Obama Tells His Team to Cut $100 Million
President Obama, whom Republicans like to tag as a tax-and-spend liberal, has challenged every member of his Cabinet to slash more than $1 million per day from the cost of running the government. The president said that the federal government has a “confidence gap when it comes to the American people,” a gap that could be narrowed if it would cut $100 million over the next 90 days. “We’ve got to earn their trust. They’ve got to feel confident that their dollars are being spent wisely,” he said. Obama has promised to “go line by line through the budget to cut spending” and “reform the government,” a senior administration official reminded. Not present during the gathering of his entire Cabinet was Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas governor who has yet to pass Senate confirmation. Obama’s plan to cut $100 million was too modest, according to some Republican leaders, who wasted no time in lashing out. “Any amount of savings is obviously welcome,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said. “But [$100 million is] about the average amount we’ll spend every single day just covering the interest on the stimulus package that we passed earlier this year.” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that Obama had shown initiative by insisting on the cuts. “Only in Washington, D.C., is $100 million not a lot of money,” Gibbs said. “It is where I’m from. It is where I grew up. And I think it is for hundreds of millions of Americans.” Said Obama: “None of these savings by themselves are going to solve our long-term fiscal problems, but taken together, they can make a difference, and they send a signal that we are serious about how government operates.”
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