Republican Budget Nonsense

Market News International’s Washington Bureau published on April 24, 2012 the following in regard to the budget:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that Senate Republicans will force votes on a host of budgets this year, including President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget. In comments to reporters McConnell hammered Senate Democrats for opting not to hold a wide-ranging budget debate this spring with votes on various alternatives. "We take the law seriously" McConnell said referring to the Senate GOP and budget law which calls on Congress to pass a budget resolution by April 15. McConnell said he will personally present Obama's budget, adding that he did last year and it received no votes in the Senate. Senate Republicans also will force votes on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's budget as well as plans by conservative Senate Republicans Pat Toomey and Rand Paul.

Last week, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad decided to introduce the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan as his fiscal year 2013 budget resolution. Conrad's decision to embrace Simpson-Bowles received a generally favorable response among many Democrats and some Republicans. The Simpson-Bowles plan calls for $5.4 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases; it would reduce spending to about 22% of GDP by 2022 and bring revenues up to about 21% of GDP in 2022. The Senate Budget chairman received withering attacks from the GOP for his refusal to consider amendments to his package or allow for votes on alternative budgets when the Budget Committee met last week to consider Conrad's plan. Conrad said it would be premature and even counterproductive to hold votes on the Simpson-Bowles framework this spring but the plan represents "the best blueprint to build" a bipartisan consensus for a major deficit reduction package; however a consensus will probably not come together until after the November election. Developing a bipartisan budget agreement will take months of discussions and negotiations which should begin immediately. Republican senators have blasted Conrad and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who has been saying for months that the Senate did not need to vote on a budget resolution this year because last year's debt ceiling accord made key fiscal decisions.  

On May 1 the American Prospect said - Most independent experts agree that the various Republican budget plans-from Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and others would have a disastrous effect on lower-income Americans. By slashing programs like Medicaid and food stamps, and cutting taxes on the richest Americans they would precipitate a massive amount of upwards redistribution; taking from the poor to give to the rich. But it seems that facts like this aren’t actually relevant to the day-to-day campaigning. To wit, in a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney attacked President Obama for his (apparent) disregard for the least well-off. At a campaign stop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney portrayed President Obama as a foe and himself a champion of the poor, noting the “greater and greater gap between those that have the most and those that have the least” and accusing President Obama of being “focused on taking away from those that have the least.” Mind you, this is the same Barack Obama who expanded eligibility for social programs, signed universal health care, and who has been accused of trying to turn the social safety net into a “hammock.” The only way this can be true is if “the least” is some weird euphemism for the rich. But since it isn’t, the inescapable conclusion is that Romney is talking nonsense.

I find that the Republican’ commitment to the budget law a joke – April 15 has come and gone and don’t forget last year’s last minute budget agreement. The President’s proposed budget plan calls for a $3 trillion deficit in 10 years. And, I think the Iowa Senator Harkin has several valid points when it comes to forming a workable budget.

I don’t understand how the Republicans don’t get the idea that if people are employed there are more taxes paid which leads to more money in the budget and less of a deficit. Needless to say, I agree with the American Prospect article.