Congress Republicans block Avian Flu Pandemic Funding.
"Conservative Republicans in the House insisted that an emergency U.S. effort to stockpile vaccines and anti-viral drugs that could be effective against the deadly flu would have to be paid for by cutting other government programs."
If something's a priority, it's obviously more important than other things. Since the government has only so much money, it should trim less important things to pay for more important things.
ReplyDeleteIt's budgeting 101. You do it. Why shouldn't Congress.
O, I'd budget. I'd budget away a whole lot of inflated no-bid contracts, pork, and extraneous military research.
ReplyDeleteBut those are probably not on the GOP's cutting block.
It should probably be noted that the only folks pushing for any cuts at all are in the GOP. The GOP leadership are certainly big spenders. But the GOP rank-and-file, especially the 110 or so in the RSC, are substantially more fiscally responsible than the Democrat rank-and-file. In fact, the main reason for the lack of meaningful cuts are the 30 or so "moderates" who vote with the unanimous Democratic block against cuts.
ReplyDeleteTake food stamps. It was set to increase at 7.5 percent next year. Some Republicans in the RSC proposed keeping spending flat, but to get it out of committee they had to agree to smaller reductions. When it went to the floor, every single Democrat voted against the measure because of the "draconian cuts": reducing growth in spending from 7.5 percent to 7.4 percent.
Or take pork. In the Senate, 7 Republicans sponsored a measure to repeal all highway bill pork. One Democrat has signed onto the measure. Two Democrats have come out opposed.
If there are that many Republicans who are fiscally responsible, why don't they just throw the leaders out, then? I mean, if the Republican Party is the party of fiscal sanity, why is it being led by fiscal loonies?
ReplyDelete