Facing Our Fiscal Challenges

Congress Has Cut Discretionary Funding by $1.5 Trillion Over Ten Years
First Stage of Deficit Reduction Is in Law

Policymakers and budget experts generally agree on the need to reduce projected deficits and put the federal budget on a sustainable path. They have focused less attention, however, on the amount of deficit reduction that the 112th Congress and the President have enacted. Reductions in funding for an array of domestic programs ranging from education to law enforcement, food safety, and environmental protection as well as defense and international programs have produced $1.5 trillion in savings in discretionary spending for fiscal years 2013 through 2022. Read more

Romney Budget Proposals Would Necessitate Very Large Cuts in Medicaid, Education, Health Research, & Other Programs

“For the most part, Governor Romney has not outlined cuts in specific programs. But if policy-makers repealed health reform (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) and exempted Social Security from cuts, as Romney has suggested, and cut Medicare, Medicaid, and all other entitlement and discretionary programs by the same percentage to meet Romney’s overall spending cap and defense spending target, then they would have to cut non-defense programs other than Social Security by 22 percent in 2016 and 34 percent in 2022 (see Figure 1). If they exempted Medicare from cuts for this period, the cuts in other programs would have to be even more dramatic — 32 percent in 2016 and 53 percent in 2022.” Read more

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