Damian Paletta reports that President Obama may endorse entitlement cuts when he releases his budget on April 10:
Including entitlement curbs would be notable, as Republicans often have criticized the White House for offering such steps in private negotiations but never fully embracing them as part of an official budget plan.
….The White House declined to offer details of what would appear in the budget, but top officials have said negotiations with the GOP are near an impasse. “We are in a place now where it’s difficult for us to reach an agreement when you have a firm bloc of Republican senators who are refusing to compromise,” White House principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said.
It’s sort of interesting how little has leaked about this. In order for the interagency review to be done and printed copies of the budget to be ready on April 10, pretty much all the major decisions must have been made by now. But the only actual example of an entitlement cut that Paletta’s piece mentions is adoption of chained CPI for Social Security, a policy that Obama has been committed to for quite a while. If there’s more, the president’s team is doing a pretty good job of keeping it quiet.
More leaks, please.
