AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.
Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!Hot on HuffPost:
Walker Recall Effort Struggles To Gain Momentum
Controversial Book On Obama Appears To Have Lifted Key Quote
FederalBudget
Opinion: Just How Deep Are Those Spending Cuts?
By John Merline - AOL NewsThe headlines appear to say it all. "Painful Cuts in Obama's $3.7 Trillion Budget." "Budget Director Calls Steep Budget Cuts Necessary." "Obama Budget Pivots From Stimulus to Deficit Cuts." "Cuts to Target Working Poor, Middle Class and Students." On and on they go. But how deep are these cuts really? Take a closer look, and they turn out to be less than meets the eye. Consider: President Barack Obama's 2012 budget proposes to spend $3.48 trillion on everything except interest on the national debt. That's a 7 percent increase over what the government spent in 2010. And keep in mind that in ...
Opinion: Is the Debt Commission Serious?
By John Merline - AOL News(April 27) -- Before President Barack Obama's debt commission officially met for the first time today, he told the members that "everything has to be on the table" when it comes to reducing the nation's gargantuan debt. Presumably, that would include Obama's own budget. After all, his budget plan, released earlier this year, would leave the country $5 trillion deeper in debt than would otherwise be the case, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That's because Obama's budget would spend more ($2.3 trillion more) and take in less money ($1.4 trillion less) than if the government were ...
Debate: Spending, Not Taxes, Is the Problem
By not in system - AOL News(April 14) -- Widely used in Europe, the value-added tax (VAT) has always seemed a nonstarter in the United States. That may be changing given apparently insurmountable structural deficits and fear that the financial collapse of Greece could happen here if revenue isn't increased. These days, the VAT is being taken seriously even by pro-market conservatives and libertarians.I do not agree with their arguments, but they present an interesting challenge. __________________________Other Views on VATIt's almost inescapable, say Henry Aaron and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution.This ...
Opinion: President's Budget Is a Start, at Least
By not in system - AOL News(Feb. 1) -– The president's budget elevates the issue of fiscal responsibility (good), but fails to achieve it (not good). President Obama proposes spending $3.8 trillion next year and borrowing $1.3 trillion of that. The massive deficits the nation now faces would gradually fall to $706 billion in 2014, before rising back to just over $1 trillion by 2020. Among the larger deficit-reducing proposals in the budget are a three-year nonsecurity discretionary spending freeze, which would save $250 billion over 10 years; a fee on large financial institutions designed to pay back the TARP ...
Obama's $3.8 Trillion Budget: War and School Spending Up, Bush Tax Cuts Out
By Patricia Murphy - Politics DailyPresident Obama sent his $3.834 trillion budget proposal to Congress on Monday morning, complete with a record-breaking deficit; increased defense, education and entitlement spending; tax increases for wealthy families; and a three-year spending freeze on non-defense discretionary spending. Entitlement programs and interest payments on the existing $12.4 trillion national debt account for two-thirds, or $2.39 trillion, of the budget, with Medicare, Social Security and veterans' programs increasing at federally mandated levels. The rest of the budget is heavy on defense and homeland security ...
Spending Freeze Could 'Hit the Congress Where It Lives'
By Tamara Lytle - AOL NewsWASHINGTON (Jan. 26) – President Obama's proposal to freeze certain federal spending will have a tiny impact on the nation's deficit but a big one on some citizens who could see cuts to programs they rely on, according to budget experts. Obama wants to hold spending on $447 billion worth of domestic programs level for three years. That means no adjustment for inflation, population growth or demand for the particular service that's being cut. But Obama isn't including entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which take up a big chunk of the budget. And he's ...
Opinion: Spot the Savings, If You Can
By John Merline - AOL News(Jan. 26) – If the old cliché about how "little things mean a lot" holds true in the world of Washington spending, then the Obama administration's plan to freeze some federal spending for three years is a big deal. But that's about the only way this plan could be characterized as a big deal. By every other measure, it's microcosmic. Here are some relevant numbers: First, the share of the budget affected by the freeze is small – just 13 percent, based on Congressional Budget Office data for 2011 (the administration says 17 percent). That's because President Obama has taken most ...
Senate Approves Huge Spending Bill
By not in system - AOL NewsWASHINGTON (Dec. 13) -- The Senate on Sunday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas of the federal government, including health, education, law enforcement and veterans' programs. The more-than-1,000-page package, one of the last essential chores of Congress this year, passed 57-35 and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. The weekend action underlined the legislative crush faced by Congress as it tries to wind up the year. After the vote, the Senate immediately returned to the debate on health care legislation that has consumed its time ...
More Federal Workers Make Six Figures in the Recession
By David Sessions - Politics DailyThe number of federal employees making over $100,000 per year has exploded in the first 18 months of the recession, USA Today reports, sending the total percentage from 14 percent to 19 percent. The highest-paid federal workers are seeing the largest increases: In the same period, the number of civil servants making over $150,000 jumped from 1,868 to 10,100. When the recession began, only one person at the Department of Transportation was making over $170,000. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees do. The skyrocketing federal pay is systematic, reaching every level in every agency. ...
Obama Calls For 'Budget Cuts' While Dramatically Increasing Spending
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyThe White House is touting President Obama's call for $17 billion in proposed "budget cuts" included in the details of his $3.5 trillion spending plan set to be unveiled today. But the Administration's intended claim of budgetary savings as a result crumbles under the reality of the overall spending increases that President Obama is proposing. The Administration's budget proposal calls for an eight percent increase in discretionary spending for the fiscal year beginning in October, while the cuts amount to only one half of one percent of the total federal budget.Most of the president's planned ...
Follow Politics Daily
POPULAR
- Nancy Pelosi Confirms House May Skip Up or Down Vote on Senate Health Bill
- Debrahlee Lorenzana: A Double Take on Those Double D's
- Campbell Brown Quits CNN With Shockingly Frank Farewell
- Palin Earnings Estimated at $12 Million
- The Five Most Racist Obama Cartoons?
- Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women
- Soraya M., Stoned to Death for Being an "Inconvenient Wife''
- No posts are available.
News From Our Partners
- Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st
- Picking new leader, Egyptians search for superman
- Egyptians vote in first free presidential vote
- Moon chips from Vegas casino mogul sent to NASA
- Egyptians vote to rid nation of autocratic rule
- More Stories »
- 'Masters of the Universe' Sure Have Fragile Egos
- Romney: My Mistakes 'Haunt Me'
- Newt Lauds Romney: He's Like Eisenhower
- Irked Senate Panel Votes 30-0 to Cut Pakistan Aid
- GSA Bash Organizer Steps Down
- More Stories »
- Know Your Enemy
- Obama’s Challenge in Egypt
- The Edwards Waiting Game
- Are Doctors Doing Too Much?
- The Pagan Cult of Reagan
- More Stories »
- Ambition Counteracting Ambition
- Robert Blagojevich Speaks Out
- In Iowa, Obama Calls Romney's Words 'A Cow Pie of Distortion'
- In Iowa, Obama Calls On Congress to Act on Clean Energy Tax Credits
- Romney Has Interesting Morning in Inner-City Philly
- More Stories »
Top News
More News
More on Aol
Local News
More Blog/Sites
Sites and Services
HuffPost Politics