Obama prevents budget cuts to favorite programs (new details on cuts)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON (AP) - A close look at the government shutdown-dodging agreement to cut federal spending by $38 billion reveals that lawmakers significantly eased the fiscal pain by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.

Such moves permitted Obama to save favorite programs - Pell grants for poor college students, health research and "Race to the Top" aid for public schools, among others - from Republican knives.

And big holes in foreign aid and Environmental Protection Agency accounts were patched in large part. Republicans also gave up politically treacherous cuts to the Agriculture Department's food inspection program.

The full details of Friday's agreement weren't being released until overnight as it was officially submitted to the House. But the picture already emerging is of legislation financed with a lot of one-time savings and cuts that officially "score" as savings to pay for spending elsewhere, but that often have little to no actual impact on the deficit.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110412/D9MI2H101.html

[regnaD kciN]

1. Obama prevents budget cuts to favorite programs

Source: Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – A close look at the government shutdown-dodging agreement to cut federal spending by $38 billion reveals that lawmakers significantly eased the fiscal pain by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.

The full details of Friday's agreement weren't being released until overnight as it was officially submitted to the House. But the picture already emerging is of legislation financed with a lot of one-time savings and cuts that officially "score" as savings to pay for spending elsewhere, but that often have little to no actual impact on the deficit.

As a result of the legerdemain, Obama was able to reverse many of the cuts passed by House Republicans in February when the chamber passed a bill slashing this year's budget by more than $60 billion. In doing so, the White House protected favorites like the Head Start early learning program, while maintaining the maximum Pell grant of $5,550 and funding for Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative that provides grants to better-performing schools.

Obama also repelled Republican moves to cut $1 billion in grants for community health centers and $500 million from biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, while blocking them from "zeroing out" the AmeriCorps national service program and subsidies for public broadcasting.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110412/ap_on_go_co/us_spending_showdown_details

---

It looks to me like this might not exactly be the "cave" some have been labeling it. I'm sure the Repugs will try for deeper cuts down the road -- both with the debt-ceiling authorization and next-year's budget but, having dodged the government-shutdown bullet, I doubt the public will take kindly to the Republicans threatening it again in the coming weeks or months.

[JTFrog]

2. This goes against the new DU narrative.

I'm sure there are eleventy other things he CAVED!11!! on.

:shrug:

[Kolesar]

3. I want the intercontinental nuclear saturation bomber fleet to be retired

:thumbsup:

[bitchkitty]

8. Oh, please.

If a man can't take criticism (extremely VALID criticism) then he has no business being President.

[karynnj]

10. The criticisms here over the last several days were neither valid nor accurate

It would have made sense to wait until the cut details actually came out before saying they betrayed everything Democrats believed in. If this report is accurate, Obama, Senator Reid and Senator Innoye, who chairs the appropriation committee and was said to have been very involved, and other top Democrats and their staffs, did an outstanding job in finding cuts that really can be made without destroying valuable programs.

What is clear is that this is NOT the Republican budget.

[SkyDaddy7]

12. You are very correct!

I have seen more invalid criticism, CRYING, here on DU aimed at President Obama than valid! They literally blame everything real & made up on him! However, we will NEVER see a Greatest Thread page with attacks or "valid criticism on Dennis Kucinich or Nancy Pelosi for the same exact votes on issues that they attack Obama on! They went nuts over the tax cut compromise in December but not a word was said about Nancy Pelosi allowing it to be voted on in the House when she could have blocked it! Nothing was said about Kucinich voting for the health care bill...Yet Obama was reduced to being worse than Dick Cheney!

It has become a contest on who can come up with the most hyperbolic attack on President Obama to make the Greatest Thread Page...Not valid criticism!

[Andy823]

17. Exactly!

The right wing trolls are doing their job well and the "Obama haters" on the left are helping them. The idea is to divide the left and get us fighting amongst ourselves, and it sure seems to be working!

Anyone that jumps to conclusions before the facts come out are only helping the right wing, think about it!

