The GOP's Budget Fiasco Posted by Kelsey Hartigan

The best part about the GOP’s budget day freak-out is that there is concrete proof that conservatives have no alternative vision or plan.  And given the civil war that’s currently playing out on the right, that’s not likely to change anytime soon.

The federal government is currently being funded through a Continuing Resolution, which is set to expire on March 4. So before Congress can get to the 2012 numbers, they have to first pass another CR to keep the government running for the next seven months.  Republicans are hell-bent on slashing the budget, but have yet to articulate an actual strategy for these cuts. 

Last week, Harold Rogers, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, heralded his committee’s plan to trim $74 billion from the 2011 budget, proudly proclaiming, “Never before has Congress undertaken a task of this magnitude.”

Unfortunately for the GOP leadership, the tea party immediately denounced this plan and sent the leadership back to the drawing board, insisting that they live up to their pledge to slash $100 billion from the 2011 budget. Without holding a single hearing or seeking any actual analysis, Rogers announced less than 24 hours later that they would “reach a total of $100 billion in cuts compared to the President’s quest immediately—fully meeting the goal outlined in the Republican ‘Pledge to America’ in one fell swoop.” The $100 billion, of course, is merely a symbolic number since it’s based off of the President’s FY11 request, which was never actually passed.  But hey, who has time for details?   

Bruce Bartlett has an excellent post on why the GOP hack-job is reckless and well, ineffective:

The point is not that there are no government programs worthy of cutting, but rather that this is a really stupid way to do it. The vast bulk of government spending, which goes to mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare, is completely exempted. And Republicans have effectively exempted the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs from cuts. This leaves only 16 percent of the budget from which they will extract their pound of flesh to satisfy voters who demand huge budget cuts but also oppose cutting just about any program except foreign aid.

So to the extent that there is a plan, it’s clearly not one that’s well thought-out. President Obama, meanwhile, has presented a budget, and an overarching strategy, for balancing the current economic climate and need for economic stimulus with the long-term priority of reducing the deficit. Even in areas where the administration could have gone further—the defense budget, for example— conservatives defied logic and decided to fund unwanted, unnecessary defense programs like the JSF alternate engine, which Secretary Gates called yesterday “an unnecessary and extravagant expense.” To top it all off, the F136 funding is “money that looks, feels, and smells very much like an earmark,” and for John Boehner, of all people. 

Politico’s David Rogers included a few side by side comparisons of President Obama’s FY12 budget request and the GOP’s sporadic proposal for the CR, noting:

“Even in areas where both parties have come together in the past, the differences are now measured in billions, not millions. Obama is proposing almost $7.8 billion for the National Science Foundation, for example; House Republican cuts would take the NSF back to about $6.5 billion. And the almost $10 billion gap in foreign aid and State Department funding represents a real retreat by the GOP from the activism of President George W. Bush, let alone Ronald Reagan.

The GOP’s proposed cuts the foreign aid budget have criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike:

“I think it’s short sighted,” said former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who oversaw the foreign aid budget for years. “I’m someone who believes it is absolutely vital to get control of our spending, but at a time when we are pulling back militarily, when China is active in Africa, this soft power is vital.”

“Cuts of this magnitude will be devastating to our national security,” Clinton wrote, yet the GOP has also included the National Nuclear Security Administration in its definition of “non-security” spending. Thus non-proliferation programs face reductions alongside those for water projects, and the GOP is backtracking on plans to update the U.S. nuclear stockpile—a major issue for Senate GOP Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in the recent START treaty debate.

As the budget debate rolls on, it’s clear that the GOP budget fiasco is indicative of the fact that conservatives are split and simply don’t know which direction to take the party, let alone the country.


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