Obama’s Spending Freeze is a Budgetary Fig Leaf

Last night, the White House leaked President Obama’s proposed three year freeze on non-defense discretionary spending not including certain Homeland Security, Veterans’ Affairs, and International Affairs programs. That spending would be capped for the next three years at its current level of $447 billion, saving $250 billion over the next 10 years. That sounds like at lot of money, but it’s not much when compared to the roughly $6 trillion of non-defense discretionary spending in the current services baseline budget. Most of that $250 billion will occur in the last five years of the next decade. With the decline of American Recovery and Reconstruction Act stimulus spending over the next few years, both OMB (Table S-3 on p.28) and CBO (Table 1-5 on p.20) show declining non-defense discretionary outlays from FY11 through FY13 already. Every little bit helps, but this is barely a budgetary fig leaf.

(click to enlarge)

Tables: CBO

About Pete Davis 99 Articles

Affiliation: Davis Capital Investment Ideas

Pete Davis advises Wall Street money managers on Washington policy developments that affect the financial markets. President of his own consulting firm since 1992, Davis Capital Investment Ideas, he draws on 11 years of experience as a Capitol Hill economist with the Joint Committee on Taxation (1974-1981), the Senate Budget Committee (1981-1983), and Senator Robert C. Byrd (1992). He worked in the House and Senate, and for Republicans and Democrats.

Davis brought the first computer policy model, the Treasury Individual Income Tax Model, to Capitol Hill in early 1974, when he became a revenue estimator on the Joint Committee on Taxation. He formulated the 1975 rebate, the earned income tax credit, the 1976 estate tax rates, the 1978 marginal tax rates, and the Roth-Kemp tax cut. He left Capitol Hill in 1983 for the Washington Research Office of Prudential-Bache Securities, where he advised investors for seven years.

Davis has long written a newsletter on the Washington-Wall Street connection for his clients; Capital Gains and Games is his first foray into the blogosphere.

Visit: Capital Gains and Games

1 Comment on Obama’s Spending Freeze is a Budgetary Fig Leaf

  1. How bout ending the useless wars, Homeland insecurity and Income taxes or property taxes!

    NO INCUMBENTS 2012!

    ALL DEMS ALL REPS ALL GONE.. With the exception of Ron Paul and real leaders of his ilk!

    We need real leaders not these K street money chasing UnAmerican Bennidict Arnolds not doing the peoples work!!!

    I swear it seems like they are an enemy of America trying to kill us as quick as possible!

    I read the release today and instanly wanted to vomit- Why can’t the Government ever do the right thing?

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