[savalez]

24. +1

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BenzoDia]

21. Agreed, they worked hard and did a good job.

[JTFrog]

11. LOL

Back before the New DU, there was some common sense in defining VALID. From Skinner:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5524913

Constructive criticism of Democrats or the Democratic Party is permitted. When doing so, please keep in mind that most of our members come to this website in order to get a break from the constant attacks in the media against our candidates and our values. Highly inflammatory or divisive attacks that echo the tone or substance of our http://www.freerepublic.com/">political opponents are not welcome here.

~~~~

There is a part of me that is a little disappointed (but not surprised) that this even needs to be said. Even if you don't agree with President Obama on a number of issues, I guess I kinda thought that everyone here would consider themselves -- on some level -- to be among his supporters. Or, at very least, I didn't think that any DUer would want to deliberately use the same type of language one would expect to hear from tea-baggers and Freepers.

There is nothing VALID about the preemptive anti-Obama anti-Democratic propaganda trolling through DU 24/7 these days.

[mikekohr]

14. Sound Advice, so often, so foolishly and so self destructly ignored

[snooper2]

20. Welll he didn't put in the 10 Billion in Fusion research I asked for

God Damn it!

[fasttense]

4. Well, maybe when we see the final package it wont be the weapon of

mass unemployment and hardship everyone is expecting.

But why haven't they made the "deal" public and transparent?

[LaurenG]

5. This is good news - thanks. nt

[madrchsod]

6. we will have to wait for the truth

[bucolic_frolic]

7. You Just Never Know ... And You Can Hope

I've believed for awhile that the GOP focus on Debt and deficits was obsessive and misguided because the deficits will drop rapidly as the economy improves and tax revenues increase. If this occurs rapidly enough, it will leave the GOP railing against a trend that is on the mend.

I'm not a student of the budget of any kind, but might the deficit drop by $100 billion due to an improving economy by the end of this year?

[onehandle]

9. 'More than half of the $38 Billion would hit education, labor and health programs.'

Swell.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/38-billion-in-cuts-in-budget-deal-will-cover-various-domestic-areas/2011/04/11/AFJihQMD_story.html

[KoKo]

13. Yep, EPA ($1.6BL cut), Fish & Wildlife($142ML)Clean Drinking Water ($997Mil) etc.

from WaPo Article:

"In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency, long a target of conservatives, will see a $1.6 billion cut, representing a 16 percent decrease from 2010 levels. At the Department of the Interior, affected agencies include the Fish and Wildlife Services ($141 million cut from last year), the National Park Service ($127 million cut from last year) and “clean and drinking water state revolving funds” ($997 million cut from last year)."

[trud]

19. KoKo

They cut funding for Endangered Species, too. I see nothing about restoring that in the article.

[yngdip]

15. WOOOHOOO!! (and to clear up some confusion)

Great news. Thanks for the post!

I absolutely will critique Pres. Obama when I feel he is worthy of critique and praise him when I believe he is worthy of praise. He is not my personal friend. I am not interested in protecting his feelings. I am interested in my welfare, the welfare of the country and the world, and making the world more just. His administration and their policies, when they are in contrast to my commitments, will face my critique. This is the beauty of democracy. You are allowed to voice dissatisfaction!



Now back to my celebration..:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. "...accounting sleight of hand..."

:woohoo:


At first blush, however, it does appear to be much better than expected.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. IT'S OBAMA'S FAULT!!!

Oh, wait....


:sarcasm::sarcasm:

[Vattel]

22. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x650799

[kestrel91316]

23. Our biggest sigh of relief might need to be for saving the USDA from

having to cut food safety inspection. A word of warning: if they EVER actually cut it, stop eating meat. Period.

And no, I'm not a vegetarian.

[Akoto]

25. Aided by budget tricks, Obama prevents cuts to favorites like Pell grants, Head Start.

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The historic $38 billion in budget cuts resulting from at-times hostile bargaining between Congress and the Obama White House were accomplished in large part by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.

Such moves permitted Obama to save favorite programs - Pell grants for college students, health research and "Race to the Top" aid for public schools, among others - from Republican knives, according to new details of the legislation released Tuesday morning.

And big holes in foreign aid and Environmental Protection Agency accounts were patched in large part. Republicans also gave up politically treacherous cuts to the Agriculture Department's food inspection program.

-snip-

As a result of that sleight of hand, Obama was able to reverse many of the cuts passed by House Republicans in February when the chamber approved a bill slashing this year's budget by more than $60 billion. In doing so, the White House protected favorites like the Head Start early learning program, while maintaining the maximum Pell grant of $5,550 and funding for Obama's "Race to the Top" initiative that provides grants to better-performing schools. Food aid to the poor was preserved, as were housing subsidies.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SPENDING_SHOWDOWN_DETAILS?SITE=OKPON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Teaser]

26. he is the devil

.

[Vincardog]

27. "Race to the Top" aid for public schools, is designed to bankrupt and privatize our public schools

[jaysunb]

28. Is your post, opinion or fact ?

:shrug:

[Vincardog]

29. IT is fact. Just look at the plan. If all goes according to plan and they keep raising the standard

we end up with 100% FAILURE. That is what happens when you keep raising the standards.
It is nothing but a plan to shift our public buildings and funds to private schools that have no plan to educate every child.