Conservative Commentary on the 2011 Federal Budget Deal

     Conservatives won a significant victory in the deal struck between Congressional leaders and the President for the 2011 budget for the United States federal government.  Led by the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, conservative Republicans won $38 billion of spending cuts.

     The deal was necessary because the liberal Democratic Congress had failed to pass a budget last year.  It had passed continuing resolutions, which maintained funding levels at the current rate.  When Republicans gained the majority in January, they approved short-term continuing resolutions with $10 billion of spending cuts.  The uncertainty because of the constant need for continuing resolutions was economically harmful and made weary legislators eager for a bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year (through the end of September).  Without a budget, the authority for the federal government to make expenditures would have ended, thereby causing a government shutdown, as I explained in my last post.

     The deal mostly cuts domestic spending.  Although it does not end federal funding of Planned Parentood, the largest provider of abortions in the U.S., it ends the funding of abortions in the District of Columbia.  It also provides vouchers for students to attend private schools in the District.  Although it does not defund Barak Obama's federalization of health insurance, it prohibits the hiring of the requisite Internal Revenue Agents.  There will be votes in the Senate, however, on defunding Planned Parenthood and the federalization of health insurance. 

     Nevertheless, the deal represented a lopsided victory for conservatives, as the Republicans had initially proposed $32 billion in spending cuts and the liberal Democrats none.  The figure of $38 billion in annual savings represents the largest post-World War II cut in American history.  These spending cuts and the compromises on the policy riders are especially amazing considering that Republicans control only one half of Congress, while the Democrats have not only the other half, but also the Executive Branch.

     Moreover, the spending cuts in this budget deal represent an acknowledgment of the need for austerity, without raising taxes.  In other words, conservatives, bolstered by the Republican victories in the 2010 Congressional elections, are winning the policy debate.  Conservatives will now have the momentum going into the next two debates, both of which are coming soon, on raising the federal debt limit and on the 2012 budget.