Obama Slashes Federal ‘Swag’ Funding
EmailPresident Obama this morning signed an executive order intended to cut waste and make government more efficient by slashing funding for federal “swag,” the clothing, mugs, plaques and other “unnecessary promotional items” that agencies purchase with taxpayer money.
”From the day I took office, one of the commitments that I made to the American people was that we would do a better job here in Washington in rooting out wasteful spending,” Obama said in an Oval Office signing. “At a time when families have had to cut back, have had to make some tough decisions about getting rid of things that they don’t need, in order to make the investments that they do, we thought that it was entirely appropriate for our governments and our agencies to try to root out waste, large and small, in a systematic way.”
The order, which is part of the president’s ongoing “we can’t wait” executive action campaign, also cuts funding for federal travel, government-issued cellphones and excessive document printing. “It indicates once again that there are things that we can do right now that will actually deliver better government more efficiently, more consumer-friendly for less money,” Obama said.
The White House claims that spending in the areas covered by the executive order will shrink by 20 percent, or roughly $4 billion. The savings will be reinvested in the government in “the things that really matter, like supporting our veterans and our armed forces, and investing in our nation’s infrastructure to help grow the economy and create jobs,” according to an administration official.
The president stressed once again that these kinds of unilateral measures do not replace the need for Congress to come up with “a balanced, bold plan to reduce our deficit.”
“A lot of the action is in Congress and legislative and in the budget,” he said. “I know that the joint committee on trying to reduce our deficits are engaged in a very difficult conversation right now. And we want to encourage them to complete their work.”
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Will the federal government still be able to mass purchase Obama’s books?
Posted by: foggy | November 9, 2011, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
Now if he applies the same criteria to unnecessary Presidential Family spending! (No more taking two aircrafts when one can be used, No more vacations with entourages of 100′s)
Posted by: Common _ Sense | November 9, 2011, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm
Oh wow. isn’t that just soooooooo impressive.
How ridiculous can he get.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | November 9, 2011, 1:50 pm 1:50 pm
So does this mean State Dinners will no longer have cute trollies to bring the guests from the White House to the tent where Beyonce is performing?
Posted by: MayBee | November 9, 2011, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
Good. I find that many of these “unnecessary promotional items” are tossaways made in China anyway. Bad for landfills and bad use of taxpayer money. Regardless of our political leanings, this is a worthwhile step.
Posted by: green.goddess | November 9, 2011, 1:54 pm 1:54 pm
In 1950 President Harry Truman used an executive order to tell the Secretary of the Treasury not to sign the paychecks of a similar “do nothing” Congress until they returned from their summer vacation. Good for the President, since the Congress is in total grid lock there’s not much else he can do.
Bill Clinton shut the government down for two years in a row until Newt Gingrich (the contract on America guy, who said he wanted to reduce the debt) got the pork out of his budget.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 9, 2011, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm
Just another photo shoot. How about stop flying around on our taxpayer money for a start? How about get to the core of the problems not tiny executive orders that don’t help one bit.
Posted by: Freedom | November 9, 2011, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
The order. . . also cuts funding for federal travel, government-issued cellphones and excessive document printing. “It indicates once again that there are things that we can do right now that will actually deliver better government more efficiently, more consumer-friendly for less money,” Obama said.
Spending in the areas covered by the executive order will shrink by 20 percent, or roughly $4 billion . . .
________________________
Sounds good to me.
Posted by: James | November 9, 2011, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
It amazes me, the republicans have their hair on fire about the BS national debt and deficit (which means nothing); complain about government waste and when the least little thing to stop it occurs they go the other way. Make up your minds republicans, just because the President did this doesn’t make it a bad idea; don’t let that radical ideology get in the way of your common sense.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 9, 2011, 2:34 pm 2:34 pm
“It amazes me, the republicans have their hair on fire about the BS”
I am with the President 150% on this. I think he should carry it a step further and use AF1 to deliver frieght from China on his way back from Bali. I say from China because we don’t send them anything.
Posted by: david | November 9, 2011, 2:46 pm 2:46 pm
tmferretti…the national debt and record-breaking deficits run up by your president don’t mean much to people who pay no personal, federal income tax. But the mounting national debt does present a national security threat. If you don’t buy that, play it forward. Picture our nation with $30 TRILLION in debt. $50 TRILLION. Do you really believe that we don’t have to pay that back, with interest? It’s all Monopoly money to Democrats.
Posted by: s | November 9, 2011, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm
tmferretti…commonsense? Like the Democrat idea of spending more money we don’t have is THE only way to bring back prosperity! That brand of commonsense? Your blind loyalty to party makes me think of soviet Russia in the mid-20th century.
Posted by: s | November 9, 2011, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
S
What national security, do you think the Chinese and Saudis are going to storm the shores of their biggest customer demanding their money? Are all Americans going to make a run on the banks to cash in the 90% of the national debt they hold?
