Is Medicaid GOP’s Waterloo?

80% to 18%

Margin by which Americans oppose cuts in Medicare, the government health program for the elderly, or Medicaid, the program for the poor, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. Even among conservatives, just 29% supported cuts, and 68% opposed them. House Republicans voted nearly unanimously last week to drastically restructure and reduce those programs, while President Obama called for trimming their costs but leaving them essentially intact.

Their Team Winning is More Important to Florida Republicans Than Their Constituents Are

19 of 19

Number of Republican members of the House of Representatives from Florida who voted for the Ryan budget plan, which would expand tax cuts for rich people while canceling the current Medicare program. The vote seems odd in a state known for its high number of retirees, who were apparently not on the minds of their elected representatives.

CBO Says Spending Cuts Actually Only Amount to $352 Million

$352 million

The actual amount of spending cuts below 2010 levels, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the budget deal — which will be voted on Thursday — that was advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, National Journal reports. CBO also projects that total spending is actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.

Businesses Posted 3.1 Million Job Openings in February

3.1 million

Number of job openings that employers advertised in February, the most since September 2008, according to the Labor Department. That was the height of the financial crisis, when Lehman Brothers collapsed. The report shows there were 4.4 people, on average, competing for each available job in February. That’s down from nearly 7 in July 2009, but still above the approximately 2 to 1 ratio that exists in a healthy economy.