{
    "href": "/post/2011/04/14/the-cuts-are-a-lie/",
    "relId": "2011/04/14/the-cuts-are-a-lie",
    "title": "The Cuts Are A Lie",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/economics/",
            "relId": "economics",
            "title": "Economics",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/politics/",
            "relId": "politics",
            "title": "Politics",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        }
    ],
    "created": "2011-04-14 13:45:13 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2011-04-14 13:45:13 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>Instead, the cuts that actually will make it into law are far tamer, including [...] $2.5 billion from the most recent renewal of highway programs that can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation. Another $3.5 billion comes from unused spending authority from a program providing health care to children of lower-income families.</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u00a6.The spending measure reaps $350 million by cutting a one-year program enacted in 2009 for dairy farmers then suffering from low milk prices. Another $650 million comes by not repeating a one-time infusion into highway programs passed that same year. And just last Friday, Congress approved Obama\u00e2\u0080\u0099s $1 billion request for high-speed rail grants -- crediting themselves with $1.5 billion in savings relative to last year.</p>\n<p>About $10 billion of the cuts comes from targeting appropriations accounts previously used by lawmakers for so-called earmarks\u00e2\u0080\u00a6.Republicans had already engineered a ban on earmarks when taking back the House this year.</p>\n<p>Republicans also claimed $5 billion in savings by capping payments from a fund awarding compensation to crime victims. Under an arcane bookkeeping rule -- used for years by appropriators -- placing a cap on spending from the Justice Department crime victims fund allows lawmakers to claim the entire contents of the fund as budget savings. The savings are awarded year after year.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>via <em><a href=\"http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/04/ahem-2.html\">Ahem, a lot of the spending cuts are frauds -- Marginal Revolution</a></em>.</p>\n"
}