Budget request important

President Barack Obama’s order for government agencies to submit budget proposals showing 5 percent cuts in current-level spending is being hailed by some conservatives as a good first step toward fiscal discipline.

Actually, it isn’t even that. It’s more like a shuffling of feet than a step.

That is not to take away from the symbolic importance of the president’s order. In some ways it is truly big news.

For one thing, the 5 percent cut requirement is based on agencies’ actual spending during the current year, not on some “baseline” that would allow them to actually spend more while insisting they were cutting back.

And, of course, the order is groundbreaking for this president. Obama has increased spending by hundreds of billions of dollars a year, so any reduction is progress.

That said, the progress is almost entirely symbolic. Obama’s order involves only domestic discretionary spending, which amounts to only about one-fourth of the budget. If implemented, it would save only about $50 billion a year — chicken feed, proverbally speaking, in the context of a $1.3 trillion budget deficit this year.

Clearly, much more remains to be done to get federal spending under control. But the president deserves credit for what we hope is sending a message about his intent, even if the amount involved is relatively miniscule.

Tags: opinion, editorials, budget, deficit