CNNMoney.com ran a provocative piece Friday listing what it determined to be the top "meanest budget cuts." The website laid out seven government programs that are victims of the recent budget compromise – programs that provide assistance to the poor and support humanitarian causes overseas.
Most of the individual cuts make up a small fraction of each program's annual budget, and a Democratic source is quoted multiple times downplaying the significance of the cuts. Don't tell CNN, however, as these cuts are apparently "mean."
One of the cuts was a seven percent cut to housing assistance for Native Americans. But according to a Democrat staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the program's funding stood at $70 million more than that requested by President Obama.
Also listed was a roughly seven percent cut to a food stamps program with a 2010 budget of $7.3 billion. CNN quoted the Senate Democrat staffer as saying that fewer people rely on the program for assistance. "The agency noted that the final cut was actually less than President Obama proposed," CNN added.
Community health centers are hit with "mean" cuts according to CNN, but the Senate Democrat staffer told CNN that the centers will receive $400 million from the health care bill.
