The White House laid out President Obama’s record and proposals for cutting spending as he continues talks with Republican congressional leaders over the pending “fiscal cliff.”
Of note, the president has signed into law $1 trillion in cuts to discretionary spending over the next decade through the Budget Control Act. His current budget calls for $340 billion in entitlement savings from Medicare and Medicaid and $250 billion from other mandatory federal programs, according to the White House.
Highlights:
- Along with the $1 trillion in discretionary spending cuts, the government has saved $676 billion in discretionary savings through annual appropriations bills and interest savings.
- President Obama has proposed and signed into law the elimination of 77 government programs and cut another 52 programs that has saved more than $30 billion annually. Of those programs, 16 have come from the Department of Education, 10 programs at Health and Human Services, and four programs at the Department of Labor.
- Obama signed into law health savings in the Affordable Care Act that paid for the improving health coverage and reduced the deficit by over $100 billion over a decade.
- The president has put forward health savings totaling more than $300 billion, all verified by the Congressional Budget Office in their March analysis of the president’s budget.
- Under President Obama’s watch, spending grew at the slowest pace since Eisenhower, and far lower than President Reagan’s first term. In the president’s time in office, federal spending has grown at 1.4 percent per year, the slowest pace since Eisenhower, and lower than the 8.7 percent in President Reagan’s first term.
