Lately there has been a lot of talk in Republican circles about cutting trillions of dollars in spending, as Speaker John Boehner and other Republicans demand large spending reductions.
But if you look at the roadmap released on Wednesday afternoon for next year's spending bills in the House, the goal is to cut $30.3 billion from this year's budget.
The figures come from what's known as the "302(b) suballocations" from the House Appropriations Committee, which basically lay out how much each subcommittee can spend in their individual budget bills that will go through the House in coming weeks and months.
You can see the figures here:
The column that is outlined is the one to pay attention to in terms of what the plan would spend for Fiscal Year 2012, just over $1 trillion.
For example, spending for Agriculture and FDA programs would be $17.25 billion, down $2.672 billion from the current budget.
Defense spending would be the only account that goes up, by $17 billion; even Homeland Security would be cut by just over $1 billion.
Other accounts with only slight cuts include the Legislative Branch budget, which goes down $227 million and spending on Military Construction and Veterans programs by $615 million.
Overall, this plan would spend $1.019 trillion, down $30.38 billion from the current budget, and $121.5 billion less than what the White House requested from the Congress.
This budget plan would actually reduce non-defense domestic spending by $47 billion, a proposal that's sure to draw criticism from Democrats.
"Many of these cuts will not win any popularity contests, but these types of reductions are imperative to overcoming our unparalleled fiscal crisis so that we can get our economy moving, create jobs and provide future financial security," said Appropriations Chair Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY).
A schedule laid out by the committee shows the first of the twelve spending bills to be considered will be for Homeland Security and a separate bill for Military Construction and Veterans; that starts tomorrow in their respective subcommittees.
Probably some of you are reading this and thinking something like this:
"Wait a second - the federal deficit this year is supposed to be about $1.5 trillion, and the Republicans are preparing a budget that cuts $30 billion?"
Yes, that's what these numbers say.
