Tag Archives: Preview

For the past few years, the
White House has previewed headline details about the
administration’s budget plan ahead of the release of the actual
budget document. Reporters from major news outlets have been
provided with key details, and, naturally, the talking points that
go with them. Last year, the
preview arrived on a Friday, with the full budget appearing the
following Monday. This year, the previews once again began to
spread on Friday. But the full budget didn’t arrive until the
Wednesday.
The one-two punch makes for a powerful messaging tactic, because
it allows the administration to control the conversation about the
budget for several days in advance of its actual release, and the
longer the gap, the longer the administration has to spin. The
administration gets to highlight what it wants about the budget,
and because there’s no other information available, the press
dutifully repeats what the administration wants highlighted.
Political opponents, meanwhile, have a somewhat tougher time
responding to a budget that they haven’t actually seen.
This year, the White House preview message seems to be that the
administration is making a great effort to compromise with
Republicans. The early information has highlighted President
Obama’s willingness to agree to change the way Social Security
benefits are calculated, as various Medicare savings, the $1.8
trillion in deficit reduction the administration claims to achieve,
and the tax carve outs it says it wants to close. Sure, the pitch
seems to be, we’re asking for additional tax revenue, but we’re
also making a good-faith effort to take on entitlements. We’re
compromising. Won’t you Republicans do the same? The press has
picked up on the idea. When The New York Times
reported the initial details at the end of last week, it
described the new budget as an effort by President Obama to “embody
the final compromise offer that he made to Speaker John A. Boehner
late last year.”
So is the White House really making a meaningful effort to reach
a compromise with this new budget? To answer in the affirmative,
you have see some value in rehashing old policy offers: Every one
of the entitlement and tax changes the administration has
highlighted that could be considered a compromise is a policy idea
we’ve seen the administration talk about before: The White House
has previously indicated its willingness to accept reforms to
Social Security’s benefits calculations, to negotiate lower prices
to drug companies and change the way Medicare pays for prescription
medications for seniors also eligible for Medicaid. These aren’t
necessarily bad policies, but they also aren’t really new offers,
so the administration’s affirmation that it is still willing to
accept policies it previously said it would consider does not count
for all that much.
Meanwhile, the administration has in recent months pulled back
on entitlement changes it once said it would consider: Multiple
reports have indicated that the White House has at various times
said it might agree to raising Medicare’s eligibility age; that
policy not only didn’t make it into the budget, it has been

yanked from consideration entirely. And in February, the
administration said that Medicaid reductions it once said it would
discuss were
no longer on the table. Despite what the messaging of the last
few days has suggested, the White House isn’t really expanding what
it’s willing to do to reach a deal with Republicans; if anything it
is narrowing its list of acceptable compromises. ; … Read More