House Republicans Propose $1.3 Trillion in Spending Cuts

H/T:  Hot Air
House Republicans have proposed a series of cuts to spending that would save $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The group led by Paul Ryan (fan-girl sigh) took the Democrat majority to task for their failure to produce a budget which constitutes a failure to govern:

Having shoveled out trillions of dollars in new spending and debt, House Democratic leaders now admit they cannot budget for all of it – and won’t even try. For the first time, the House will fail even to propose a budget. Instead the Democratic Majority will resort to an ad hoc, spend-as-you-go process that abandons any pretense of governing.

The details of the spending cuts outlined at the link above are as follows:

• Cancel Unused TARP Funds. Prohibit the Treasury Secretary from entering into new commitments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP]. Ending TARP would prevent up to $396 billion in additional disbursements; CBO estimates savings of $16 billion. H.R. 3140 introduced by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.
•  Cancel Unspent ‘Stimulus’ Funds. Rescind all unobligated budget authority authorized under the “stimulus” bill and dedicate to deficit reduction. Saves up to $266 billion. H.R. 3140 introduced by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.
•  Cut and Cap Discretionary Spending. Return non-defense discretionary spending to pre-Obama (fiscal year 2008) baseline levels. Saves up to $925 billion. Legislation introduced by Reps. Ryan and Hensarling (H.R. 3964) and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio (H.R 3298) include caps on discretionary spending.
•  Reduce Government Employment. Hire one person for every two who leaves civilian government service until the workforce is reduced to pre-Obama levels (exempting the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs). Saves an estimated $35 billion. H.R. 5348 introduced by Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
•  Freeze Government Pay. Freeze Federal civilian pay for 1 year. Saves an estimated $30 billion.
•  Adopt the Legislative Line-Item Veto. Enact a constitutional line-item veto law. The President’s FY 2011 budget included terminations, reductions, and savings that would achieve $23 billion in one year. While Congress may not accept all these savings, the Line Item Veto can help reduce spending. H.R. 1294 introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
•  Reform and Bring Transparency to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Reform these companies by ending conservatorship, shrinking their portfolios, establishing minimum capital standards, reducing conforming loan limits, and bringing transparency to taxpayer exposure. According to CBO, the cost to taxpayers of putting government in control of Fannie and Freddie is $373 billion through 2020. Saves an estimated $30 billion. H.R. 4889 introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas. H.R. 4653 introduced by Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey.
• Create a Sunset Commission. Establish a commission to conduct systematic reviews of Federal programs and agencies, and make recommendations for those that should be terminated; and provide for automatic sunset of programs unless expressly reauthorized by the Congress. H.R. 393 introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has a great analysis of the potential savings from these cuts so I won't reiterate them here.  This is far from the complete plan to address our nation's fiscal woes we see in Paul Ryan's Roadmap but it is a good start.  Moreover, the cuts put Democrats in the position of rejecting spending cuts as they head into the 2010 midterm elections.  It is nearly inconceivable the Democrats could claim they have had any other plan but to spend the nation into Greek oblivion but heaven knows that won't stop them from claiming otherwise.

Unsustainable, That's What They Are

Sing it with Nat King Cole, unsustainable through near and far.  Like a song of debt that clings to me, the CBO finds the 2011 Obama administration budget unsustainable in every way:

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president's budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

 That's why Democratic majorities are so regrettable.  And forever more that's how they'll stay... at least until November.
More at Potluck
Via Memeorandum

Oh Joy, Another $1.6 Trillion in Deficit Spending

The big news of the day is the budget, all $3.8 Trillion of it, including a $1.6 Trillion deficit. We'll hear lots of talk of what was inherited to be sure. This CBO graph, however, puts the inheritance in context:

To be sure, Republicans spent like drunken sailors, but they don't hold a candle to the Democrats.  Rep. Jeb Hensarling made an appearance on Morning Joe this morning to discuss the budget shortfall and his famous exchange with President Obama at the Republican House retreat on Friday.  The point he makes quite early in the segment is one that bears repeating.  Congress spends the money and it was a Democratic Congress that has controlled the budget since 2006.    Republicans were certainly not without blame but they paid a dear price for their spending and were voted out in droves beginning in 2006.  

Hensarling makes mention of Paul Ryan's budget at the very end of the segment.  Ryan issued a statement today about the budget and has analysis, charts and graphs including the following graph to illustrate how fiscally responsible the Democrats have been since taking charge of government:

Perhaps this explains why Joe Scarborough concedes Paul Ryan is a star at the end of the Morning Joe segment:

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