The Eye and his colleagues will spend most of today reviewing President Obama’s first federal budget proposals. Already we know that it will include an additional $250 billion that could be used to bail out struggling banks, and that the total spending plan will bring the 2009 budget deficit to a soaring $1.75 trillion.
Below find a few first thoughts from The Eye’s quick read-through. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below:
• This is a very Democratic budget: Obama fulfills several campaign promises, including increases in foreign assistance, refocusing the missions of the Justice and Homeland Security departments and ending tax cuts for wealthy Americans. Several government departments and agencies all but ignored or underfunded during the Bush administration — Bureau of Prisons and EPA for example — get big proposed funding boosts.
• Federal Worker pay increase: Only two percent. “As families are tightening their belts in this economic crisis across the country, the President ordered a freeze of White House senior staff pay. In this budget, Federal employees also will be asked to do their part: the 2010 pay increase for Federal civilian employees, 2.0 percent, is responsive to the current economic climate, bringing Federal pay and benefit practices more in line with the private sector.” Let’s See how the federal workers unions spin that news. UPDATE: AFGE President John Gage has issued a statement: “Although federal employees would prefer to have seen an increase in pay the equivalent to the military, we recognize the severity of our nation’s economic situation, including the crisis for public workers at the state and local level, and understand that only modest steps can be taken this year to close the remaining pay gap between the federal and non-federal salaries.”
The natural result of allowing people who do not contribute financially to vote … they will always vote for those who will transfer funds from those who do contribute to those who don’t. Also the natural result of the dumbing down of American by continuing to throw money at the educrats while doing nothing to improve education. That way the non-contributors can’t figure out the results of voting this way.