Reply #27: NYT has the story now: "Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs"

[Smashcut]

WASHINGTON — President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday.

The freeze would cover the agencies and programs for which Congress allocates specific budgets each year, from air traffic control and farm subsidies to education, nutrition and national parks.

But it would exempt the Pentagon, foreign aid, Veterans Administration and homeland security budgets, as well as the entitlement programs that make up the biggest and fastest-growing part of the federal budget: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/us/politics/26budget.html?hp

I guess the latter 3 are being handled already by the "bipartisan commission" he endorsed.

Edit: also from the article:

The payoff in budget savings would be small relative to the deficit: The estimated $250 billion in savings over 10 years is less than 5 percent of the $9 trillion to $10 trillion in additional debt the government is expected to accumulate over that time.

So how many domestic programs to help the people will be starved to death so we can continue funding the war machine while appearing to "do something" about our debt problem?