Hastert's House plan picks pockets of poor.

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Topic:	Politics > Politics-USA
User:	"Harry Hope"
Date:	17 Oct 2005 09:27:22 PM
Object:	Hastert's House plan picks pockets of poor.

Where would the federal program cuts fall then?
That's perhaps the most pernicious part of Hastert's plan - much of it
would fall on those who can least afford it, America's young and poor.
Billions of dollars for food stamps and Medicaid would go by the
wayside.
Charity Eleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on
Children and Families, said last week $13 billion of those cuts would
fall on health and nutrition programs that serve children.
Such cuts, she said, are "unacceptable." especially when Congress is
considering "$70 billion in tax cuts that will primarily benefit the
wealthiest of Americans."
Wisconsin, she said, has 570,000 children and adults living in
poverty, and the most recent census figures show Wisconsin poverty
rate is increasing at one of the highest rates in the country.
We agree.
Hastert and Congress should not be balancing Katrina's books on the
backs of the nation's poor and young.
Contrary to GOP leader Tom DeLay's assertion that all the pork has
been squeezed out of the federal budget - pork remains.
Start with the bloated transportation bill and some of the Pentagon
spending.
Of course that would require congressmen to give up their "earmarked"
specials that land those pork projects on home state dinner plates and
that is unlikely.
Congress could - and should - also delay the next round of Bush-backed
tax cuts destined for upper income groups.
The sooner the nation repairs its budget engine and returns to a road
of pay-as-we-go, the better off we'll all be.
Sadly, we don't see that happening in Hastert's House.
Once again we will look to Republican moderates and Democrats in the
Senate to curb the House's misdirection and return to the middle of
the road.
We urge them to do so.
From The Journal Times, 10/17/05:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/10/17/opinion/iq_3725276.txt
Hastert's House plan picks pockets of poor
The ongoing costs of running a war in Iraq coupled with the
devastation of two hurricanes along America's Gulf Coast have created
close to a perfect storm of spiraling federal spending.
That doesn't require a "perfect answer," but the one that's coming out
of the Republican-controlled Congress these days isn't even close.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert recently switched positions and embraced
a proposal for what some have dubbed "Operation Offset", a plan by the
conservative Republican Study Committee to offset the costs of
Hurricane Katrina costs by cutting mandatory spending.
Hastert's plan would increase federal spending cuts to basic programs
by at least $15 billion - to total cuts of $50 billion over the next
five years.
Cutting spending is perhaps the quickest way to get a budget under
control.
But it's only half of the equation - the other half is revenue, and
that part is decidedly missing from the GOP House agenda.
Only last month Hastert and other House Republican leaders vowed they
would pass a $70 billion tax-cutting measure that would extend a 15
percent rate on dividends beyond 2008.
_________________________________________________________
Fat Dennis ain't missin' any meals, I'll betcha.
Harry
.

User: "Taylor"
Title: Re: Hastert's House plan picks pockets of poor.	18 Oct 2005 08:41:01 AM