One way to judge the merits of the budget Barack Obama unveiled this week is by the comments of his political allies. "It's not enough to focus primarily on the non-security discretionary part of the budget," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad.
Erskine Bowles, the Democrat whom Obama appointed as co-chairman of his fiscal commission, said the budget goes "nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare." "The president punted," began the editorial of the Washington Post, which endorsed Obama in 2008. The paper noted tartly that he "chose to duck" the fiscal commission's recommendations.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
• Brian Hughes - Obama vows deeper deficit cut than budget shows
President Obama insisted Tuesday that he did not duck the tough choices in his budget proposal for 2012, which was widely panned for doing too little to reduce the federal deficit and nothing to address budget-busting problems with entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
"Nobody is more mindful than me that entitlements are going to be a key part of this issue," Obama said during his first press conference of the year, just a day after submitting his $3.7 trillion proposal to Congress. "The notion that [entitlement reform] has been shelved is incorrect. [The budget] still provides a framework for a conversation." Yet, Obama was on the defensive as congressional Republicans grilled top administration officials for not tackling ballooning Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs or embracing other reforms proposed by the president's own bipartisan deficit commission.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
• Susan Ferrechio - House GOP begins slashing 2011 budget
An emboldened House Republican majority Tuesday plowed ahead with its budget-cutting plans, opening a debate that could include hundreds of amendments and is expected to end with at least $100 billion cut from President Obama's spending request for the remainder of this fiscal year. The measure, needed to fund the government from March to October, includes across-the-board reductions in spending for dozens of agencies and programs, including the Pentagon. It is testing the power of fiscally conservative Tea Party freshmen and setting up a standoff with Obama, who on Tuesday threatened to veto the measure.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
Hans Bader - Obama budget: Life is short, eat dessert first
If a motto summed up the Obama presidency, it might be, “Life is short. Eat dessert first.” His policies are all about self-indulgence in the present, to be paid for with either long-run economic decline, or painful sacrifices by future generations.
His recent budget proposal, which contains a mix of real spending increases and mostly imaginary “cuts,” is a case in point. It pretends to cut spending and the deficit, but its “cuts” are slated to occur largely in the distant future (and thus may never happen), while its increases kick in almost immediately. It is so dishonest that it has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum.
As former Congressional economist Chris Edwards notes, although Obama claims it cuts spending, “His new budget proposes slightly more discretionary and entitlement spending for next year than did his last budget!
Read more at the Washington Examiner
John Vaught LaBeaume - Jeff Flake launches Senate bid in midst of pro-Patriot Act authorization votes
U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake was the first off the bat to throw his hat into the ring, just days after Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)’s - number two on the Senate Republican leadership ladder as Majority Whip - surprise retirement announcement.
Flake has compiled one of the most libertarian voting records of any Member of Congress, keeping true to his principles when he went ot Washington after serving as executive director of the Goldwater Institute, Arizona’s state-based free market think tank.
If, as Slate’s Dave Weigel was quick to remind us, Flake’s libertarian record could come under scrutiny in a hotly contested, multiple candidate Republican primary, his base in the small government crowd has been itching to jump behind him.
Politico’s Morning Score missive scribe Alexander Burns offered this quip: “Question of the day: Will the Club for Growth endorsement come down before or after noon on the East Coast?”
Indeed, FreedomWorks joined the Club for Growth in endorsing. The primary field has yet to take shape, but it’s clear these groups are confident none of the other potential candidates can match Flake on their scorecards. (Talking Points Memo’s Even McMorris-Santoro wasn’t quite on mark in describing FreedomWorks’ backing as akin to a “Tea Party endorsement,” although the group is one of Washington’s biggest tea party boosters and serves as a clearing house for local activits.)
Read more at the Washington Examiner
• Hayley Peterson - Md. lawmakers consider denying bail to illegals
ANNAPOLIS - Maryland lawmakers are rallying support behind a proposal that would deny bail to detainees until they can provide documentation of their legal status in the United States. "In Maryland, we identify criminals as illegal aliens, then we turn around and release them on bail and they kill our citizens," Del. John W. E. Cluster Jr., R-Baltimore County, told the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday at a public hearing on the bill.
Supporters say the law would crack down on the number of violent offenders in the state. "I've arrested terrorists, murderers and assorted criminals ... and all have one thing in common," said Michael Cutler, retired special agent of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. "[They are] illegal immigrants."
Read more at the Washington Examiner
• Alex Papas - P.G. ethics board didn't meet last year
The board that investigates ethics complaints against Prince George's County's officials did not meet at all last year, even as the FBI ramped up a widespread corruption probe.
Since no complaints were filed in 2010 against county officials with the five-member Board of Ethics, no meeting was needed, said Anne C. Magner, a lawyer in the County Attorney's office that assists the panel. Former County Executive Jack Johnson on Monday was indicted on eight corruption-related charges resulting from a years-long FBI probe. Officials say more arrests are expected.
During a hearing Tuesday in front of the County Council about the county's oversight bodies, Magner said the board, whose members are appointed by the county executive, cannot initiate investigations and can only respond to complaints.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
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