Compassionate conservatives strike again.
The WaPo reports W.'s new budget for 2007 proposes "cutting Medicare by $36 billion over five years, and $105 billion over a decade -- mainly by cutting payments to providers such as hospitals. Federal child support enforcement payments [will] fall slightly, while Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program [will]lose $5 billion over five years and $12 billion over 10 years."
Hmm...$36 billion in Medicare cuts, where have I heard that number before? Oh, right, that was the amount of Exxon/Mobil's profits last year.
All this cutting from the most vulnerable is to save money and reduce the deficit, right? The WaPo says "All totaled, his proposals for entitlement programs -- including cuts, tax hikes and Social Security partial privatization -- would actually increase spending by $551 billion." And don't forget the tax cuts to the rich W. talked about in the State of the Union speech, which will balloon the deficit in 2011.
Luckily for Bush & Co., all this fuzzy math doesn't include the cost of the war in Iraq or Katrina reconstruction. Beyond the $50 billion congress has given the administration for Iraq they're going to have to poney up another $270 billion this spring.
Those good fiscal conservatives in Congress are going to be hard pressed to find the money because we're broke. No wait, there's a way, we can pass a budget cutting bill. It will only harm the poor who are powerless to do anything about it. Last week the House passed a budget cutting bill that will mean: "Women on welfare are likely to face longer hours of work, education or community service to qualify for their checks. Recipients of Medicaid can expect to face higher co-payments and deductibles, especially on expensive prescription drugs and emergency room visits for non-emergency care. More affluent seniors will find it far more difficult to qualify for Medicaid-covered nursing care..." and "College students could face higher interest rates when their banks get squeezed by the federal government." [WaPo]
Hmm...$36 billion in Medicare cuts, where have I heard that number before? Oh, right, that was the amount of Exxon/Mobil's profits last year.
All this cutting from the most vulnerable is to save money and reduce the deficit, right? The WaPo says "All totaled, his proposals for entitlement programs -- including cuts, tax hikes and Social Security partial privatization -- would actually increase spending by $551 billion." And don't forget the tax cuts to the rich W. talked about in the State of the Union speech, which will balloon the deficit in 2011.
Luckily for Bush & Co., all this fuzzy math doesn't include the cost of the war in Iraq or Katrina reconstruction. Beyond the $50 billion congress has given the administration for Iraq they're going to have to poney up another $270 billion this spring.
Those good fiscal conservatives in Congress are going to be hard pressed to find the money because we're broke. No wait, there's a way, we can pass a budget cutting bill. It will only harm the poor who are powerless to do anything about it. Last week the House passed a budget cutting bill that will mean: "Women on welfare are likely to face longer hours of work, education or community service to qualify for their checks. Recipients of Medicaid can expect to face higher co-payments and deductibles, especially on expensive prescription drugs and emergency room visits for non-emergency care. More affluent seniors will find it far more difficult to qualify for Medicaid-covered nursing care..." and "College students could face higher interest rates when their banks get squeezed by the federal government." [WaPo]
posted by William Duane at 12:13 PM
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