November 18, 2005

Budget Cuts?

From the Washington Post today:

The House narrowly approved a broad five-year budget plan early this morning that squeezes programs for the poor, for college students and for farmers, handing Republican leaders a hard-fought victory after weeks of resistance in GOP ranks.

The plan, which would save the government just under $50 billion, passed 217 to 215, with 14 Republicans joining all House Democrats in opposition. Just last week, Republican leaders were forced to pull the bill from consideration after it became clear they lacked the votes for passage.

Wow...squeezing poor people, cutting money for college students and farmers? Those dirty Republicans! How dare they!?! Truth be told, if they were actually making real cuts to those types of programs, I'd be excited. I'm not.

In reality, those aren't cuts. They are only slowing the growth of these programs. The programs will still be growing. Just not as fast as liberals and big spending Republicans want them to. However, how can you argue with political grandstanding from both sides? (*note: I still haven't found the text in the Constitution that grants Congress the power to spend money on those types of programs. But, who really cares about the Constitution anymore?)

From today's Cato Daily Dispatch:

Stephen Slivinski, director of budget studies at the Cato Institute, comments: "Only by the pretzel logic of Washington can this bill be considered a 'cut.' Here's what's really going to happen: Spending will still grow, but only slightly slower. Instead of spending a total of $7.8 trillion in entitlement programs over the next five years, the GOP proposes to spend $7.75 trillion. That's a total difference of 0.6 percent. This is not starving the beast. This isn't even a tummy rumble.

"And because this is a five-year endeavor, it requires discipline by Congress to keep these savings intact during the entire five-year period. If they change course at any time during that period, the savings evaporate. If there's anything the Republicans have proven over the past five years it's that they have real commitment problems when it comes to spending restraint."

Yes. Discipline. Something that Congress has never been able to fathom and has been even worse under Republican control.

So, don't fret ye liberal big spenders. You're social programs will still remain intact.

On a side note, this reminds me of an encounter with a young liberal I had back during the last election. He said that he hated Bush because he was cutting some of his college programs and scholarships. My reply was, "I'd feel a lot better about supporting Bush if he actually was doing that, but unfortunately he's not."

I don't think he liked my response too much.

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