At the end of the depression we accumulated a 40 trillion dollar debt (% of GDP and in todays terms) getting out of the depression and paying for WWII. We didn’t fall apart; instead we produced the Greatest Generation. FDR and Congress didn’t fiddle while Rome burned and spent like hell. The biggest threat to national security is putting more Americans on the street, eventually they’ll get fed up and our democracy will be at stake.
If you’re really worried about the debt double every ones taxes, cut all Medicare and Social Security benefits and defense spending, we’ll be out of debt in a month. It still won’t put people back to work.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 9, 2011, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
the national debt and record-breaking deficits run up by your president
POSTED BY: S | NOVEMBER 9, 2011, 3:34 PM 3:34 PM
The massive economic collapse under the last president is the main reason for the ongoing deficits and debt of the United States. You will recall the last president also left huge deficits and a huge debt as well as the economic collapse. Sure, they’re the ‘frugal’ ones.
Posted by: Dave | November 9, 2011, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
And it took three years and election campaign to get this done. What a joke – such an insignificant part of the budgets…cut out the campaigning on the taxpayer dollars.
Posted by: mj | November 9, 2011, 4:11 pm 4:11 pm
What a joke – such an insignificant part of the budgets…
POSTED BY: MJ | NOVEMBER 9, 2011, 4:11 PM 4:11 PM
Better than what the Republican Bush did. The FIRST thing Obama did was put in place a formal process to reduce spending, deficits and debt. Same with the committee in place currently to reach a bi-partisan agreement. Not bad for a president who inherited a massive economic collapse from the previous president – as well as the two wars, al qaeda still strong, bin Laden still on the lose, etc.
Posted by: Jenny | November 9, 2011, 4:24 pm 4:24 pm
This Stupid Committee should not even be debating about the deficit and spending cuts, it’s a useless exercise. They should be debating jobs programs and how to get Americans back to work in the quickest way possible. Instead they are debating on how to cut spending that will put millions of more Americans out of work. The Defense Department is already anticipating triggered cuts to defense and is already laying off civilians at military bases.
There is no logical path from spending cuts to job creation.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 9, 2011, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
So why didn’t the GOP do this already?
Posted by: rick | November 9, 2011, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
At the end of the depression we accumulated a 40 trillion dollar debt (% of GDP and in todays terms) getting out of the depression and paying for WWII
I am not sure but were we not on a gold standard then? Didn’t we have “stuff” to back it up? Actaully didn’t they sieze gold to fund the war. Regardless, a debtor is a slave to the lender.
Does anyone recall how the US help collapse the Soviet Union? Didn’t we force them to spend on defense until it broke them? Don’t think it can happen to us?
Spending almost a trillion dollars may or may have not been the right thing to do, I really don’t know, but as you see the world is litterally cringing every time another country goes near default due to the debt crisis. Are we in better or worse shape than Greece or Italy? Better check, you might be surprised.
Posted by: david | November 9, 2011, 6:18 pm 6:18 pm
I love how the liberals try to speak of the Bush deficits in the same breath as the unprecedented Obama deficits (in less than 3 years in office!). As far as a debtor being slave to the lender, that’s a biblical reference that the liberals in here will flat-out reject. NOT because it’s inaccurate, but on account of its authority. Stimulus I didn’t work. Liberals will contend how much worse things would have been had we not wasted $1 TRILLION. Well if McCain had been elected the unemployment situation would be much better. You wouldn’t be able to argue against that point, right? I mean, after all, I just KNOW that things would be much better if McCain had been elected. We all just KNOW that Stimulus II (if it could get passed the obstructionist Democrat-controlled Senate) will get Americans working tomorrow, right? What a joke. I applaud your absolute fidelity and loyalty you’re able to show your president.
Posted by: s | November 9, 2011, 7:02 pm 7:02 pm
Comical.
Posted by: Mary | November 9, 2011, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm
“The massive economic collapse under the last president is the main reason for the ongoing deficits and debt of the United States. You will recall the last president also left huge deficits and a huge debt as well as the economic collapse. Sure, they’re the ‘frugal’ ones.”
Posted by: Dave | November 9, 2011, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
Yawn. How did Obama improve the debt situation? Our national debt is 50% HIGHER now, genius. Then again, everyone knows liberals can’t do simple math. The “massive economic collapse” never happened, but it’s on its way. Obama will be OK. The clueless Obamabots? Not so much. You’re getting the change you deserve.
Posted by: Mary | November 9, 2011, 7:59 pm 7:59 pm
POSTED BY: MARY | NOVEMBER 9, 2011, 7:59 PM 7:59 PM
Again you show a complete lack of understanding of what the massive economic collapse under Bush did to the ongoing deficits and debt of the United States.
Posted by: Dave | November 10, 2011, 12:08 am 12:08 am
POSTED BY: MARY | NOVEMBER 9, 2011, 7:59 PM 7:59 PM
P.S. – your lack of understanding seems to extend to the world economy, the role the Bush economic collapse played in destabilizing economies around the world and the role that whole shaky business is playing in the current American economy.
