Peter Louis Knudsen at the Heritage Foundation finds that Congress has already exceeded the spending "caps" established following last summer’s debt-ceiling compromise:
As House appropriators begin hearings on fiscal year (FY) 2013 spending, a second look at last week’s Congressional Budget Office report shows they already have exceeded their official Budget Control Act limits for the current year by a stunning $156 billion. Although some of this overrun reflects justifiable support for U.S. troops overseas, the rest results from loopholes built into the spending caps along with other gimmicks. The figures prove how urgent it is for Congress to shut down these enablers of profligate spending.
A summary of total discretionary spending for FY 2012 shows the following:
- The official Budget Control Act cap: $1.043 trillion.
- Overseas troop support: $127 billion.
- "Disaster" and "program integrity" initiatives: $11 billon.
- "Changes in mandatory programs" shell game: $18 billion.
Total: $1.199 trillion.
A more detailed analysis can be found here.