Editorials Highlight President’s Fiscal Irresponsibility

Editorials Highlight President’s Fiscal Irresponsibility

APRIL 23, 2009

Washington Post:  "President Obama is requiring government agencies to find $100 million in savings. Next year's budget deficit will be $1.4 trillion. The new reductions would generate savings equal to 0.007 percent of that -- something like trying to deal with a $5,000 credit card debt by forgoing a pack of gum. We understand the importance of symbolism, and we're all for telling the Department of Homeland Security, as Mr. Obama did, that the $3 million it has given to consultants to come up with new logos is more than enough. The trouble is not this acknowledged drop in the bucket; the trouble is that Mr. Obama is simultaneously emptying the bucket a lot faster with spending proposals and a reluctance to take steps to really dent the deficit." (4/22/2009)

Washington Times: "President Obama ordered his Cabinet to cut $100 million from the budget yesterday. This charade shows that Mr. Obama heard last week's ‘tea-party' protests against government spending. It also proves that popular pressure can force some fiscal discipline. The White House is using the cut to claim that Mr. Obama is keeping his campaign promise ‘to go through the federal budget line by line, page by page' cutting wasteful government programs. But yesterday's tiny effort works out to about 35 cents per American. That's less than a drop in the spending bucket." (4/21/2009)

Investor's Business Daily:  "When President Obama directed his Cabinet to cut $100 million out of the budget, it looked at first like a misprint. That's barely enough to count as a rounding error. Indeed, the only hard part about meeting the president's goal will be finding programs small enough to fit under that bar. In making the announcement, Obama talked about earning the public's trust on spending. Apparently, he thinks people put a low value on trust.  Measured against the $3.6 trillion budget Obama issued weeks ago, the cuts amount to 0.0028%. And assuming each of his Cabinet officials shares the burden equally - and how could they not? - they each only have to come up with about $7 million in savings." (4/21/2009)

Union Leader:  "The fact is, the President has already spent all of the "saved" money and more. (Fully $80 million of the $100 million in microlending will be borrowed because Washington doesn't have it.) The President's budget puts the government $1.2 trillion in debt this year alone. Responsibly cutting some waste does not suddenly make one a responsible budgeter when the other side of the ledger is dipped so far into the red no one can see the bottom." (4/23/2009)

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:  "The problem, however, is that the Obama administration is becoming the biggest contributor to the nation's red ink. Take Obama's proposed $3.6 trillion budget for fiscal 2010. It would produce $9 trillion in deficits over the next decade. Don't forget that the current federal deficit is $192.3 billion.  Given this predicament, it's difficult to get excited about Obama's new directive that his Cabinet reduce spending by $100 million. He admits that the sum is a "drop in the bucket" given the enormity of the nation's deficit. But Obama must work harder to overcome what he aptly called a ‘confidence gap.'" (4/22/2009)