Steve Benen looks at the serious thinking being done by the Republican policy shop.
The Republican Study Committee has quite a laundry list in mind. These folks actually map out cutting $2.5 trillion from the budget without touching Social Security, Medicare, or even a single penny of Pentagon spending.
To get there, these Republicans would go after plenty of familiar targets: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Amtrak, and U.S. Agency for International Development. But given that the U.S. just doesn’t spend that much on any of this, the Republican Study Committee has to dig much deeper, going after transportation and infrastructure projects, energy research, aid to states, legal assistance for low-income families, family planning funds, and assistance to American businesses seeking to export their products overseas.
(Even this doesn’t come close to $2.5 trillion over 10 years. The RSC makes up the difference by playing some budget games. Brian Beutler explained, “Like most major spending cut proposals, this one’s not entirely rigorous. It relies principally on an aspirational spending cap — specifically, limiting non-defense appropriations totals to their 2006 levels without adjusting for inflation. In other words, it punts the question of what to cut to future Congresses, which could just as easily bust the cap.”)
All of these cuts are necessary, the Republican Study Committee believes, because large deficits call for broad sacrifices. This is, of course, the same Republican Study Committee that demanded massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, without paying for them, all of which was financed by larger deficits.
The likelihood of these cuts actually passing is non-existent, but it is a helpful snapshot of Republican priorities. But also note perhaps the most important detail about a plan such as this one: it would be devastating for American jobs. Indeed, if lawmakers were to get together to plot how Congress could deliberately increase unemployment, their plan would look an awful lot like this one. The RSC proposal would deliberately fire thousands of civilian workers, force states to make sweeping job cuts, and lay off thousands more who work in transportation and infrastructure.
How do you think these cuts would poll? I really can’t wait to see if the Republican candidates for president are equally heartless and insane.
They wouldn’t poll well at all. That’s the problem with the Republican message – it sounds great on the campaign trail when you’re trying to get 51% of the people who are actually going to vote to vote for you, but once you’re representing people, more people are going to come out to vote against you if you try to take away something they care about.
In related crazy Republican news, Rick Santorum re-enters the public consciousness with his fetus emancipation proclamation.
Oh I think Romney would be quite comfortable with the task.
By making this their “ask,” then it makes the spending cuts we’re going to see in the next budget look reasonable.
This stuff is only “crazy” if you assume they’re acting in good-faith. They aren’t. These a re politically-motivated efforts meant to advance a political agenda. So they’re only “crazy” if you believe they are hurting their political prospects through these efforts. I’d say so far the GOP has been pretty successful making austerity and slashing government spending in the face of 10% unemployment seem reasonable. Crazy like a fox.
Uh…:
Armando
We have to STOP treating the TEA PARTY Republicans as CRAZY. We are continually blinding the ability of our consciousness to properly evaluate the Tea Party agenda if we keep on the LAZY path of dismissing these people as simply CRAZY. I recognize that with these distasteful people in the House majority it is no longer “fun” to tune into the C-SPAN broadcasts of the rhetoric from the House well. But we as progressives MUST do it in order to discern what the Tea Party members are up to.
Bachmann’s speech was crystal clear. For her perspective the health care battle will not be over until Barack Obama is out of the White House and the Republicans control the Senate as well as the House. In other words for the Tea Party the fight against “Obamacare” will not be over until Republicans control the entire U.S. Government. Hence their plan for governing the nation is restricted to only to one single issue, “repeal Barack Obama from the Presidency”!
Why so much confidence with the Tea Party members? They are aware of the billions now available from the Koch brothers and other members of the right wing super rich oligarchy for broadcasting right wing lies and propaganda 24/7 to the American voter. They feel that they now have the power to restrict any federal elected position to only people who are fellow Tea Party members. We are entering a period where the Tea Party is steadily drinking it’s second intoxicating heady brew of unconditional success. I promise you that when these Tea Party folks start legislating while in their drunken stupor, things are really going to get ugly fast.
By the time these things come to a real vote, if they made it that far in the legislative process, the media will have so bamboozled the American public about the cuts that don’t affect them that “cutting government spending” will poll real well.
The real trap is in that $15 billion in selling unneeded assets. Who determines what is unneeded? That $15 billion could result in the transfer from public to private of even as much as a trillion dollars in assets sold at firesale prices: conversion of mine leases on public lands to sales, sales of rangeland currently lease below market to ranchers, sale of unneeded national parks and monuments,…consider all of the possibilities short of the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone (both in currently Republican states). I’m sure there are some developers rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of getting the Great Smoky Mountains and the Skyline Drive property. Mountain-view gracious living close to major population centers. You get the picture.
The Republican candidates for president will indeed be equally heartless and cruel because they will argue that private help will be better directed.
I hope the public discovers how they are being flim-flammed soon or, as was said today, the US will have been well-prepared by the Republicans for a Chinese buy-out of the country lock, stock, and highly blued barrel.
I doubt they will poll well, though pulling back on help for the poor and disadvantaged always does well with some groups.
The problem is what would the Dems do?
To really solve the problem you have to go after the cost of public employees and their pensions. Not that that is fair or rightous, but demographics of aging boomers, etc. make for some pretty stark realities.
While going after government workers, right or wrong, is always popular in the general population, it is not with Unions, much of the Left, and anyone who thinks it is wrong to renege on retirement pension promises.
Defense also has to take a hit.
And in the end, maybe after all this gets talked out, the general public will see that our number are SO bad that the rich simply MUST pay more. Everything/everyone else will have sacrificed and there will be nothing left to cut.
Nah.
Where’s the line item for “Eliminate money spent on, and given to, colored people”?
I must have missed it…