STAFF EDIT: Obama's budget plan

President Barack Obama unveiled his 2012 fiscal year budget proposal on Monday. Congressional Republicans were quick to slam the president’s plan, as to be expected. House Majority Leader John Boehner said the budget would destroy jobs “by spending too much, borrowing too much and taxing too much.” But the most surprising reaction came from Democrats who sensed the Obama Administration is following a different path than promised by cutting programs for the poor instead of moderating the defense budget.

One of the budget’s more controversial components involved downsizing of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and community-serveblock grants. Graduate students with federal loans would begin accumulating interest as soon as they received them instead of after they graduate, a move that would send thousands of young people into debt and most likely steer some away from graduate school altogether. It’s interesting that Obama approved this aspect of the proposal whilein the midst of trying to rejuvenate the American education system.

What appealed to Obama supporters during the 2008 election was hispromise to reverse the tax cuts for the rich implemented by the Bush administration. When an agreement was reached in December between the president and the GOP that would satisfy both parties, Democrats were appalled: while compromise is pressing in American politics, elected presidential candidates should follow through on their platform ideals if only to pay homage to the people who voted them into office.

With that said, making the decision to cut funding to home-heating aid to less fortunate families is appalling. While Obama promised to cut budget spending by 5 percent in the upcoming fiscal year, that still leaves America at the top of the world’s list regarding defense spending. For some reason, the military is untouchable: Democratic presidents are afraid to lower spending even when the country is no longer at war with Iraq and Republican presidents have historically fed money into defense. President George W. Bush was deemed the biggest spender since President Lyndon B. Johnson, who helped turn the Vietnam War into an expensive mess.

In terms of the big picture, Obama is making financial decisions that will be more beneficial in the long run than both Democrats and Republicans are letting on. The U.S. political system dictates that important programs will be underfunded in times of depression or recession, which is to be expected, but screams of inconsistency. At the end of the day, Americans shouldn’t expect much from this recent proposal: the fiscal budget proposal for 2011 still hasn’t gone into effect or been decided upon and this most recent budget still has to pass through about 40 Congressional committees.