Well that didn't take long

So we have a budget deficit of $1.7 Trillion dollars last year alone  
and they can only find $30 Billion to cut?

regards,
-Lance


--------------------
Promised GOP Budget Cuts May Be Much Lower Than Promised
First Posted: 01- 5-11 05:44 PM   |   Updated: 01- 5-11 05:44 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/30-billion-budget-cuts-what-budget-cuts_n_804976.html

WASHINGTON -- The GOP "budget cut" numbers are getting squishier by  
the minute. At least it seemed that way in the hallways of the Capitol  
on a ceremonial first day of swearing-ins, family photo ops and back- 
slapping goodwill.

Republicans campaigned coast to coast on, among other things, a  
promise to cut $100 billion out of the federal budget.

But now they are talking about cuts as slim as $30 billion, blaming  
the change on the fine print that no one read -- or if they read, did  
not understand.

It turns out the $100-billion figure meant $100 billion from a budget  
that President Barack Obama proposed, which was never passed. And now  
that the fiscal year is nearly half over, well, there's just no way ...

Even some Tea Party types who are sticking to the original goal  
concede that it'll be hard to reach as long as the GOP exempts -- as  
it plans to -- funding for defense, homeland security, veterans and  
entitlements. "I still think it's realistic," freshman Rep. Morgan  
Griffith (R-Va.) said of the $100-billion target, "but the trick will  
be how we get from here to there."

Yeah.

But at least Griffith, a former leader of the Virginia legislature,  
expressed a determination to give it a go. He's a solid, earnest  
fellow from the mountains, and when you make a promise there, you try  
to keep it if you can.

A lot of other Republicans are more "realistic." Rep. Peter King  
(N.Y.), who's been in Congress since 1993 and now chairs the Homeland  
Security Committee, told me that $100 billion is of course unrealistic  
and the cuts will be $50 billion, tops. Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.),  
the new chair of Oversight and Government Reform, told me to forget  
this year's number and explained that his goal is to cut $200 billion  
over two years. Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), the incoming chair of Financial  
Services' domestic monetary policy subcommittee, said that all of  
these numbers are chicken feed and a waste of time.

And over in the Senate, a top GOP aide told me that the real bottom  
line is a max of $30 billion for the rest of this fiscal year.

All these numbers can expand or contract depending on the baseline  
used. The cuts may sound bigger or smaller, for example, depending on  
whether you use the numbers the Democrats were talking about or the  
figures in President Obama's original 2010-'11 budget.

As for health-care reform, some Republicans are eager to focus on  
repealing and dismantling it. "My people are scared of Obamacare,"  
said Griffith. "They want me to do what I can to get rid of it, and  
I'll have credibility with them to the extent that I do."

But King said the GOP had to be careful. "We'll vote to repeal and  
then move on," he said. "Then the experts on the committees will  
figure out what else we should vote on later. In the meantime, we have  
to focus on other issues."

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