Boehner digs in on spending cuts, saying $33B is ‘not enough’
The Republican response to the various Democratic claims that a budget deal is imminent: There is no deal, and $33 billion in cuts is “not enough.”
Tag: government
GOP 2012 budget to make $4 trillion-plus in cuts
It’s a start, though it really isn’t enough: the Republican 2012 budget will call for $4 trillion-plus in cuts over the next decade.
Ryan said Obama’s call for freezing nondefense discretionary spending actually locks in spending at high levels. Under the forthcoming GOP plan, Ryan said spending would return to 2008 levels and thus cut an additional $400 billion over 10 years. [emphasis mine]
Note that no one was starving and children weren’t dying for lack of federal spending in 2008.
More waivers to Obamacare
So, why did we pass this piece of garbage again? The Obama administration has issued another 129 waivers to Obamacare (almost half to unions), bringing the total to 1,168.
“The tyrannies are doomed.”
Bernard Lewis: “The tyrannies are doomed.” I hope he’s right.
Ohio and New Hampshire follow Wisconsin, passing laws limiting union power
It’s a trend! Ohio and New Hampshire have followed Wisconsin, their legislatures passing laws limiting union power.
Note that in New Hampshire, the law still has to be approved by the state Senate.
Nearly $2 billion already paid to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations under Obamacare
This idiotic thing has got to be repealed: Nearly $2 billion already paid to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations under Obamacare.
The program began making payouts on June 1, 2010. Between that date and the end of 2010, it paid out about $535 million dollars. But according to the new report, the rate of spending has since increased dramatically, to about $1.3 billion just for the first two and a half months of this year. At that rate, it could burn through the entire $5 billion appropriation as early as 2012. [emphasis mine]
GOP budget would kill 70,000 children
The squealing is now getting idiotic: The administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development claimed on Wednesday that GOP budget cuts for the 2011 budget “would lead to 70,000 kids dying.”
Delays in NASA heavy-lift rocket plan stir skeptics
More proof it’s nothing but pork: Witnesses at House committee hearing express strong concerns about the heavy-lift rocket plan (the-program-formerly-called-Constellation) imposed on NASA by Congress.. Key quote:
“We simply do not know what is next,” said Maser, president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which builds the space shuttle’s main engines. “We are in a crisis.”
Homeland Security: Witness tampering, political manipulation of FOIA requests, attempted theft of Congressional committee documents
Gotta have your KGB: Homeland Security accused of witness tampering, political manipulation of FOIA requests, and the attempted theft of Congressional committee documents.
AARP’s Billion Dollar ObamaCare Windfall
So this is why they lobbied for the crappy bill: AARP’s billion dollar Obamacare windfall.
Almost half of the $500 billion in ObamaCare’s Medicare cuts come out of Medicare Advantage. The cuts don’t kill the program, but they mortally wound it. CBO estimates that the Medicare Advantage program will be cut in half, causing over 7 million seniors to lose their health care coverage. They will be forced to return to traditional Medicare and, in most cases, will need to purchase Medi-Gap coverage.
Using very conservative assumptions (AARP keeps its current share of the Medi-Gap market and premiums don’t rise), this increase in the Medi-Gap market will generate more than $100 million a year in additional license fee revenue for AARP. Over a billion dollars every decade. Keep in mind, this revenue is simply for using AARP’s name, so it is almost pure profit.
Now CNN reports a deal in Congress for $73 billion in cuts for this year
Now CNN reports a deal in Congress calling for $73 billion in cuts for this year.
Once again, though these amounts are minuscule, I like the political trend, which is blowing increasingly in the direction of cuts, and cuts only.
Going Broke: Treasury Down to $58.6B in Cash, $130.5B Borrowing Authority
The reckoning is about to arrive: The federal treasury is down to $58.6 billion in cash with only $130.5 billion in borrowing authority.
Meanwhile former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos reports that a tentative deal between the parties in Congress will finalize the cuts from last year’s budget at $33 billion.
As I said, the reckoning is about to arrive.