Here is a report from the Center On Budget And Policy Priorities: "Chairman Ryan Gets Roughly Two-Thirds of His Huge Budget Cuts From Programs for Lower-Income Americans". Chief Economist, Robert Greenstein, writes, "GOP House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would get about two-thirds of its more than $4 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years from programs that serve people of limited means, which violates basic principles of fairness and stands a core principle of President Obama’s fiscal commission on its head.”
The $2.9 trillion — or about two-thirds — of the cuts includes the following three categories of cuts:
$2.17 trillion in reductions from Medicaid and related health care,
$350 billion in cuts in mandatory programs serving low-income Americans (other than Medicaid), and
$400 billion in cuts in low-income discretionary programs.
View the full report here.
11 comments:
Submitted this as letter to the editor:
Recent events in Washington and Tallahassee are proving that the political mean season is upon us, with a particular vengeance towards the poor, infirm, and most vulnerable. Gov. Rick Scott and Tallahassee Republicans continue on a reckless assault on Florida’s already meager social safety net with draconian proposed cuts to public hospitals, hospice care, aid to the disabled, health care for low-income children, treatment for the mental ill, homeless assistance, and support for foster children.
Likewise in DC, House Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, seek deep cuts to Medicare (by privatizing the health care program for the elderly) and Medicaid (by block granting to the states the health care program for the poor and disabled, of which children are 50% of recipients), all in part to make way for regressive tax cuts for the wealthiest. Perhaps the cruelest cut involves the elimination of foreign aid for such things as malaria control and child immunizations that, according to U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah, could cost the lives of up to 70,000 children in the developing word.
In sum, tax cuts and no sacrifice for the wealthiest and most affluent coupled with program cuts for the poor and vulnerable. It’s clear that the claim of “compassionate conservatism” no longer is relevant to Republicans today.
Read my Facebook notes on how they are doing this at the state level. Once again the "I want government out of YOUR lives" legislature (except when it comes down to benefiting their large wine distributor campaign 2010 contributors) regulates wine makers who don't benefit from the three-tier wine distribution system. The tier system benefits the biggest wine makers because they know the smallest ones can't afford through go through the big distributors.
If a bill currently in committee in Tallahassee makes it through, those of you who like to purchase small production wine through indepedent sources instead of at the bigger retailers, may have a harder time getting it.
Read my notes on this bill. Copy and paste the link and share it with your friends...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/wining-inmiami/less-government-for-all-florida-legislature-is-back-at-it-again-with-more-regula/211648745528849
Jane Walker, Kendall
Pell Grants: instead of cutting Pell Grants, we should consider taking the following actions:
1. Require that colleges, universities and technical institutes be accredited. There is so much fraud in the way of on line "colleges". They bilk students out of their federal aid, sign them up for ridiculous loans and then watch them fail. The kids leave after a few years, carrying tens of thousands of dollars in debt with no transferable credits. Many of these new, private colleges have lousy outcomes. This is no secret. Their target audience is the lower income student. It is disgusting.
2. Creating legislation that prevents telemarketers from calling themselves college counselors.
This is not rocket science. We know what needs to be done. They know what needs to be done. Why are we pretending that we don't know what the problem is. The bilking of Federal dollars is no new thing, is it Governor Scott? Pay attention Washington. It is not what you are doing, but how you are doing it. Those dollars need to stay put.
Jane Walker
Building on the previous comment, while we are at it, I know that argument comes up about the role of Government. Well, folks, I would rather see us educating people than supporting them for the rest of their lives. This is how you break the chain of poverty. News flash, there are a lot of struggling students out there who want the same thing.
Thomas Jefferson understood the importance of public education when he founded UVA. We cannot hope to succeed if we are stupid. How we get there should be subject to rigorous debate, true. it is a worthy topic and an important topic.
Think about it this way: if you won't educate them and you won't support them, then our only other choice is to exploit them. Now, you can make all those predictable arguments about how they can mop floors and work two and three jobs to get ahead. Yes they can and maybe they should.
However, if we are looking at cutting Pell grants before we look at how private institutions are stealing our federal Pell Grant dollars right out from under our student's noses, then we are choosing not to look at some of the real problems here. As a tax payer, that offends me. As a humanitarian, it saddens me.
Are we forgetting the dems didn't have the onions to get this done prior to the 2010 elections fearing more losses?
