CBO: Budget deal cuts $352 million from deficit

[fskimospy]

That the Republicans are crafting the FY2011 is BECAUSE of political shenanigans, and I for one am glad they managed to cut a few billion here and there. You're certainly right about the FY2012 budget though.

I'm not sure where the Democrats go from here. The minuscule cuts implemented in 2011 have been described as killing babies and starving women and children. What's left to claim? The only thing I can imagine is to claim the Ryan budget actually travels back in time and kills baby Jesus in the manger, but since Democrats don't actually believe in Him . . .

Maybe something with puppies and gasoline . . .

They will just go for entitlement reform and cuts to the military budget as opposed to domestic discretionary spending cuts, and considering entitlements are what truly drive the deficit, that will be more than enough. Even modest fixes to Medicare would make discretionary spending look like peanuts.

For example, the VA pays on average something like 40% of what Medicare pays on average for each drug. Considering Medicare put out about $50 billion for drugs alone last year, simply allowing for good government in this respect would save ~$30 billion a year, with no decrease in coverage quality. That's just the tip of the iceberg.