"The bottom line is that as far as the BHO non-defense budget goes, pending Congressional disposition of it, the left has nothing to complain about.Zero, except maybe the stimulus is too small. (Though it may be doubted that Congress would have gone for anything bigger, first time around.)"
The problems with this budget are susbstantial and your statement is misguided. Consider that a vast proportion of the increase in discretionary spending is allocated to the Department of State. You know, so that it can intensify "Democracy Promotion" in South America. And let's not neglect its effects on postal workers. The budget proposes to increase the amount paid out-of-pocket by USPS workers for health & life insurance premia; it also reduces payments to USPS retirees affected on worker's compensation (for a total reduction of $16 billions). This latter feature especially is characteristic of austerity programs.
Great, they do propose to increase the maximum amount of the Pell Grant to $5,550 per student and index that amount to inflation, but that's not much, it's some crumbs allocated to the working class.
epoliticus