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What’s in the President’s 2015 budget proposal? Old ideas with a new spin.

Old and Busted: The Bipartisan Budget Agreement of 2013, which President Obama signed into law mere months ago
Shiny and New: The Presdent’s proposal blows the Bipartisan Budget Agreement’s spending caps in the very first year and neglects to maintain them in years they are in place under current law. The plan would increase spending by $56 billion in 2015 alone, and ultimately add $791 billion in new spending over the next ten years

Old and Busted: A failed trillion dollar “Stimulus” plan
Shiny and New: A $156 billion “Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative” that will enrich labor unions and the politically well-connected under the guise of investing in infrastructure and improving education

Old and Busted: Any effort to discuss entitlement reform
Shiny and New: Zero long-term structural reform that is needed to save entitlement programs. Instead, the President’s plan would increase mandatory spending by nearly $1 trillion over the decade.

Old and Busted: Honest budgeting
Shiny and New: Tortured budget wonks and baselines alike. The President’s plan double counts savings in the health care law and in emergency spending accounts to enhance its deficit reduction numbers. In addition, its extra spending and tax proposals are essentially appended to the plan; so the baseline spending and tax estimates are actually much worse than they appear in the baseline tables.

Old and Busted: The health care law is the “Law of the Land”
Shiny and New: The budget fully funds the Affordable Care Act, meaning its bailouts for big insurers, requirements forcing employers to shed employees or cut down their hours and the slew of twenty new or higher taxes stay in place. What isn’t clear is how many of the illegal Obamacare delays unilaterally authorized by the President will become law.

What’s Old is New Again: Over $1 trillion in new taxes. Some things never change.