Why $100 Billion in House Budget Cuts Is Just the Beginning

The GOP's jeers at the budget President Obama unveiled today -- House Speaker John Boehner, tweaking the new White House slogan, scoffed that Obama was "spending the future" -- highlight the vast gap between the two parties' budget blueprints. But the chasm is likely to grow wider. Boehner's promise to preside over an open amendment-process on the House floor will be tested when the chamber begins debating an Appropriations Committee spending bill that would slash $100 billion in funding between now and Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year on. As Jay noted in her round-up this morning, rank-and-file members are likely to offer scores of amendments that will drive the tally of cuts ever higher. To freshman deficit hawks, the $100 billion in cuts is a baseline figure, not a target. "$100 billion is a piece of cake," Iowa Republican Steve King told the Hill. "The grand total isn't sufficient for me," said Rep. John Campbell of California.