When the discussion of federal spending involves billions of dollars, it's never "a little too little, a little too late."
Feeling pressure from the American public on the size of the U.S. deficit and runaway spending, the Obama administration has begun to formulate a deficit reduction plan. Officials are seriously considering using at least part of a $210 billion surplus in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) fund to lower what is projected to be a $1.3 trillion annual deficit...
Of course, federal spending is complex, and there are plenty of opportunities for Congress and the administration to break their own rules. The proposed flat and reduced spending in all likelihood does not include entitlement spending, such as Social Security, that has automatic increases built into law.
Still, the effort to propose some kind of spending restraint, some kind of fiscal responsibility at a minimum puts the Obama administration on record. If the administration fails, and capitulates to a Congress that seems more and more pre-occupied with other things, it will have to face the music of not only Tea Party protesters but other citizens as well...
The Free Press (Mankato, Minn.)
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