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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robyn Blumner
The more Americans know about the House Republican plan to cut the deficit, the more likely they are to feel buyer's remorse over the midterm Republican landslide of 2010. Congressional Republicans want deep cuts in the programs that help America's middle and working classes, while essentially leaving the massive budgets that go toward defense and corporate welfare untouched. These are the priorities of plutocrats.
The House has been debating cuts to the federal government for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year. But regardless of what ends up in the final legislation, it is worth looking at the leadership's initial proposal as a clear statement of Republican aspirations, which are to limit government's role in giving people a helping hand when they need one, and to curtail the government's ability to police corporate abuses.
House Speaker John Boehner says deep cuts are necessary because, "We're broke." But the original cuts that the
The conservative takeover of the House put a bright red target on the backs of federal regulatory agencies that keep industry from harming workers, consumers, investors and the environment.
For example, the Republican plan slated the
The environment also got a huge whack, with Republicans seeking to cut
Overall, their proposal is a polluters' gift card with an unlimited balance.
Sweeping cuts are also slated for education, transportation, housing, scientific research and community health centers. The negative impact that all of this cutting will have on the unemployment rate and the country's nascent economic recovery doesn't seem to register concern. It is as if the only core government function that Republicans view as legitimate is war. In the initial plan, defense spending was spared. Want a job? Join the
What Republicans don't talk about in the conversation on deficit reduction are "tax expenditures," the term used by the bipartisan deficit commission to describe the cost of tax deductions, exemptions or credits. As the commission said, it's "simply spending by another name." But Republicans claim that closing tax breaks is raising taxes, and, generally, they won't hear of it.
That's why oil and gas executives aren't losing sleep that Boehner will join President Barack Obama's recent call to eliminate
These are the priorities that the 2010 election has wrought. Read 'em and weep.
AMERICAN POLITICS
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Midterm GOP Gains Show True Colors Come Budget Season | Politics
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