Budgets…

BO’s FINALLY submitted a budget, which is basically a rehash of what he’s been trying to get through since 2008… But one interesting note is the $.94/pack ‘new’ tax on tobacco products!  It’s for the children… AGAIN!!!

The investments in early childhood education and development on the mandatory side of the Budget are fully financed by raising the Federal tax on cigarettes from $1.01 to $1.95 per pack. In addition to financing important investments in early learning, the proposed tobacco tax increase would have substantial public health benefits, particularly for young Americans. Researchers have found that raising taxes on cigarettes significantly reduces consumption, with especially large effects on youth smoking.

Here by comparison is Ryan’s budget submission on the House side…

Notice S.S. and the military are NOT on this list.

These are all the programs that the new Republican House has proposed cutting. Read to the end.

* Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy — $445 million annual savings.
* Save America ‘s Treasures Program — $25 million annual savings.
* International Fund for Ireland — $17 million annual savings.
* Legal Services Corporation — $420 million annual savings.
* National Endowment for the Arts — $167.5 million annual savings.
* National Endowment for the Humanities — $167.5 million annual savings.
* Hope VI Program — $250 million annual savings.
* Amtrak Subsidies — $1.565 billion annual savings.
* Eliminate duplicating education programs — H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
* U.S. Trade Development Agency — $55 million annual savings.
* Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy — $20 million annual savings.
* Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding — $47 million annual savings.
* John C. Stennis Center Subsidy — $430,000 annual savings.
* Community Development Fund — $4.5 billion annual savings.
* Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid — $24 million annual savings.
* Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half — $7.5 billion annual savings
* Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% — $600 million annual savings.
* Essential Air Service — $150 million annual savings.
* Technology Innovation Program — $70 million annual savings.
* Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program — $125 million annual savings..
* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization — $530 million annual savings.
* Beach Replenishment — $95 million annual savings.
* New Starts Transit — $2 billion annual savings.

* Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts — $9 million annual savings
* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants — $2.5 billion annual savings.
* Title X Family Planning — $318 million annual savings.
* Appalachian Regional Commission — $76 million annual savings.
* Economic Development Administration — $293 million annual savings.
* Programs under the National and Community Services Act — $1.15 billion annual savings.
* Applied Research at Department of Energy — $1.27 billion annual savings.
* Freedom CAR and Fuel Partnership — $200 million annual savings..
* Energy Star Program — $52 million annual savings.
*Economic Assistance to Egypt — $250 million annually.
* U.S.Agency for International Development — $1.39 billion annual savings.
* General Assistance to District of Columbia — $210 million annual savings.
* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority — $150 million annual savings.
*Presidential Campaign Fund — $775 million savings over ten years.
* No funding for federal office space acquisition — $864 million annual savings.
* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act — More than $1 billion annually.
* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget — $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
*Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees — $1 billion total savings.WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT?
* Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees — $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
* Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of — $15 billion total savings.
*Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.WHAT???
* Eliminate Mohair Subsidies — $1 million annual savings.
*Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — $12.5 million annual savings

  WELL ISN’T THAT SPECIAL
* Eliminate Market Access Program — $200 million annual savings.
* USDA Sugar Program — $14 million annual savings.
* Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — $93 million annual savings.
* Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program — $56.2 million annual savings.
*Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs– $900 million savings.
* Ready to Learn TV Program — $27 million savings..
* HUD Ph.D. Program.
* Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

*TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

My question is, what is all this doing in the budget in the first place?  Some of them are truly mind boggling… Sigh…

h/t Ev

Comments

Budgets… — 13 Comments

  1. $1 million per year in mohair subsidies?

    –No mention of the cost of gifting F-16’s to Egypt, now a sworn enemy of ours as an “Islamic Brotherhood State”, and the cost of same.

    All of those pork items have reciprocal kick-backs to elected officials who are spending our money to line their pockets. Now, while it’s the Chicago Way – it’s not good for the country.

  2. Heard the Post Office plans to sell off properties. One company will be the broker. Company is controlled by some dude named Blum, as in Mr Dianne Feinestein.

  3. LL- Good point… dammit…

    WSF- Not surprised, payoffs just continue…

    CP- Yeah, sigh…

  4. Nice start, up adds up to only about 50 billion this year. It needs to be much closer to 1 trillion for it to have the effect we need. Even at that reduction we would still be adding debt, but at a potentially manageable/reducible rate. The problem with that big a hit, is that now we would have riots from the free-loading side, or those that only get their money from graft (I know same thing). What bothers me is that even the best compromise will only put off the problem a very short while, not start to solve it.

  5. LOL at the mohair subsidies elimination!

    I guess they got fed up with that being used as a punchline in jokes…

  6. It’s a start.

    Here’s one that was on the list but didn’t have a price tag attached. I would guess the annual savings associated with this one item would be in the billions.

    “End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.”

  7. If you ended every program designed to buy votes, we wouldn’t have a deficit.

  8. SG- Good point!

    Tam- Probably… LOL

    Tim- That would be a HUGE one!

    LL- Excellent point!

  9. Why the hell is there a sugar program from the USDA?
    I’m pretty sure we are using enough

  10. It’s amazing to me when not spending as much as previously planned is considered a “cut”. Why don’t we begin by no longer paying people to have children? That should be the first cut.