As noted earlier, Politico's veteran congressional reporter David Rodgers went deep into the weeds to try to explain the confusion over how much money the continuing resolution really cuts. One smart person writes in to call the analysis "utterly incomprehensible." So I'm going to try again to cut through the confusion.
H.R. 1 was the original Republican budget that passed in February. It was supported by the Tea Party. It had $68 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. Only 26 percent of those cuts ($18 billion) would occur during the 2011 fiscal year.
The C.R. agreed to by Boehner, Reid, and Obama has $42 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. Only 20 percent ($8.2 billion) would occur during the 2011 fiscal year.
So why does the CBO come up with it's report that only $352 million is cut from the 2011 budget? Because defense outlays went up.
$173 bill.
"Total government spending still went up $173 billion," he said, referring to mandatory programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. "That's the typical Washington game."