Responding to Stern Emails From Speaker Boehner's Office

By Erick Erickson | 7:31 PM on April 13, 2011

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I’m getting stern emails from Speaker Boehner’s Office about my prior post. The Speaker is not happy with me.The feeling is mutual the more I learn of this budget deal.Here’s the first email:

Subject: This is False“Turns out it does not cut $38.5 billion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it only cuts $353 million.”From story: “The CBO study confirms that the measure trims $38 billion in new spending authority.” I understand you’re opposed, but at least be accurate.

Okay, I should have said “cuts the deficit $353 million.”But we’re playing with semantics here. Note what I said: “cuts $353 million.”Now note what the Speaker’s Office points out from the CBO analysis: “the measure trims $38 billion in new spending authority.”I think I’ll stand by what it being cut, because a cut implies something is going down — in the case of what we always have been talking about, the deficit.The Speaker’s Office also sent this email:

Subject: This also not true“It’s just the *deficit* only gets cut $353 million.”353 million in the next 6 months, but 315 billion over a decade. For example from the story: “CBO does credit a move to eliminate year-round Pell Grants with generating more than $40 billion in deficit reduction over the coming decade from both mandatory and appropriated accounts, though just slightly less than $1 billion this year.”

So . . . we are only cutting the deficit $353 million this year? I haven’t been talking about the next decade. No one has. And $315 billion over the next ten years is one grain of sand on deficit beach. This year’s deficit is $1.5 TRILLION.I’d just point out that John Boehner said on February 11, 2011, “We are going to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending next week. Write it down. $100 billion in discretionary spending. And we aren’t going to stop there.”Oh, lastly we also know the spending baseline went up $3.3 billion. The net, bottom line IMPACT is that the CR will only reduce discretionary spending by $352 million this fiscal year (once all the smoke and mirrors are cleared).