NYT:
WASHINGTON — President Obama, on the defensive as Congressional Republicans press to rein in spending, will propose to extend for another two years the three-year partial freeze of domestic programs that he suggested in 2010, and will call for $78 billion in military spending cuts, when he delivers the annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
The extended freeze of domestic programs other than automatic entitlements or programs relating to security, which would save more than $400 billion through fiscal year 2021, would be “a down payment toward reducing the deficit,” said an administration official who declined to be identified by name discussing the speech in advance. “In areas outside the freeze, we also will be looking for cuts and efficiencies.”
Because the freeze is an extension of his existing proposal, it won't have any immediate impact. The defense cuts, which represent a new proposal, would be phased in over the next five years.
For some context, we can look at Obama's budget proposal from last year, specifically the spreadsheet detailing historical and projected non-defense discretionary spending:
The numbers in the chart are in billions. The number highlighted in red -- $522.3 billion -- is where the GOP wants non-defense discretionary spending to be. The estimated projection for 2010 is highlighted in blue. We don't have all the details, but given that the freeze would only impact that final two years in this chart, it doesn't appear like it will have a major impact -- certainly nothing compared with the austerity measures the GOP is proposing.
It's also worth noting that President Obama's focus on the deficit is only one component of his speech. He's also going to make the case for more investment in our economic future in the areas of technology innovation (particularly energy), education, and infrastructure. In those areas, President Obama will be outlining a vision in which government plays a vital role in achieving national goals. That's a big difference from the GOP message which is that government is public enemy number one.
