The Deficit: Fun Fact

Okay, if we have to talk about this, I guess I'll have to read about it so you don't have to. Hot on the heels of the spending freeze comes a new report from the Congressional Budget Office that the deficit seems to be going down a bit and likely to be lower than last year.
There's some caveats about tax reductions — what tax reductions? — and other spending increases.
But here's what caught my attention:

In dollar terms, though, a $1.3 trillion deficit this year would leave the shortfall back where it was when he took office from President George W. Bush.

But back to the spending freeze. Turns out it's not even new, so why all the hair pulling? Politics, honey.

Last year Mr. Obama proposed to cut a similar amount — $11.5 billion — and Congress approved about three-fifths of that, the officials said.

And the NYT story about all this notes in the last paragraph that this has been in the works since last fall. I remember those stories, too.
But I'm still puzzled. What tax reductions?

UPDATE: Give a little here, take a little there. Stimulus to cost about 10 percent more than originally planned. News at 11.