Federal math 101

As the clock ticks on an agreement to avert default by increasing the
debt ceiling, here is a handy example of the kind of federal government
math that bewilders the public and challenges the negotiators involved
in the number-crunching it takes to reach budget deals — the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported this week that the deal Republicans
reached with President Obama in April to avoid a government shutdown
actually increased spending for this year by $3.2 billion.
 
You read that correctly, and you can read more here. The agreement House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) won to secure $38.5 billion in spending cuts for the remainder of fiscal 2011 was originally cheered but later criticized by many House Republicans when it turned out it would actually only reduce spending by $352 million this year.

The CBO now reports it will reduce spending by $122 billion over the next 10 years but increase spending in the remainder of this fiscal year because defense spending will increase over the same period by $7.5 billion. Non-military spending is set to decrease by $4.4 billion. A statement on the Speaker’s website claimed the CBO did not include the full picture and its new numbers were “an uneven snapshot” of the 2011 budget agrement.
 
Are you confused yet? You should be. And this is the kind of back-and-forth you can expect from the eleventh-hour, white-knuckle negotiations the White House and Republicans can be counted on to engage in sometime later this summer as the world waits to see if the United States government is willing to trigger default because of our partisan divide. Both sides will claim federal government math to make their case, while the other party says the numbers don’t add up.
 
Just you wait.
 

IS FORMER UTAH GOV. JON HUNTSMAN A CONTENDER IN THE GOP PRIMARY? Ask A.B. returns Tuesday, May 24. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comment to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.