The House is slated to vote today on the budget deal struck by the president, Rep. John Boehner, and Sen. Harry Reid, but the Associated Press released an analysys Wednesday that shows that the nearly $8 billion in budget cuts the deal brokered will be almost entirely offset by increases in defense spending.
The Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that compared with current spending rates the spending bill due for a House vote Thursday would pare just $352 million from the deficit through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending…
A separate CBO analysis provided to lawmakers but not released publicly says that $5.7 billion in savings claimed by cutting bonuses to states enrolling more children and reducing the amount of money available to subsidize health care cooperatives authorized under the new health care law won’t produce a dime of actual savings. CBO believes they are simply cuts to spending authority that is unlikely to be used anyway.
But those cuts to mandatory benefit programs, while producing no deficit savings, can be claimed under budget rules to pay for spending increases elsewhere in the legislation. All told, $17.8 million in such savings is claimed but just a tiny portion of it would actually reduce the deficit.
Emphasis added, of course. In light of these new facts, conservative commentators who had previously supported the deal, such as the Washington Examiner's Phillip Klein and the folks at National Review Online, have withdrawn their support.
What are your thoughts on the developments?
