Although Republicans and President Obama hailed last Friday’s budget deal which averted a government shut-down, as the “largest spending cut in history,” as details about the package emerged, analysts say, the deal’s supporters were greatly overselling the purported $38.5 billion in cuts. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the budget deal would cut a mere $352 million from the deficit in the next six months — “less than 1 percent of the $38 billion in claimed savings,” the AP reports:
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. […]
The CBO study confirms that the measure trims $38 billion in new spending authority, but many of the cuts come in slow-spending accounts like water-and-sewer grants that don’t have an immediate deficit impact.
Despite this, the cuts harm the already vulnerable and working poor who depend on social safety net programs. Also, some analysts say, any cuts in domestic spending programs are wiped out by increases in defense spending, a scared cow of both parties.
