$0.350 Billion: 'License To Spend' - UPDATED

If you are as confused as I am about how the budget cut numbers came out so different from those the GOP announced, TPM has an explanation for you.

The first obvious fact is that two numbers as different as $350 million and $38 billion must refer to different quantities... and they do.

• The second figure includes cuts that will be realized only over a period of years. 
• That same figure also counts money already in each recipient's account from previous budgets (rightly IMHO) as a reduction in spending, since it does not have to be budgeted toward this year's expenditures because it's already there. 

Again IMHO, there are no grounds for complaint there: it would be a terrible mistake to punish an agency for having used its previous year's budgeted money efficiently. We can all see where that would lead. Well, I presume we all can, but I'm uncertain how the GOPer mind works.

Read the article for more details.

Did Obama really pull off the biggest coup of his presidency? Did the Big Orange Boner really fuck up completely? It sounds unlikely, but one is reluctant to dismiss a report by the CBO; they usually do not miss on weighty matters. All I can say at this point is this: stay tuned.

UPDATE: see the very relevant update on the next post upstream, below.

AFTERTHOUGHT:  now we REALLY get to see the Boner weep! See the pic on this TPM post. Do you think we'll miss him when he loses the Speaker's gavel?