Obama's budget cutting: Fractional?

by Mark Silva and updated again at 1:45 pm EDT

President Barack Obama, holding his first Cabinet meeting this morning, has an assignment for the group:

Cutting $100 million from their budgets in 90 days - with a deadline for reporting back in three months on where they're cutting.

"A hundred million dollars here, a hundred million dollars there -- pretty soon, even in Washington, it adds up to real money,'' Obama told his Cabinet members today.

The Republicans on Capitol Hill have their own take on this undertaking, however, noting that, in the context of the $3.55-trillion budget that the president is seeking for 2010, the $100 million in cuts sought won't amount to much.

"The White House is announcing today that they are cutting $100 million of federal spending,'' one Republican source says. "That might sound like a lot to some, but if you do a little math that turns out to be 0.0025 percent of federal spending for Fiscal Year 2009.''

Another on the Hill suggests that the finance charge on the economic stimulus bill which Obama won one month in office -- and which all the House Republicans voted against -- amounts to $95 million dollars a day: "So the savings they identify today will pay for one day of the interest on the stimulus debt. One day.''

"Let's not forget that at the same time they're looking for millions in savings, the president's budget calls for adding trillions to the debt,'' says Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "The nation's debt is at its highest level ever, but under the administration's budget, the amount of public debt will double in five years and triple in 10."

"Only in Washington, D.C., is $100 million not a lot of money,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested.

The White House says agencies already have initiated some cuts:

At the Agriculture Department, starting with the 2009 crop year, all recipients of federal farm subsidies will have to provide income information for verification. Eliminating those who don't qualify could save $16 million.

Agriculture is moving 1,500 employees from seven leased locations into one in 2011, saving $62 million over a 15-year lease.

Computers may be all the vogue in the classroom, but the Department of Education has cut the ratio of computers per employee, requiring that most use laptop computers (as opposed to keeping a desktop and also a laptop). This will save $2 million a year. They're cutting down on printers, too, saving another $6.7 million.

Homeland Security spends $100 million a year on office supplies, but virtually none are purchased through agreements that leverage the department's collective buying power. The agency figures it can save up to $52 over five years by buying in bulk.

Homeland also has spent $3 million on consulting contracts to create new seals and logos. It's "putting an end to that.''

Federal prosecutors are going paperless with their notices for asset forfeiture, switching from newspaper ads to the Internet - saving $6.7 million over five years. The State Department also is going paperless in visa processing, saving $1 million in a year.

At Veterans Affairs, they have cancelled or delayed 26 conferences, saving nearly $17.8 million. They will be going to more video-conferencing in their training programs.

All of which, as the Republicans on the Hill will note, a fraction of the federal budget.