Schools, Cops, And Health Care: What The 'Pledge To America' Would Actually Cut

[Joanne98]

"With common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops, we will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to balance the budget and pay down the debt."

So reads the House Republicans' "Pledge to America" -- a supposedly deficit-reducing plan that calls for trillions of dollars' worth of specific tax cuts, but only $100 billion of non-specific spending cuts to offset that cost.

Still, $100 billion pays for a lot of things. Bloomberg took a close look at just what would take a hit under the Republican plan -- adding specificity where the Republicans offered none. Here are the top five issues that would suffer under the Pledge to America.

1. Education

President Obama has requested over $70 billion for the Department of Education next year. A cut along the lines of what the Republicans propose would necessitate a $5 billion cut to the Pell Grant program, which assists low-income students with college tuition costs.

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