Domestic Abuse

So I watched the 1st Presidential debate last night and I can't say that I thought either candidate came away with a decisive victory. But this debate was on foreign policy and I feel that this was McCain's debate to take and the fact that he didn't walk away with it...well, I don't think he'll be happy with all of the polling results today. To be clear- I support Obama. I just thought that if McCain was going to have an opportunity to do an end-zone victory dance, it would be after this particular debate.

During the debates, McCain said that he would consider a freeze on all domestic spending except for certain programs like VA and entitlement programs. I have a major problem with this statement. Ok, several major problems:

1. Entitlement spending (Medicare, Medicaid) is the fastest growing chunk of the federal budget. Entitlement spending accounts for anywhere between 50 - 60% of all federal spending. Not having a plan in place that takes into account the rapidly growing money suck that is entitlement spending is not going to help reduce government spending.

2. Domestic spending includes programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration (which we can all agree needs more money, not a budget freeze), the National Institutes of Health (in the spirit of full disclosure, I work at NIH so I have a vested interest in not seeing the budget cut) where medical research is conducted. Other domestic programs include the Environmental Protection Agency, The Education department, the Small Business Administration, the Transportation Department, The Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of the Interior. Despite the vast width and breadth of domestic, non-defense, non-entitlement spending, these programs only account for roughly 15% of the federal budget. Saying he'll freeze 15% of the budget as a way to get government spending under control is like saying, "Here, apply light pressure to this arterial wound. That should help."

3. Inflation dramatically reduces the purchasing power of federal agencies. This means, even if there is a budget freeze and agencies are kept at previous year funding levels, these agencies can not fund as much research, screen as many people, test as many drugs, etc, as they could the year before. The budget numbers might look the same on paper but the power of the budget decreases. What does this mean in real terms? A frozen budget = a cut budget.

Personally, I think it is the height of irresponsibility to suggest a spending freeze for domestic programs. And that's all I've got to say about that.