This is a concrete step to avoid the fiscal cliff and begin to bring government spending under control.
Actual reductions in spending on a year over year basis, rather than the usual Washington doublespeak of reducing planned increases in spending and calling it a cut, will not only be a positive step towards bringing spending under control, but will bring the White House's vocabulary in line with that of the rest of the American people.
Since 1900 there have only been 7 presidential terms that actually saw the government spend less money than the term before. With a over a Trillion dollar deficit estimated for this year, we NEED actual reductions in spending if we are to bring the deficit under control. There isn't enough income to only accomplish this through higher taxes.