WASHINGTON — The White House is trying to show federal bureaucrats that President Barack Obama is serious about his promise to freeze most domestic agency budgets.
Budget chief Peter Orszag said Tuesday that he is directing agencies to target less-effective programs for cuts as the administration puts together a budget plan for the fiscal year starting September 2011.
As he did last year, Orszag is pressing agencies to come up with budgets that would cut a nickel out of every dollar so that savings could be used to boost other programs.
But the White House is resisting calls from Republicans to cut spending immediately by rescinding already appropriated money.
Orszag said that if the White House sent the Democratic-controlled Congress a package of immediate spending cuts it would probably "go nowhere." Instead, the White House is fighting for new powers to allow Obama and his successors to force lawmakers to vote on cutting earmarks and wasteful programs from spending bills.
"It just comes down to a question of whether it's a fruitless exercise because we have very low probability of success in the current environment," Orszag said.
Orszag's remarks about spending came in a speech at the left-leaning Center for American Progress think tank that was otherwise dedicated to discussing the administration's efforts to make government operate more efficiently. He said the single most important step would be to upgrade agency computer systems to increase productivity and responsiveness, as well as efficiency and customer service.
On spending, Orszag promised that Obama will veto spending bills this year to enforce his promise of an overall freeze on non-security programs. Few such spending bills seem likely to advance before Election Day, however, given the lack of progress on Capitol Hill on budget and spending legislation.
In the meantime, the administration is backing tens of billions of dollars in new funding for unemployment benefits and help for cash-starved states and school districts.