House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on Friday evening introduced a revised 2011 government spending bill that the GOP said will cut at least $100 billion in spending this fiscal year, bowing to demands by Tea Party-backed House freshmen.
The continuing resolution funding the government after March 4 cuts deeply across all areas of domestic spending and singles out many programs for complete elimination.
In the CR $81 billion has been cut from non-security programs, and security-related programs have been reduced by $19 billion, compared to Obama’s 2011 budget request.
The legislation will increase funding for the Department of Defense by 2 percent over last year’s level.
“This evening, on behalf of House Republicans, Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers introduced a Continuing Resolution that will reduce spending by at least $100 billion in the next 7 months – a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement.
“At a time when unemployment is too high and economic growth is elusive in part because of the uncertainty created by our skyrocketing debt, this legislation will mark the largest spending cut in modern history and will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work. These are not easy cuts, but we are finally doing what every other American has to do in their households and their businesses, and that’s to begin a path of living within our means,” he said.
"Living in our means" to "get Americans back to work" apparently entails cutting $3 billion from the Labor Department for job training, Senior work programs, and OSHA safety inspections, not to mention laying off thousands of employees. Government workers aren't really Americans, after all.
All so we can spend even more money on defense pork and contractors. Woohoo!
COPS hiring programs and FEMA grants to firefighters for where you live? Gone. Capitol Police to protect lawmakers in Washington? They get $12.5 million more than last year. Some are more equal than others.
GOP wants to cut $79 million from DC's operating budget, including schools and police and a $7 million cut to housing for Veterans. Hey, the people who actually live here vote Democrat, screw em!
Let's cut $25 million from the SEC so they do an even worse job of regulating stocks, too. Republicans are complaining that we aren't doing enough to protect our borders! What do they want to do? Cut half a billion from Customs and Border Protection. Republicans want to cut billions from the EPA too. Clean water and air? Screw it.
And let's not forget Republicans care about people. They care enough to cut $8 billion plus from Health and Human Services and $5 billion from the Department of Education.
Remember folks, all this money is money that has already been allocated, that states and localities are counting on to meet their operating budgets. Take this money away now and tens of thousands of jobs are going to vanish, both public and private, as the people who administer these programs, and the people who are helped by them are suddenly hung out to dry.
This is how Republicans plan to put people back to work, by putting them in the unemployment lines almost immediately.
I've talked to some of these inhuman teabag types. They really CAN'T STAND seeing people who they consider undeserving getting ANYTHING! They classify poor people as subhuman and think that they will just make camps for themselves in the woods if they are left to themselves. Or they will suddenly go to work because the government took away their "free lunch".
ReplyDeleteThis is what 30 years of anti-government rhetoric births; Total distrust in government, confusion over who provides services, and elected officials that intend to eliminate their own jobs.
As under-employment continues, their next attach will be on wages. They will argue that people make too much money (already happening with public employees), and the only way to improve employment is to lower the minimum wage. In the future businesses will be praised for providing a small parcel of land on which the working poor can build a shanty town.
De-fund the programs that help people and give more money to things that kill people. Brilliant!