Jared Bernstein at WhiteHouse.Gov:
During the campaign, you may recall that John McCain touted option 1 – the hatchet approach of an across-the-board freeze.
The President was critical of that approach then, and we would be critical of it now. It’s not what we’re proposing.
To the contrary, the entire theory of the President’s proposed freeze is to dial up the stuff that will support job growth and innovation while dialing down the stuff that doesn’t.
Under our plan, some discretionary spending will go up; some will go down. That’s a big difference from a hatchet.