The President seeks to CUT the budget?

See I told ya. Never underestimate the politician Obama when it is an election. When your party loses an important election in Massachussetts, what do you do? You spin around a appear to stand for what your opponent does to win the next election. Apparently thats what President Obama is currently trying to do when it comes to the budget. After giving us record setting deficits, and running up a natgional debt that cannot be repaid any time soon, Obama is calling for budget "cuts". Yes, you heard me right.

But after you rule out spending freezes and big reductions to defense, Social Security, Medicare and other big-ticket "nondiscretionary" items, what is there left to cut from the federal budget? How about grants to manufacturers of worsted wool products? That's a savings of $5 million a year. Stop broadcasts in Croatian, Greek and Hindi on the government-run Voice of America and you save $3 million. And if every worker in the Department of Labor remembers to turn off their computer at the end of the day? That's a whopping $727,000 over five years. If those and $23 billion worth of other cost-saving measures detailed in President Barack Obama's 2011 budget proposal don't seem to add up to much in a $3.8 trillion spending package, just wait. Once our Congressmen get a hold of them, the actual spending cuts are likely to be smaller. Of the 121 programs the president sought to end or shrink in his 2010 budget, for a projected one-year savings of $17 billion, Congress only approved $11.5 billion, or 60 percent.

This year, Obama wants to terminate, reduce or find savings in 126 areas. Some of his ideas are virtually cut-and-paste items from last year's budget.Take the C-17. The Pentagon stopped requesting more of the cargo planes in 2007 because it had all it needed. That didn't go over well with lawmakers from the 43 states where the aircraft provided jobs, and every year since, Congress has insisted on buying more. Once again, the 2011 budget calls for an end to the program for a savings of $2.5 billion over the next 10 years. Smaller programs are just as difficult to kill. Last year, the administration tried to eliminate the Rural Community Facilities program within the Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that it duplicated wastewater treatment programs run by other federal agencies. Congress ignored the proposal and kept the $10 million program, which again is slated to end.
Still, the president has called for a three-year freeze on nonsecurity discretionary spending to save $250 billion over 10 years. To help achieve those savings, his budget identifies inefficient, redundant or outdated programs ripe for elimination. Some, like canceling NASA's $3.5 billion return mission to the moon, are big-ticket items. Others, like zeroing out a $1 million college scholarship program for Olympic athletes, are not. Here are other items on the chopping block or due for some paring, in no particular order:

......A long-discussed and controversial plan to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The proposal to eliminate $197 million for the project will have a powerful ally on Capitol Hill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
.......Subsidies to wealthy farmers, a perennial budget target that has avoided getting hit in the past. The proposal would cut the cap on direct payments to wealthy farmers from $40,000 to $30,000 and reduce income eligibility to save nearly $2.3 billion over the next 10 years.
.......A program that pays states to clean up abandoned coal mines that have already been cleaned up. Savings: $115 million next year and $1.2 billion over 10 years.
.......A $5 million Forest Service economic development program that funded, among other things, "a water musical festival."
.......A planned $20 million refurbishment of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center in New Mexico. The linear accelerator was built 30 years ago and no longer plays a critical role in weapons research.
.......A $120 million program that allows low-income people to get their Earned Income Tax Credit in advance. About 80 percent of those receiving early payments were later found ineligible.
.......An $18 million program to clean up and redevelop "brownfields" -- abandoned, idled and underused industrial and commercial facilities in urban areas.
.......A $761 million reduction in spending on construction of housing for low-income elderly and those with disabilities.
.......Pet congressional health service projects worth $383 million that are not subject to the usual competitive or merit-based process for funding. Included in the cuts would be proposed health care clinics in Alaska and Mississippi.
.......A $12 million program to give grants to improve security on inter-city buses.
Two National Park Service programs to restore historic buildings and promote heritage tourism, for a savings of $30 million.
.......An exchange program for Alaska Natives, native Hawaiians, children and families living in Massachusetts and members of Indian tribes in Mississippi that have historic links to whaling and trading.
.......Grants to art organizations in the nation's capital, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, for a savings of $5 million.The budget proposal includes around-the-edges savings culled from ideas submitted by federal employees through the SAVE Awards program. Among the ways federal agencies are proposing to do their part to reduce red ink:
.......The Social Security Administration could save $150,000 next year by allowing applicants to make appointments online.
.......The Air Force could save $2 million in 2011 by tailoring more than 12,000 cell phone plans to actual usage.
.......The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates $2 million in savings next year by allowing veterans to keep their medications instead of throwing away leftovers when they are discharged from the hospital.
.......The Treasury Department sees $2 million in annual savings by eliminating paper pay stubs for more than 100,000 workers.

Big or little, many of the reductions will be tough to push through a Congress that traditionally refuses to go on a no-pork diet when it comes to spending. In introducing his budget, the president alluded to the standard operating procedure when it comes to budget time."In order to meet this challenge, I welcome any idea, from Democrats and Republicans," he said. "What I will not welcome -- what I reject -- is the same old grandstanding when the cameras are on, and the same irresponsible budget policies when the cameras are off. It's time to hold Washington to the same standards families and businesses hold themselves. It's time to save what we can, spend what we must, and live within our means once again." Strange words indeed for a man as spend friendly as the President is.