We are going to hear a lot of talk this week about cutting the federal budget.  Lots of people in both parties talk about it.  Very few lawmakers and Administrations ever follow through. 

Why not?  Well, as the saying goes, there is a constituency for every single line in the federal budget.

In other words, someone supports everything that's in there, making it that much more difficult to get rid of any amount of spending, large or small.

Over the weekend, President Obama endorsed the idea of a special blue ribbon panel - like the military base closing commission - which would develop a series of recommendations to bring some sanity to the budget, which would be sent to the Congress for a vote on the entire package.

That plan could include both spending cuts and tax increases.

The idea has opponents in both parties.  Some like Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) argue it undermines the power of the Legislative Branch to set the budget.  Republicans don't like it because of the possibility of tax hikes.

There have been rumblings in recent days that the President will propose a freeze on most spending in the budget outside of defense and homeland security.

While Republicans are sure to applaud that, there will be a lot of Democrats who will be very unhappy, so this could be an interesting next few days for the White House when it comes to its budget plans this year.

For those of you who believe the Democrats couldn't cut a budget if they wanted to, there is reason for skepticism obviously.

I remember back in 1994, when the Dems bitterly fought almost every effort by the GOP to trim back spending, arguing the Republicans were grandstanding.  A few months later, the voters put the GOP in charge.

We will also talk a lot next week at this time about tax increases, as the details of the Obama budget come into view.

It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out, in what is already a highly political year.