Obama's Drop-In-The-Bucket Budget Cuts

Matt Margolis

By now you’ve heard all about Obama’s call to cut $100 million from the budget.

Imagine that. How bold. $100 million out of a $3.5 trillion budget. Wow. There’s the epitome of fiscal responsibility. Republicans justifiably mocked Obama’s so-called fiscal responsibility.

The GOP is not impressed with President Obama’s call to save $100 million.

The basic point is that Obama’s savings amount to a tiny portion of federal spending.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor’s office sent out a note just a bit ago declaring, “More money has gone to Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) pet airport in Pennsylvania than the federal government will save over the next 90 days under President Obama.

“Money The President Says He Will Save Over The Next 90 Days: $100 Million

“Money That Rep. John Murtha Has Secured For His Pet Airport: $150 Million, Not Including The Nearly $1 Million In Stimulus Funding.”

John Boehner issued the followed statement in response to the news.

“The Administration’s new talk of trimming a meager .0025 percent from the $4 trillion federal budget just doesn’t square with its reckless record on borrowing and spending.  Washington Democrats have spent the past three months doling out more taxpayer dollars than every previous President combined, and the Administration is clearly feeling the heat.  If the Administration wants to get serious about cutting waste, it should start by taking a closer look at how millions in ‘stimulus’ dollars are being wasted on a skateboard park in Rhode Island, bike racks in Washington, D.C., highway studies instead of construction projects in Ohio, and programs led by housing agencies that routinely fail audits.

Gregory Mankiw, the former head of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, puts Obama’s call for $100 million in cuts into perspective:

Just to be clear: $100 million represents .003 percent of $3.5 trillion.

To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had be cut? By $3 over the course of the year–approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.