Tomorrow’s release of President Obama’s budget will bring new attention to the debate over how to reduce deficits. A key sticking point in that debate has been Republican leaders’ opposition to any new revenues on top of those in January’s American Taxpayer Relief Act.
With that in mind, here’s a fact worth remembering: some 70 percent of the $2.3 trillion in policy savings that the President and Congress have enacted over the past few years — which will produce $2.75 trillion in total deficit reduction when interest savings are included — have come through program cuts rather than revenue increases (see graph).