Obama Seeks Deep Spending Cuts that Could Strike Home

The February 12th New York Times reports that Obama is going to seek deep spending cuts that he says will save the country $1.1 trillion over the next ten years. Many of the cuts could have repercussions locally. Among the budget cuts that affect the area:

--$1 billion in cuts in grants to states for water treatment plants for 2012. This would make it more difficult for Sheridan and Grant City to obtain money to keep up with costly regulations should they take effect. Sheridan is seeking to get grant money to overhaul an aging water system that was put in place around 1950 and is seeking to find a way to avoid discharging sludge from its water plant into the sewer system.

--Public health programs would also be cut. In addition, home energy assistance to low income families would be cut in half. This would affect many people in the county who have relied on these programs in the last few years to pay heating bills for homes.

--All the Bush era tax cuts would be made permanent except for people who made over $250,000 per year.

--Programs for education, infrastructure, innovation, and research would be increase. This could mean more money for Worth County and Northeast Nodaway schools down the road. This could mean more money for roads as well. The MODOT has contended that they need a lot more money from the Federal Government in order to bring Missouri roads into optimal condition.

--Neither party is willing to touch popular programs like Medicare, which the Times article says is facing unsustainable growth with the retirement of the Baby Boom population or to raise revenues.

--The article says that neither party can sustain the kind of cuts that either Obama or the Republicans are proposing given past history. There would be increasing pressure from interest groups which would translate to voter anger at the polls.