President Obama has proposed an across-the-board, two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal employees — a strategy the White House says will save about $5 billion over two years and $28 billion over five years. The plan requires approval by Congress, where an empowered Republican caucus has prioritized government spending cuts. But even if the plan is enacted, the savings are a tiny fraction of our $1.3 trillion deficit. Is this, as Obama says, the first of many hard budget choices, or is it mostly political theater? (Watch Obama's announcement)
Obama's anteing up: This "largely symbolic" budget-cutting gesture will take only "a relatively small nibble" out of the deficit, says Adam Sorenson in Time. But it's significant that Obama made the announcement the day before he faces off with congressional Republicans, who want bigger slices from the federal bureaucracy. Obama is gambling he can "co-opt" the populist anger over federal pay "without giving away the farm."
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