GOP unveils next round of cuts (Politico)

Doubling down their bets, House Republicans announced a new round of appropriations cuts in an accelerated push to reduce government spending by $60 billion and deny President Barack Obama close to $100 billion requested in his 2011 budget.

The nearly 360-page, seven-month funding resolution was filed Friday night by the House Appropriations Committee in anticipation of floor action and passage before lawmakers go home for the Presidents’ Day recess next weekend.

Continue Reading The speed and depth of the new reductions take the GOP well past the recommendations of a bipartisan debt commission in December and all but invite a fight with Senate Democrats, even as government funding is due to expire March 4.

It’s a one-two punch spelled out dramatically by the sequencing of cuts this week to meet ever larger targets driven by the Republicans’ tea party faction.

Community development block grants, which had been cut about $530 million on Wednesday, ended down by $2 billion more to settle at $1.5 billion – well below even what was allowed under Ronald Reagan’s administration. The Peace Corps, which had lost $40 million Wednesday, finished down $70 million Friday—a better than 17 percent reduction from its 2010 budget.

Most dramatic, perhaps, was the shift at the expense of Pell Grants for low income college students, a top priority for the administration. The Appropriations leadership appeared to be making a real effort to protect it earlier this week. But the bill filed Friday night saves billions by forcing an $800 cut in the maximum annual grant for a student.

Altogether labor, health and education programs face a $17.4 billion reduction from 2010 funding. Another $15.4 billion would come from housing and transportation programs.

The impact on foreign aid would be severe, raising questions about the State Department’ ability to sustain its increased role in post-war Iraq as well as Afghanistan.

Since last Oct. 1, agencies have operated under a series of continuing resolutions or CRs, which set a rate of annual spending near $1.087 trillion. The new bill now would essentially take over for the last seven months of the fiscal year, providing $8 billion in new money for defense but dramatically slowing the pace of spending for domestic programs and foreign aid.

The $60 billion cut effectively doubles the $32 billion reduction outlined by the GOP leadership only last week and would bring total discretionary spending for 2011 down to $1.028 trillion. By comparison, the debt commission—worried by the weak recovery—never went so deep and chose a more gradual path which bottoms out over two years at $1.043 trillion in 2013, after which annual growth would be capped at half the rate of inflation.

But of all the numbers, the most magic politically is the $100 billion cut measured against Obama’s 2011 budget—an outdated standard but one that great currency with tea party freshmen elected in November.

When initially conceived last summer as a Republican campaign pledge, the reduction was to come from only domestic spending and foreign aid. But to make its task easier, the leadership agreed this week to count close to $18 billion in savings from Obama’s requests for previously exempted departments like Defense and Homeland Security.

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House GOP unveils $61B spending cut plan (AP)

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – Fri Feb 11, 11:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON – House Republicans called for cuts in hundreds of programs across the face of government Friday night in a $61 billion savings package toughened at the last minute at the demand of tea party-backed conservatives.

From education to job training, the environment and nutrition, few domestic programs were left untouched — and some were eliminated — in the measure, which is expected to reach the floor for a vote next week.

Among the programs targeted for elimination are Americorps and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In contrast, spending on defense and veterans' programs were protected.

The measure marks an initial down payment by newly empowered Republicans on their promise to rein in federal deficits and reduce the size of government.

In a statement, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the measure "a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy. .This legislation will mark the largest spending cut in modern history and will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work."

Democrats harshly criticized the bill within moments of its formal unveiling, signaling the onset of weeks of partisan struggle over spending priorities.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement calling the bill irresponsible, adding that it would "target critical education programs like Head Start, halt innovation and disease research, end construction projects to rebuild America and take cops off the beat."

But first-term Republican conservatives claimed victory after forcing their own leadership to expand the measure after rejecting an earlier draft as too timid.

"$100 billion is $100 billion is $100 billion," said Rep. Tim Scott R-S.C., referring to amount the revised package would cut from President Barack Obama's budget request of a year ago.

That was the amount contained in the Republican "Pledge to America" in last fall's campaign, and when party leaders initially suggested a smaller package of cuts this week, many of the 87-member freshman class who have links to the tea party rebelled.

In fact, even some Republicans acknowledged privately the legislation will cut about $61 billion from current spending on domestic spending.

Some of the largest cuts would be borne by WIC, which provides nutritional support for women and infants, cut by $747 million, and training and employment grants to the states, ticketed for a $1.4 billion reduction.

In addition, Republicans proposed a 43 percent cut in border security fencing and a 53 percent reduction in an account used to fund cleanup of the Great Lakes.

The measure also asserts Republican priorities in several contentious areas.

It prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from terminating plans for a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada — a direct challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid dissented quickly, issuing a statement that said, "Any attempt to restart the Yucca Mountain project will not happen on my watch as Senate majority leader."

