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| WaPo admits that 2011 budget cuts were mostly smoke and mirrors |
| 2013-02-10 |
| Late on the night of April 8, 2011, Washington's leaders announced that they'd just done something extraordinary. They had agreed to cut the federal budget -- and cut it big. "The largest annual spending cut in our history," President Obama called it in a televised speech. To prevent a government shutdown, the parties had agreed to slash $37.8 billion: more than the budgets of the Labor and Commerce departments, combined. At the Capitol, Republicans savored a win for austerity. There would be "deep, but responsible, reductions in virtually all areas of government," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) promised a few days later, before the deal passed. Nearly two years later, however, these landmark budget cuts have fallen far short of their promises. In some areas, they did bring significant cutbacks in federal spending. Grants for clean water dried up. Cities got less money for affordable housing. to be fair the 2011 bill also reduced out year budget authority and that constrained domestic spending a bit in FY 2012 and more so in FY 2013- in fact the FY 2013 effect is responsible for the initial -0.1 GDP number for the quarter ending dec 31 But the bill also turned out to be an epic kind of Washington illusion. It was stuffed with gimmicks that made the cuts seem far bigger -- and the politicians far bolder -- than they actually were. |
| Posted by:lord garth |