- $73 billion the amount of spending cuts the Democrats say they’ve agreed to in an effort to avoid a looming government shutdown
- $33 billion the amount the Republicans say is actually being cut under the Democratic compromise, a number they consider unacceptable source
- » So where’d the $40 billion go? Basically, the Democrats had agreed to cut spending by $73 billion, but that’s explicitly based off the levels President Obama wanted in his budget. Since that budget hasn’t passed, the Republicans are arguing that the cuts are really only $33 billion less than current spending levels (which is rather hard to argue). Notwithstanding the dispiriting accounting tomfoolery going on here, though, this is supposedly a deal between the two parties, and between position D (don’t cut spending) and position R (cut tons of spending), even a $33 billion cut strikes us as an entirely reasonable compromise — both numbers are a tiny, tiny slice of the budget in any event, so the quibble seems more symbolic than functional.