The Environmental Protection Agency would be banned from regulating greenhouse gases, linked to global warming, from fixed sources such as factories. The District of Columbia could not use federal funds to run a needle-exchange program for drug users.

While a 48-hour revolt by tea party-backed conservatives roiled the party this week, its conclusion could mean an easier path to passage for the spending cut bill when it reaches the House floor.

"The leadership responded to the concerns of those who are far to the right of the middle," said Scott.

The cuts will become part of a spending bill that is needed to keep the government in operation through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. The current funding authority expires on March 4.

Passage in the Republican-controlled House would send the bill to the Senate, where Democrats control a majority and are certain to support more generous funding levels.

Barring a compromise before March 4, the two houses will be under pressure to agree on a short-term bill to keep the federal government operating without interruptions.

Even that could prove difficult, though, and Democrats assert that Republicans will resort to a government shutdown to get their way.

"It is time for the House Republicans to stop with the games and finally rule out a government shutdown once and for all," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "Stop being coy about it and take it off the table."

Congressional Republicans were damaged politically in 1995 when a protracted dispute over funding with President Bill Clinton led to a government shutdown.

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Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

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Seeing double: Sprint unveils Kyocera Echo with dual touch screens

 Kyocera Echo
(Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET)
NEW YORK--After weeks of teasing an "industry first," Sprint finally took the wraps off its secret project and unveiled the Kyocera Echo, the first dual touch-screen smartphone, at a special event in New York today.
Available later this spring for $199.99 with a two-year contract, the Kyocera Echo boasts two 3.5-inch WVGA touch screens and a "pivot hinge" that allows you to place the two displays side by side to form a larger 4.7-inch display. In development for more than a year and a half (even longer for the hardware), the Echo runs Android 2.2 and features software that is optimized to take advantage of the two screens.
There are actually four modes in which you can use the Android 2.2 device: standard, tablet, optimized, and simultasking. In standard mode, you can use the Echo as a traditional touch-screen smartphone. The pivot hinge allows you to tuck the second display under the first, so you can navigate and operate the handset like many of today's latest devices. Meanwhile, tablet mode lets you view and interact with an app on both screens.
The optimized and simultask modes are a little more advanced in their capabilities. The former supports a single app and gives you the main view on one screen, and the app's complementary features and functionality on the second screen. For example, if you're checking e-mail, you'll get a view of your full inbox on one side of the screen, and the second will give display the full text of a selected message. Another example is the photo gallery. You can get a full view of a photo on the top screen and a thumbnail photo gallery on the bottom.
However, the simultask mode is where the Echo's true attraction might lie. In this mode, you'll be able to take multitasking to a new level as you'll be able to use two apps concurrently with each displayed on one of the dual touch screens. At launch, there will only be seven main apps that will support simultask mode--browser, contacts, e-mail, messaging, gallery, phone, and VueQue (YouTube app that lets you view video on the top screen and lists related clips below). Each will be marked with a small blue-gray box to indicate simultask support.
Once you select one of those apps, you can tap both screens to select a second app to display on the other screen. There's an onscreen function that will allow you to easily swap the tasks as well.
When we first heard reports of the Kyocera Echo this morning, we weren't sure what to expect but we can definitely say we were impressed by what we saw during our meeting with Sprint and Kyocera earlier in the day, but of course, there are concerns. For one, what is the battery life going to be with two touch screens? The Echo ships with a 1,370mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 5 hours and Sprint says it's been testing on par or better than other smartphones. However, Sprint is including a second battery along with a charging case in the box, so you can easily swap out the battery.
The second concern we had was how smooth the navigation would be between the two screens. Both Sprint and Kyocera realized that minimizing the seam between both displays was a key factor in creating a good user experience, so they did their best to make that happen. We can say it was certainly better than what we expected, but there is still a break in fluidity with some tasks, such as navigating a Web site. We only had a few minutes with the device, however, so perhaps this is something we could grow accustomed to with more time.
Other features of the Kyocera Echo of note include a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, mobile hot-spot capabilities (up to five devices), and 1GB internal memory and preinstalled 8GB microSD card. As noted earlier, the Echo is running Android 2.2, but there is no custom user interface.
One omission that might disappoint some is the lack of 4G support. However, Sprint said in order to keep costs down and in order to bring the smartphone to market sooner rather than later, there was a bit of trade off.
The Kyocera Echo is an interesting concept, and I definitely appreciate that both Sprint and Kyocera are doing something different. It's one of those devices that you have to see in person to understand its potential, but even so, I think its appeal might be limited.
Still, we'll give the smartphone a full shake down once we get it in for review. In the meantime, you can check out our First Look video and hands-on photo gallery and definitely be sure share your thoughts on the Echo with us below. We're really curious to hear what you think about the device.
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