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Mike Malloy: "Pro-life" Republicans against social services?
Mike Malloy reads and comments on the Associated Press article "GOP plan protects Pentagon, cuts social programs" and attacks Republicans for preaching a "pro-life" POV that rails against abortion and contraception yet not caring about living poor children. Also, Republicans kept funding for the Pentagon!
Relevant part of the article:
To GOP lawmakers, steps like blocking states from gaming food stamp eligibility rules to boost benefits or trying to stop illegal immigrants from claiming tax refunds of up to $1,000 per child are simply no-brainers. For instance, the GOP measure would more strictly enforce a requirement that most food stamp beneficiaries have assets of $2,000 or less.
"We propose to stop fraud in the food-stamp program by ensuring that individuals are actually eligible for the taxpayer benefits they receive," said Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "That shouldn't be a partisan issue. That ought to be a common sense issue."
But Democrats say Republicans are unfairly targeting the poor and vulnerable. They believe that legislation to prevent the Pentagon cuts should include tax increases that strike wealthier people.
Top Budget panel Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the food aid cuts would mean 280,000 children would lose free school lunches and 1.8 million people - out of 46 million currently covered - would lose food stamp benefits while large agricultural businesses would continue to receive lucrative subsidies. The GOP plan would carve 4 percent from projected food stamp spending over the coming decade, including repeal of a 2009 benefits boost under Obama's economic stimulus measure that currently awards an additional $57 a month to a family of four.
"This plan hits the food and nutrition programs but totally exempts all the agricultural subsidies," Van Hollen said.
The proposed GOP cuts pale in comparison to the $5 trillion in cuts called for over the coming decade by the broader - but nonbinding - GOP budget blueprint.
Stepping into the debate, however, has been the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who forcefully oppose cuts to programs that help the poor and vulnerable, singling out cuts to food stamps as "unjustified and wrong" and assailing the effort to deny the child tax credit to undocumented workers as sure to thrust vulnerable children into poverty. The vast majority of children who would be affected by the tax credit proposal are U.S. citizens.
Republicans would also eliminate Social Services Block Grants, a $1.7 billion a year program that gives states money for Meals on Wheels, day care, adoption assistance, and transportation help for the elderly and disabled. Democrats noted that the program comes in the form of flexible block grants, an approach that Republicans advocated in the Ryan budget regarding Medicaid and food stamps. Republicans say the Social Service Block Grants program duplicates other efforts.
"Taxpayers deserve better than to see their money wasted on duplicative federal programs that never end," Ryan said.
Separately, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Monday unveiled his version of next year's defense budget, a blueprint that reverses several of the proposals embraced by Obama and military leaders.
The overall bill for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 totals $642 billion - a base budget of $554 billion plus $88 billion for the war in Afghanistan and the counterterrorism fight. House Republicans boosted spending on defense by $3.7 billion above Obama's military budget proposal, which had already boosted such spending by $4.6 billion above levels called for in last summer's budget and debt pact.
"We propose to stop fraud in the food-stamp program by ensuring that individuals are actually eligible for the taxpayer benefits they receive," said Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "That shouldn't be a partisan issue. That ought to be a common sense issue."
But Democrats say Republicans are unfairly targeting the poor and vulnerable. They believe that legislation to prevent the Pentagon cuts should include tax increases that strike wealthier people.
Top Budget panel Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the food aid cuts would mean 280,000 children would lose free school lunches and 1.8 million people - out of 46 million currently covered - would lose food stamp benefits while large agricultural businesses would continue to receive lucrative subsidies. The GOP plan would carve 4 percent from projected food stamp spending over the coming decade, including repeal of a 2009 benefits boost under Obama's economic stimulus measure that currently awards an additional $57 a month to a family of four.
"This plan hits the food and nutrition programs but totally exempts all the agricultural subsidies," Van Hollen said.
The proposed GOP cuts pale in comparison to the $5 trillion in cuts called for over the coming decade by the broader - but nonbinding - GOP budget blueprint.
Stepping into the debate, however, has been the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who forcefully oppose cuts to programs that help the poor and vulnerable, singling out cuts to food stamps as "unjustified and wrong" and assailing the effort to deny the child tax credit to undocumented workers as sure to thrust vulnerable children into poverty. The vast majority of children who would be affected by the tax credit proposal are U.S. citizens.
Republicans would also eliminate Social Services Block Grants, a $1.7 billion a year program that gives states money for Meals on Wheels, day care, adoption assistance, and transportation help for the elderly and disabled. Democrats noted that the program comes in the form of flexible block grants, an approach that Republicans advocated in the Ryan budget regarding Medicaid and food stamps. Republicans say the Social Service Block Grants program duplicates other efforts.
"Taxpayers deserve better than to see their money wasted on duplicative federal programs that never end," Ryan said.
Separately, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Monday unveiled his version of next year's defense budget, a blueprint that reverses several of the proposals embraced by Obama and military leaders.
The overall bill for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 totals $642 billion - a base budget of $554 billion plus $88 billion for the war in Afghanistan and the counterterrorism fight. House Republicans boosted spending on defense by $3.7 billion above Obama's military budget proposal, which had already boosted such spending by $4.6 billion above levels called for in last summer's budget and debt pact.
