Obama presents fine points of trim, $3.6T budget
WASHINGTON -- President Obama laid out the details of his $3.6 trillion budget for 2010 Thursday while calling special attention to $17 billion that's not there.
The president chose to highlight 121 programs that he wants to eliminate or reduce, representing less than one-half of 1% of the budget. More than half of the savings would be in defense; about 20% are in domestic programs also targeted by former President George W. Bush.
The effort to turn attention to fiscal austerity follows a three-month period in which Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package and a $410 billion spending bill to complete the 2009 budget. The stimulus package includes funding for flood prevention and wastewater treatment programs Obama now says should be eliminated.
His 1,374-page budget for 2010 includes more than $1.2 trillion in funds that must be appropriated by Congress, including big increases in health care, energy and education. The contrast between the proposed new spending and reductions produced derision from Republican critics.
"It's like taking a teaspoon of water out of a bathtub while you keep the spigot on at full speed, and the bathtub continues to fill up," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who Obama tried earlier this year to nominate as Commerce secretary.
Among the biggest winners in the budget are programs that target environmental protection, housing, veterans and foreign aid. Defense will grow 4%, while domestic spending will grow about 7%.
Among the biggest losers in Obama's target list of 121 programs are many that include congressional earmarks, or specific projects that lawmakers can tout in their states and districts. However, Obama did not try to eliminate about 9,000 earmarks from the $410 billion spending bill he signed in March.
The White House had considered sending Congress a list of suggested cuts to this year's budget — money that would be saved immediately if Congress went along — but has not done so yet. Budget director Peter Orszag said such a rescissions package still could be proposed "if that's a course that we choose to pursue."
Unlike Bush, Obama targeted the Pentagon for 56% of his proposed cuts, including major reductions in weapons systems previously announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The 11 biggest proposed cuts are in defense programs.
The biggest domestic program cut would be one that subsidizes states for the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. Orszag said it "is not well-targeted to the problem," while the administration has increased funding by 8% for border security.
The administration is seeking to kill 11 education programs, including the Even Start pre-school program and others that mentor students, train teachers and teach civics. The Bush administration targeted nearly 50 education programs, but most of them were restored each year by Congress.
"There is a lot of money that's being spent inefficiently, ineffectively and in some cases in ways that are actually pretty stunning," Obama said. He singled out a literacy program that spends more than half its funds on overhead and an Education Department attaché to the United Nations in Paris whose job can be replaced by e-mail and video conferencing.
Some of the programs cost less than $1 million each, Obama said. "In Washington, I guess that's considered trivial," he said. "Outside of Washington, that's still considered a lot of money."