitch McConnell said making Obama a 1 term president is his top priority. Having Obama in the WH seems to be working out great for the GOP.
Where were all the people now wanting cuts in everything except defense spending while George W. Bush was more than doubling the national debt by cutting taxes and starting endless wars??? For that matter where were the TEA Party people back when their hero Reagan was quadrupling the national debt, since most of them appear old enough to have voted for Mr. Trickle Down himself?