WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans now in charge of Congress offer their budget blueprint this week with the pledge to balance the nation’s budget within a decade and rein in major programs such as food stamps and Medicare. More pressing for many Republicans, however, is easing automatic budget cuts set to slam the military. SOURCE:GOP to offer budget blueprint with Medicare, food stamp cuts – Yahoo … Continue reading On The Backs Of The Poor….
I try to follow my hero’s advice and like everyone but this is one of those times that proves difficult to do that. Balancing the budget on the backs of the poor is a very spiteful way to even try to accomplish that task. Continue reading The Lack Of Integrity…..
I have been kind of watching the preliminaries for this latest “super committee” forming in Washington to come to some sort of budget deal and I am not impressed. On the one hand my Republican friends often scream that Medicare doesn’t pay enough for the services rendered. That doctors are dropping out of the system due to not making enough money. And then comes the … Continue reading The Irony Of It All…
Attorney General Eric Holder says he will not need to furlough any Justice Department employees in the current fiscal year. The attorney general says he will be able to avoid furloughs because of additional money in the recently enacted legislation, combined with aggressive steps to freeze hiring and cut contracting and other costs Source: Holder: No furloughs at Justice Department – CBS News. I’m … Continue reading A Test of Leadership….
In his first major policy speech Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signaled he will be taking a hard look at the way the Pentagon spends its money and at whether the US military needs quite so many officers…. That’s because too often the weapons systems that Pentagon officials buy “are vastly more expensive and technologically risky than what was promised or budgeted for.” And the … Continue reading Finally Some Sanity???
Source: Will Fractured House Republicans Unite on Budget? – ABC News. “When you’re looking at a budget, you’ve got a watch the gimmicks,” Ryan warned. Gimmicks indeed. One of the tools Mr. Ryan proposes to balance his so-called budget plan is the total repeal of Obamacare. Is he the only one to see that as impossible? As usual he wants severe cuts to the … Continue reading The Republican Budget….
I know the current version of the Republican party is supposed to be all about fiscal austerity but I have trouble actually seeing them live out that concept. When it comes to the safety net and so-called “entitlement” issues they scream about needing to cut back or at least for total accountability. But when it comes to the bloated military expenses, homeland security and tax … Continue reading Budget Minded Republicans……
source: House to Vote on Short-Term Increase in Debt Limit – WSJ.com. By including the requirement that a congressional budget be passed, House Republicans are acting on their frustration with the Senate, which hasn’t adopted a budget since 2009. Both chambers are supposed to pass one by April 15 each year, then reconcile their differences and pass a compromise. The government has been able to … Continue reading About Those Budgets…
Source: Why Pentagon won’t say how it would cut $55 billion starting Jan. 1 – CSMonitor.com. One reason is because the Pentagon would then have to show its cards, some argue. That is, it would have to tell Congress how it would reallocate funds from its lesser priorities to its higher priorities, says Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for … Continue reading Why Pentagon won’t say how it would cut $55 billion
We are three billion in the hole and will be three billion more next year, and not a Congressman has got the nerve to ask voters to pay part of it. — January 29, 1933 Will Rogers Obviously this quote was said long before even Grover Norquist’s parents were born but it is equally true today as it was in Will’s time. The fact … Continue reading About The Debt…
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