The Republicans are attempting to put the breaks on a spending machine the likes of which have never before been seen in this country. Obama's spending makes George Bush look like he tipped over a piggy bank.
I know, I know, he's spending to dig us out of the hole George Bush put us in.
When does the Obama administration begin to become responsible for their actions instead of blaming them on everyone else? We're three years in now.
1. Guantanamo's still open and is staying open.
2. 9-11 terrorists are being tried by military tribunals versus civilian courts.
3. We're still in Afghanistan, and even had a "surge" there.
4. The Patriot Act continues to be quietly renewed by Congress and signed into law by the president.
5. Despite his campaign statement that war to effect regime change was stupid, Obama is warring to effect regime change in Libya.
6. The FISA continues to be the law of the land under the president that decried its use under his predecessor.
The world looks a little different when you become the president instead of criticizing him. Old George W. isn't looking so dunb anymore, is he?
THen there is that other pesky thing - we need to think about our deficit in relation to the growth of our GDP. We aren't growing, because our Global Economy is coming back to kick us in the ass. Hmmmm, so what is the fix. It took two parties to create some of these problems and it is going to take two parties to move us out of this hole. I have no use for partisan politics.
We are spending 40% more than we take in revenue, with GROWING expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This is unsustainable! Even if you eliminated ALL the other spending, there isn't enough revenue to cover social spending, so the cuts are coming regardless - either some now or a lot later. I don't want America to end up like Greece. Whining about the cuts or demagoging isn't "adult".
OK, previous Anon, so let's talk about that a bit more. 60% of our budget is non-discretionary. These are the entitlements. Congress isn't talking about that. They are talking about the 40% part of the budget. In reality, they are talking about a small percentage of that 40% (or even smaller if you consider the 100%). Now, I will be the first one to say that we need to cull, but let's not forget that there is a lot of showmanship going on right now with unions, the media, the right and the left each reading their script and hitting their marks with measured precision.
As far as becoming Greece - let's talk about Portugal so that we can be current. They had a rather bad experience with the IMF a few decades ago and now they are going back there as a last resort. They need a loan. So, again, the usual course of events will follow...strangling debt, restructuring, vultures,etc.
To unravel our GDP problem, we need to factor in our place in a global economy. It is not pretty business, mind you.
We have to carefully measure just how much we can distress third world nations in order to take advantage of their cheap labor and natural resources. Go too far and they will fall into civil unrest. Don't go far enough and some other power will step in and beat us to the punch. Let civil unrest go too far and we will have to step in naked, or with NATO hiding our private parts. Job loss - no problem. Our young can get jobs in the military. Soon peasants all over the world will be revolting and there will be lots of places to "intervene". You and I own this. Take responsibility for your share, please. I own mine.
When you go to your closet tomorrow, don't think about the Indian farmers that committed suicide from their failed GMO cotton crops. Don't think about the guy who sewed your shirt. Just button that up and get in your fossil fueled, china-made car and go to work. Use your ATM from your too large to fail bank. Trade a few stocks if you have time. Adam Smith said it was ok and so we take license in all our actions.
We are having 1st World Problems and we have no concept of what true poverty is. Even our poor people are rich compared to others.
So, God forbid we would become Greece, because we would then be victims of the World Bank and the IMF. God forbid we should have to drink our own medicine, for an angry world would make sure we took every last drop.
We need to figure out where we lost our way. Why can't we have meaningful campaign finance reform? Perhaps this is the dialogue we should be having this week. The world is on fire and Congress is performing as if it were on Broadway. I am ashamed for them even if I love my country.
A patriot
As an aside, little is being said in the media about the fact that the impending shutdown is about the budget that should have been passed last year when the Dems had full control of both houses of Congress. They didn't want to make any "tough" decisions immediately prior to mid-term elections for fear of being held accountable for them by the electorate; a lot of good that piercingly sharp insight did them.
They had the ability last year to do their jobs without anything but annoying braying from the Republicans and be done with it.
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost, they blame the Republicans.
How gauche! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I am the great and powerful Oz!
Patriot agrees, David, but now it's the second act and they are taking it to the next level of ugly.
I think they will manage to pull out something to authorize military through Sept. 30, not that gov always pays their military on time. A friend of mine's son deployed and came back before his wife got his separation and battle pay (or what ever they call that.) Man, if the you don't pay the IRS on time you get charged interest. I think that is what those struggling military families should do - charge interest on back pay.
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