Posted by: Dave | November 10, 2011, 12:13 am 12:13 am
Forcing our fraud, waste and abuse departments to actually do their job? How ingenius! Shouldn’t they have been doing this all along?
Posted by: commonsenseparty | November 10, 2011, 2:23 am 2:23 am
DAVID
We are not Greece or Italy. The American dollar is the life blood of the world economy and we are the world’s biggest market. The point I’m trying to make is that the debt and deficit are not the problem. The problem is a public that is not spending or is afraid to spend. This slows everything down. Tackle the debt in good economic times if it’s so important, not now.
Posted by: tmferretti | November 10, 2011, 8:14 am 8:14 am
LOL! Naturally the Obama haters here will deride this. It’s smart, it makes sense, it saves the government money. So Republicans make fun of it. Why do Republicans hate America so much?
Posted by: Searambler | November 10, 2011, 9:39 am 9:39 am
Posted by: Searambler | November 10, 2011, 9:39 am 9:39 am
More money saving by Obama…
Source: Reuters
Published: Thursday, 10 Nov 2011 | 12:36 PM ET
The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Thursday defended their million-dollar executive bonuses which have come under fire given huge losses at the government-owned mortgage firms.
Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director Edward DeMarco said in a Nov. 10 letter to U.S. lawmakers the salaries and deferred compensation awarded to executives are necessary if the firms are to attract and keep talent required to run operations effectively.
Slammed by losses from the precarious U.S. housing market, Fannie and Freddie have requested new aid on top of hundreds of billions of dollars in government support propping them up, raising questions about the bonuses.
DeMarco was responding to a bipartisan group of 60 U.S. senators that wrote last week and demanded changes to the executive compensation practices that were put in place two years ago.
Posted by: Mary | November 10, 2011, 1:23 pm 1:23 pm
Don’t you guys see? it’s getting to that point and this is extremely serious! It’s little things like this that can add up.. (they equal millions for each they try to cut) we have to stand up as a nation or fall as one.. He (Obama) is unable to negotiate with the republicans to budget agreements so somewhere down the line something has to be cut.. I am not here to troll or bag on one or the other party (i am a republican) so i do understand where the president is coming from..
Posted by: Ashley | November 11, 2011, 10:59 am 10:59 am
I would like all our washington politicians to feel our pain and have their salaries reduced. Government department heads salaries could also be reduced some. It would save a lot of money that we need to save Social Security and Medicare from being ruined by the GOP. If the GOP won’t work for jobs and won’t work for average Americans we need to replace them with people who want to work for the best for all America.
Posted by: Vicki | November 12, 2011, 1:01 am 1:01 am
This is wonderful if every office in the Federal Government does this. Unfortunately anywhere where high ranking individuals are assigned these guidelines will not be followed. It will be the normal double standard.
Posted by: Mike | November 13, 2011, 8:10 am 8:10 am
The government was spending FOUR BILLION DOLLARS on swag? Isn’t this a scandal by itself? But, in flies ObamaMan, saying, “At a time when families have had to cut back, have had to make some tough decisions about getting rid of things that they don’t need, in order to make the investments that they do, we thought that it was entirely appropriate for our governments and our agencies to try to root out waste, large and small, in a systematic way.”
Oh, ObamaMan, you are SUCH a hero to ask those in Washington to make such sacrifices as cups, t-shirts and plaques. And to think: “…The savings will be reinvested in the government in “the things that really matter, like supporting our veterans and our armed forces, and investing in our nation’s infrastructure to help grow the economy and create jobs…” WOW, you really ARE a CAPED CURSED ADDER!
Posted by: K. Malloy | November 13, 2011, 12:02 pm 12:02 pm
These cuts need to start with local & state as well as at the federal level! Most us need to be educated on how all this is connected before we play the blame game! We all want a quick scapegoat goat such as our presidents or party. We are (as a whole have been & are responsible for quite a bit of the problems we are facing as a nation. You have local city & state employees that even use the 911 system to retrieve personal information in people just because they can and to be down right nosey! Gosh if we would do some sweeping from under our own rugs first may start to make a difference!
Posted by: Kathy C Harvey | November 13, 2011, 12:56 pm 12:56 pm
As usual this means nothing, but he sure waited until he made us buy all his books first!
Posted by: Freedom | November 14, 2011, 9:15 am 9:15 am
I’m all for controlling wasteful spending. It should not have taken 3 years to come up with this, so my assumption has to be that this is more political than substance. When my company hits several months of poor budget performance these cuts are implemented. When revenues started dropping due to the economic downturn, these cuts should happen automatically.
Posted by: They all stink | November 16, 2011, 5:31 am 5:31 am
Downloading stuff from this website is as easy |as clicking the mouse rather than other websites which transfer me here and there on the pages.
Posted by: Nguyet Krupke | January 23, 2012, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm