White House officials pushed back Monday against criticism that a new round of proposed budget cuts is largely meaningless in the face of spiraling deficits.
President Barack Obama convened his first-ever Cabinet meeting, tasking agency heads with cutting $100 million worth of programs that aren’t working.
“None of these savings by themselves are going to solve our long-term fiscal problems, but taken together they can make a difference, and they send a signal that we are serious about changing the way government operates,” Obama said.
But Republican critics in Congress, back at work after a two-week recess, scoffed at Obama’s $100 million in cuts.
“That’s what we spend per day on the interest on the stimulus package that we passed a month ago,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. “I would just like to see the president use some of his popularity to do something serious about spending.”
Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget is still pending in Congress, where Republicans are balking at his massive spending programs. Taken with the $787 billion stimulus package, opponents are warning Obama is creating massive deficits that will take years to pay down.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended the $100 million figure as a large one to most Americans, even if the Washington political establishment found it underwhelming
“I’m not making a joke about it, I’m being completely sincere — but only in Washington, D.C., is $100 million not a lot of money,” Gibbs said. “It is where I grew up, and I think it is for hundreds of millions of Americans.”
Gibbs previously downplayed the significance of $8 billion in earmarks in the $410 omnibus spending bill as fraction of overall spending.
“What I am saying is, I think it all adds up,” the spokesman said.
Some of the cost-saving ideas from Cabinet members include consolidating office space at the Agriculture Department, canceling a contract for seals and logos at the Department of Homeland Security, going paperless at the State Department and cutting travel costs at the Veterans Administration, among other things.
