TruthOut10
Active Member
- Dec 3, 2012
- 627
- 100
"It Only Cuts 2%" Yes - All Of It From Only 1/3 Of The Budget, Which Is Why It's So Devastating
Lets take a look at a common claim made by Republicans and then one program Head Start highlighted by the Obama administration. We will continue to dig into other claims later this week
Were only cutting 2.5 percent of the budget.
Virtually all of the $85 billion in reductions are being made in the discretionary budget which is only about 31 percent of federal spending. So this figure, cited by many Republicans, is based on the wrong-sized pie.
Discretionary spending must be funded year after year by Congress, whereas so-called mandatory programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and the like) are on automatic pilot unless Congress changes the law. The mandatory programs are largely untouched in the sequester though Medicare providers must take a 2 percent haircut even though projections show that mandatory programs are most responsible for the growth in spending.
In effect, that means one-third of the budget is carrying the burden of almost all of the cost reductions. And then on top of that, the cuts must be done in about half a year. Do the math the percentages add up very quickly.
The Bipartisan Policy Center calculates that on the non-defense side, that translates into a reduction of 8 percent. Defense spending faces an even higher hurdle 13 percent. Those numbers are significantly higher than just 2.5 percent.
Spin and counterspin in the sequester debate - The Washington Post
Lets take a look at a common claim made by Republicans and then one program Head Start highlighted by the Obama administration. We will continue to dig into other claims later this week
Were only cutting 2.5 percent of the budget.
Virtually all of the $85 billion in reductions are being made in the discretionary budget which is only about 31 percent of federal spending. So this figure, cited by many Republicans, is based on the wrong-sized pie.
Discretionary spending must be funded year after year by Congress, whereas so-called mandatory programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and the like) are on automatic pilot unless Congress changes the law. The mandatory programs are largely untouched in the sequester though Medicare providers must take a 2 percent haircut even though projections show that mandatory programs are most responsible for the growth in spending.
In effect, that means one-third of the budget is carrying the burden of almost all of the cost reductions. And then on top of that, the cuts must be done in about half a year. Do the math the percentages add up very quickly.
The Bipartisan Policy Center calculates that on the non-defense side, that translates into a reduction of 8 percent. Defense spending faces an even higher hurdle 13 percent. Those numbers are significantly higher than just 2.5 percent.
Spin and counterspin in the sequester debate - The Washington Post
