WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Monday ordered his
Cabinet to find ways to slice spending by $100 million, but
acknowledged it's a "drop in the bucket" and said there's a
"confidence gap" that he needs to overcome.
Just back from a Latin America summit, Obama told the first
formal Cabinet meeting of his administration that vast spending to
combat the economic crisis was "the right thing to do." But he
also said taxpayers still need to know that every dollar they give
the government is being spent wisely.
"We also have a deficit - a confidence gap - when it comes to
the American people," he told reporters. "And we've got to earn
their trust."
Obama said the $100 million would come from "efficiencies" in
agency operations, and would be in addition to future cuts in
programs that aren't working.
Yet the red ink in the annual budget is currently in the
hundreds of billions. He was asked if the efficiency saving isn't
just "a drop in the bucket".
"It is," he replied. "None of these things alone are going to
make a difference. But cumulatively, they make an extraordinary
difference because they start setting a tone ... $100 million
there, $100 million here - pretty soon, even here in Washington, it
adds up to real money."
The federal deficit for March alone was $192.3 billion, and $100
million would represent a minuscule portion of that sum, roughly
one-twentieth of 1 percent. Obama in February brought forward a
$3.6 trillion budget for the 2010 fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, a
proposal that would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next
decade.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he applauded all
attempts to cut government spending but insisted that a $100
million cut would only cover one day's interest on Obama's $787
billion stimulus spending plan.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said later that the cuts were
part of a larger cost-cutting effort by Obama. He said the
president "has laid out cuts large and small in administrative
costs" and in programs throughout the government.
Earlier this month, both the House and Senate passed companion
budget plans giving Obama and his Capitol Hill allies a key
victory, but 20 House Democrats from GOP-leaning areas abandoned
him on the final vote because of unhappiness over deficits.
The Cabinet meeting came just days after a series of "Tea
Party" demonstrations across the country in which protesters
challenged the administration over it's massive spending to help
pull the country and its financial system out of an economic nose
dive unseen in decades.
Even among budget cuts cited in a newly released White House
summary, a considerable proportion of the savings would occur over
a period of years.
It pointed out projected cuts in office supplies and computer
software at the Department of Homeland Services, for instance,
noting that the agency spends $100 million a year on this "but
virtually none of the supplies are purchased through agreements
that leverage the department's collective buying power."
Thus, it said, DHS estimates that it could save up to $51
million over five years by purchasing in bulk.
It said that $62 million could be saved over a 15-year lease
term if the Agriculture Department were to combine roughly 1,500
employees from seven leased locations into a single facility by
early 2011.
The White House summary also said that $6.7 million could be
saved over the first five years by having U.S. attorney offices and
the U.S. Marshals Offices' Asset Forfeiture program convert
publication of forfeiture notices from newspapers to the Internet.
The worksheet also said that $5 million a year could be saved by
consolidating embassy posts at the State Department and U.S. Agency
for International Development.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
In a previous blog, “A Runners Wife” I spoke about my husband training for the NYC marathon. All I have to say is that the months of training all came together of an amazing race. Race day is a grueling day for runners, and the family. But a miracle happened...
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the senate judiciary committee and basically shrugged when asked if any other enemy combatant captured overseas had ever been brought to civilian criminal court to face justice. Talk about an incompetent boob, not to mention a disgrace.
Here is a list of wines all from Spain, and menus from restaurants in Brooklyn where a crew of us did a food / wine crawl through Carrol Gardens and Williamsburg recently
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