House GOP To Shift Defense Cuts To Poverty Programs

[ProSense]

House GOP To Shift Defense Cuts To Poverty Programs

Sahil Kapur

As Congress returns from recess this week, House Republicans are set to advance legislation to replace automatic defense spending cuts they agreed to last year with cuts to programs for the poor and working class. The controversial measure is expected to pass the House and die in the Senate, making it largely a political exercise that allows the two parties to contrast the values at the heart of the 2012 election: Should the burden for addressing the country’s long-running fiscal challenges fall to struggling people, or to the wealthiest people in the country?

The proposal — which is an outgrowth of the budget the House GOP overwhelmingly voted for late March — would cut some $261 billion from health care programs, food stamps, unemployment benefits and child tax credits, among others. It constitutes a violation of the GOP’s end of the debt-limit deal, which included painful sacrifices for both parties if the Congress failed to reach a bipartisan deficit-reduction agreement.

The measure would override the $78 billion in defense cuts set take effect January 2013 as a backstop in last August’s debt limit law. Additional cuts are in place for the following nine years. President Obama and Democrats aren’t happy with the so-called “sequestration” cuts either, but they insist they won’t roll them back unless Republicans agree to a balanced deal that combines spending cuts with new revenues taken from wealthy Americans, the latter of which Republicans have blocked for years.

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Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, released a report highlighting the ways the GOP bill would exacerbate poverty. “Next week Democrats will continue to draw a strong contrast between the lopsided Republican plan to protect tax breaks for powerful special interests at the expense of the rest of America,” he said last Thursday. In February, 127 House Dems wrote a letter to Obama saying the military cuts are part of the solution to deficit reduction and should be kept in place.

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http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/gop-defense-cuts-poverty-poor.php

[vi5]

1. Wow. What a surprise.....

Nobody could have seen that coming. Except for every elected Democrat who voted for and approved the precious "grand bargain" that they all covet so much.

Lucy pulls out the football yet again.

And yes, I know this is likely not going to pass and is just for show. But it's just another example of Dems trying to bargain with Republicans to fulfill the beltway media insider's "bipartisanship" fetish, only to have the Republicans turn around and beat them with it and use it to campaign against them (which they will on this without a single moment of hesitation).

And it would be one thing if Democrats would use this as a campaign issue and run ads talking about how the Republicans want and will vote to cut programs for the poor and elderly to protect their wealthy constituents, but they won't while the Republicans will have no problem running ads claiming dems want to gut the military.

[ProSense]

4. Republicans don't care,

and people still vote for them. Sad reality.

[ck4829]

2. These defense cuts are for stuff the military doesn't need, they have even said they don't want it

When you build stuff the military doesn't want, they just can't auction it off. They have to store it and maintain it even though it's not being used. That means less manpower, time, and money going to, you know, actually defending the country.

And then to turn around and put cuts in the safety net that the poor depend on. Things that people who have put the American Dream aside just so they can make ends meet. Just to keep the military bloated.

If someone doesn't see a difference between the two parties, all they need to do is take a look at this.

[ProSense]

5. Last week

Boehner commented on the jobs numbers. This week he proposes to cut the safety net.

I guess he's not too concerned about jobs.

[meow2u3]

3. Let's call it the Republican murder-the-poor budget

Jesus would be very happy with the GOP now.