November 4, 2005

MAKE WAY FOR THE OKIES:

Senate Passes Plan to Cut $35 Billion From Deficit (Jonathan Weisman, November 4, 2005, Washington Post)

The Senate approved sweeping deficit-reduction legislation last night that would save about $35 billion over the next five years by cutting federal spending on prescription drugs, agriculture supports and student loans, while clamping down on fraud in the Medicaid program.

The measure would also open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, a long-sought goal of the oil industry that took a major step forward after years of political struggle. A bipartisan effort to strip the drilling provision narrowly failed.

The Senate bill, which passed 52 to 47, is the first in nearly a decade to tackle the growth of entitlement spending, the part of the federal budget that rises automatically based on set formulas and population changes.

It would shave payments to some farmers by 2.5 percent, while eliminating a major cotton support program and trimming agriculture conservation spending. A proposal to limit payments to rich farmers failed yesterday....


It's chump change, but the Right will lap it up and the Left go ballistic.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2005 6:46 AM
Comments

Yes it's chump change but as you note it will make some GOPers feel better which is important going into '06. And maybe the House comes up with even more.

That said, whenever agriculture subsidiaries are cut the thinking is it hurts the GOP since most of these payments go to red states. We'll have to see if that is true.

Posted by: AWW at November 4, 2005 6:59 AM

What a joke! In the five years covered by this legislation, they are proposing to cut $35 bn, but they will add close to $800 bn in entitlement and military spending GROWTH. It gives the pols another 5 years of grace period to not talk about the real poblem, namely growth in entitlement programs and military spending. Then they will throw another bone to the useful idiots.

Posted by: sam at November 4, 2005 8:06 AM

Right on cue -- spending cuts being considered by House Republicans are an OUTRAGE!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-11_4_05_EJD.html

Posted by: kevin whited at November 4, 2005 10:58 AM

sam:

It's a fundamentally unserious issue among pretty much all sides.

Posted by: Matt Murphy at November 4, 2005 6:31 PM
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