With his head swinging swiftly back and forth as he read clearly from his best friend TOTUS (Teleprompter of the United States), President Obama gave his almost daily press speech amid a 'happy-to-clap' crowd at the White House.
The president said today that he is requiring government to adopt "pay-go," a plan he says will lead to the national deficit being cut in half over the next four years.
"This is a rule I championed in the Senate, and a rule I called for time and again on the campaign trail," the president said.
He went on to say that he is urging lawmakers to pass legislation that will require government to save a dollar for every new dollar they spend.
Will that also apply to the $787 billion stimulus bill? or the $410 omnibus bill? or how about the $5 billion Serve America Act? $50 billion auto bankruptcy? The SCHIPP bill? The upcoming Healthcare reform? Or the Federal Budget Blueprint?
The truth is, President Obama has already signed into law billions of dollars worth of spending without the slightest regard for fiscal responsiblity or a "pay-as-you-go" philosophy.
Obama's claims today include:
$40 billion can be saved by reforming how government contracts are awarded.
Billions can be saved by overhauling defense spending.
Eliminating unwarranted subsidies (i.e. Medicare and Medicaid payments to insurance companies) will save roughly $177 billion.
The president went on to say that he and his staff are conducting an ongoing "line by line review of the budget." Under the Constitution, the president has no authority to line item veto anything in the federal budget, nor does the president's staff.
If the president had not already spent billions upon billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and kept his campaign promise that he so proudly "championed" as a senator to cut government waste, imagine what the deficit could be.
He took no questions following the press op.
AP Photo Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Comments
We were lead to believe that Obama is brilliant and our savior, but it sure appears his math skins our limited.
On the surface the pay as you go concept is good but I remember the Clinton Peace Dividend where the budget was balanced on the back of the military. Let's hope that the liberal translation of pay as you go doesn't equal "cut the military".
"math skins our limited" Texas Tom? So you agree that Pay as you Go is a good thing?
"If the president had not already spent billions upon billions of dollars...imagine what the deficit could be"
We don't have to imagine. We know! From the Congressional Budget Office "DATA" spreadsheet
www.cbo.gov/budget/budproj.shtml
1. $1.6 trillion of the $1.8 trillion defict in 2009 was already planned before Obama took office.
2. Ten years from now, deficit is 765B more with Obama spending proposals than without them
3. The main differences are caused by
- Obama's middle class tax cuts
- Obama fixing the AMT
- Obama's middle class tax credits for "making work pay" and children
The only way to pay down the debt is to re-build a country that is capable of paying it down, not just blindly balancing the budget in the middle of a deep recession. The trillion dollars of new debt from ARRA and bank bailouts is aimed at new private industries in energy, infrastructure and health while, upgrading our educational system and being able to get financing for new projects. www.r
Amazing... no questions? At what point does he just setup the large screen behind the podium and let TOTUS deliver the message?
Brad,
I suggest you watch Erin's recent posting of John Voigt's speech before you get too critical of President Obama using a teleprompter to deliver a speech that actually has relevance to the world. It sure appears to me that Mr. Voigt is reading from (GASP) notes while he's speaking....Just curious, what makes it okay for an intellect like John Voigt to use notes while speaking about "how to get power back," but it's not okay for the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to use a teleprompter???????????????????????????????????
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