First, an important note on timing. No one is arguing that we should take our foot off the accelerator today, when the economic recovery remains fragile and job growth has yet to return. In fact, you’ll hear from the President tomorrow night about measures we should undertake right away to jumpstart job creation. In his words and deeds, the President has made clear that recovery comes first. But that doesn’t mean we should wait to start changing the same bad habits in Washington that left a $1.3 trillion deficit on our doorstep when we entered office in January 2009, especially when we can do so without cutting back on our jobs agenda.
Second, a little background on freeze-eology: there are two ways to do a freeze like this: (1) an across-the-board freeze on every program outside of national security; and (2) a surgical approach where overall totals are frozen but some individual programs go up and others go down. In short, a hatchet versus a scalpel.
During the campaign, you may recall that John McCain touted option 1 – the hatchet approach of an across-the-board freeze.
The President was critical of that approach then, and we would be critical of it now. It’s not what we’re proposing. To the contrary, the entire theory of the President’s proposed freeze is to dial up the stuff that will support job growth and innovation while dialing down the stuff that doesn’t. Under our plan, some discretionary spending will go up; some will go down. That’s a big difference from a hatchet.
This particular selection came from Ezra, and he has some rebuttal.
Jared was also on with Rachel Maddow.
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To be honest, while I respect Rachel's obvious concern about the President repeating FDR's mistake of 1937, it's also obvious she doesn't know squat (or at least has selective memory about) FDR's first hundred days...where, on the basis of a Campaign promise he cut the Federal Budget as he implemented the New Deal, including:
40% cuts to veterans' benefits and cuts in overall military spending. He removed 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension rolls and slashed benefits for the remainder. Protests erupted, led by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Roosevelt held his ground, but when the angry veterans formed a coalition with Senator Huey Long and passed a huge bonus bill over his veto, he was defeated. He succeeded in cutting federal salaries and the military and naval budgets. He reduced spending on research and education.
What FDR did was far, far, far more drastic than what the President was doing. FDR's mistake was trying to re-balance the budget too fast. It didn't work.
I'm not sure this is going to work either, but I see what the President's thinking. I'm just saying that it could.
But isn't it interesting that the President's Spending Freeze is scheduled to happen at the same time Bush's Tax Cuts are supposed to sunset...
Interesting...
