So the House Republicans pulled a fast one on the tea party

[FD]

They found a way to claim spending "cuts" through accounting tricks. Do you think the tea party crowd will notice?


From the WSJ

U.S. Budget Analysis Shows Smaller Savings

By NAFTALI BENDAVID

WASHINGTON—A new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the 2011 spending deal struck by Republicans and Democrats late Friday would save only about $352 million this year, a small fraction of the $38.5 billion touted by negotiators on both sides.

The nonpartisan budget office for Congress reports that the two sides succeeded in cutting the government's spending authority for this year by the larger amount. But because some of the cuts would be slow to take effect, and because some of the money was unlikely to be spent in any case, the reduction in actual "outlays" would come to a small percentage of the announced amount.

The CBO found that when emergency spending is factored in, such as funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the budget deal actually would spend $3 billion more than initial estimates for 2011 spending.

The report could complicate the efforts of leaders of both parties to push the deal through the House and Senate Thursday. The deal, struck in the waning hours of last Friday, averted a government shutdown that would have taken place Saturday morning. Now, lawmakers face the risk of a shutdown yet again if they do not approve the agreement or some other government funding mechanism by this Friday night.

The deal's defenders say its budget cuts are real, and that over the years they will result in significant spending reductions. Even if the cuts are slow to take effect, they say, they still amount to actual reductions.

Even before the CBO report came out, many House Republicans were expressing reservations about the $38.5 billion in cuts, saying they were disappointed that the total wasn't closer to the $61 billion initially demanded by House Republicans.

Twenty-eight House Republicans signaled their displeasure at the budget package by opposing the one-week funding extension needed to provide time to pass the longer-term deal, which would fund the government until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Enough House Democrats may support the agreement Thursday that it will pass even with Republican defections, though that is an outcome GOP leaders had sought to avoid.

One sign of the possible loss of support among conservatives is the position of the National Review. The conservative magazine said it initially supported the agreement but on Wednesday retracted that support, arguing that the deal was reached only by using budgetary gimmicks.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and likely GOP presidential candidate, also said Wednesday that he opposed the deal.

"When you consider that the federal deficit in February alone was over $222 billion, to have actual cuts less than the $38 billion originally advertised is just not serious,'' Mr. Pawlenty said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories

[bevischief]

Hell yes they will.

[orange]

Final vote on 2011 budget

House 260 yes 167 no
(TPers) 79 yes 32 no

Senate 81 yes 19 no
(no breakdown yet)


http://projects.washingtonpost.com/c...s/268/?hpid=z1

[orange]

Apparently they either didn't notice or they didn't care.

[CoMoChief]

2-party dictatorship.

at the fools who think either party has any initiative to do a god damn thing about our govt's massive spending.

[Bewbies]

The fact that people are actually talking about something as boring as the budget would point to yes.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by orange

Apparently they either didn't notice or they didn't care.

It's both. It's all about keeping DC status quo and in the minds of the DC elites who run this country, "ain't no tea party(a la "We The People") going to come to town to make us "ruling elites"(a la Progessive Marxist RINOs and Dems) play by the rules of the Constitution and make us stop stealing $$ from "We The People". We have to good of a "GIG" here in DC

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by orange

Apparently they either didn't notice or they didn't care.

Do you hang with any Tea Partiers or get their mailings to know?

Nope they're noticing alright. And they're activating.

[Jaric]

This is not suprising.

[HonestChieffan]

A lot of pencil whipping going on, more restating of numbers and a lot of half truths on all sides. As usual its how you add the numbers, what period you look at and a lot of other things to get to any given number. Right now the o big effort is by antis of any ilk to restate the numbers to support what ever they are anti and then go off in a rage.

more smoke than fire as people learn what is real vs what they get from the spinners and such.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

2-party dictatorship.

at the fools who think either party has any initiative to do a god damn thing about our govt's massive spending.