The Federal Budget Plan for 2011-2012!

It's no secret that we, the United States, have the biggest debt total in the whole world.  Which is why every two years the president and other federal officials plan a two year budget reform to try and save money, but still have the needs of the American people met. 

President Obama back in February 2010 proposed a budget plan for 2011 which indicated that jobs, health care, clean energy, education, and cutting oil companies tax breaks would be major priorities.  The president requested a total spending cost of $3.83 trillion and a federal deficit of $1.27 for 2011.  People have said that the total debt is suppose to go from $11.9 trillion in 2009 to $15.1 trillion in 2011.  

But when the Congressional Budget Office(CBO) looked into things they found that if certain laws don't change the federal budget will show a deficit of $1.5 trillion.  And the total revenue will be close to $2.23 trillion and a total outlay of $3.71 trillion for the year of 2011.  

And on February 14, 2011 President Obama released his Federal Budget Plan for 2012.  The new plan updated the projected 2011 Plan.  The new deficit will be $1.65 trillion, the total revenue will be $2.71 trillion, and the total outlay will be $3.82 trillion. 

But what many people are still wondering is how much money will the major priorities be recieving.  And the government has answered that question by giving a list of their spendings:

$787.6 billion in pensions, $898 billion in health care expenditures, $140.9 billion for education, $928.5 billion in defense spending, $464.6 billion in welfare spending, $57.3 billion in protective services such as police, fire, law courts, $104.2 billion for transportation, $29 billion in general government expenses, $151.4 billion in other spending including basic research, and $250.7 billion on interest payments. 

How This Topic Relates To Class:

This topic relates to class because we are talking about the President and Bureaucracy right now.  And when talking about the President we talked about the structure he uses now to make plans for the United States, which is a combination of the pyramid and circular structures.  And when President Obama made his Federal Budget Plan he talked to the different departments of the government to see what they need and how much money they would need to get these things done and when he's done he adds all of those request for money up and begins making his budget plan.  



What's The Big Fuss About Senate Bill 5?!?

I'm pretty sure that you, just like me, have heard a lot about this SB 5 thing.  Also known as the Senate Bill 5 Plan.  We have all heard about the fussing and protesting that has been going on in Washington, but mainly right are in Ohio. 

And it has all been about the passage of the Senate Bill 5 and what it represents if it does pass. 

The Senate Bill 5 for police and firefighters will preclude binding arbitration in the event of  broken negotiations and if agreements can not be reached. 
 

And it could also affect teachers as well.  For teachers this means school boards will be precluded through negotiations from agreeing to matters such as class size to teacher credentials.  And even though teachers with seniority always had a secure position in teaching, it doesn't matter anymore because when it comes to determining who is kept or who is let go seniority won't count anymore.  But what some people don't think is because they aren't in a union they shouldn't have to worry about this bill, but what many officials are saying, is even though some workers are part of a non union work place they should still be concerned about their future.

And because of all theses new possible changes people are really starting to get very upset.  Which has caused protest by many firefighters, police officers, and teachers almost every single day for the past week, to get the Senate not to past this bill.

How This Relates To Class:
This topic relates to class because we have talked the different steps it takes to pass a bill.  And one of those steps, is it takes 51 votes of the Senate to pass a bill to the president.(The bill also needs 50%+1 votes of the House of Representatives.)  And once the bill has recieved its minimal amount of votes, it then goes to the president for it to be signed.  And from there the president can either veto the bill or sign it.  But if the president doesn't sign the bill in a certain amount of days the bill automatically becomes a law.  And all of this is what's going to happen in the next couple of days to weeks, when it comes to decisions being made about the Senate Bill 5 and what's going to happen with it.