First Savings Without Cuts, Now Cuts Without Savings

Since I criticized Mitt Romney's penny-ante budget cuts in my column yesterday, I should note that President Obama can play that game too. The New York Times reports that he has found $4 billion in change under the cushions of the waste, fraud, and abuse couch, including money spent on "promotional plaques and mugs, cellphones and iPads, official travel, and chauffeured cars for senior officials." Rather than squander the sum—fully 0.3 percent of the fiscal year 2011 budget deficit—on debt reduction, the administration has "reinvested" it in "other programs, like helping veterans re-enter the work force or improving the nation's infrastructure, which the White House contends are more worthwhile."