So the latest great spending cut by the House GOP is a symbolic measure to cut House staff by 5%, which will save a whopping $35 million. That's a dime for every American! Yippee!
Meanwhile, I've heard nothing about how they're going to deal with our mammoth $895 billion defense budget. (That's with a "B" for all you Constitution scholars at home.)
This isn't cutting waste. It's not really cutting spending, although there will be some jobs that get killed as sacrificial lambs to our corporate overlords.
This is simply cutting corners. It's a thoughtless, reckless, careless approach to governing.
Another great example of Republican hypocrisy comes in their new "Cut-Go" rules, where they claim to propose cutting a dollar in spending for every new dollar in spending. This sounds like a smart idea on paper, but it will do absolutely nothing to hold the line on spending or control our trillion-dollar deficits.
It's especially hypocritical of Republicans when you consider that they are getting set to "Repeal Obamacare". According to research from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office letter to Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID),
Finally, you asked what the net deficit impact would be if certain provisions of PPACA and the Reconciliation Act that were estimated to generate net savings were eliminated...If those provisions were repealed, CBO estimates that there would be an increase in deficits similar to its original estimate of $455 billion in net savings over that period.
Again, to reiterate, using the words of White House staffer Stephanie Cutter:
As we say, we commend the Senator for his genuine concern for America’s budget deficits, a concern we have all clearly shared. We invite him and any others in Congress who opposed reform and who share that genuine concern to now embrace the Affordable Care Act as one of the most important deficit reduction laws in recent memory, which it clearly is.
The Affordable Care Act is already strengthening our health care system. Small businesses are eligible for tax cuts to help provide coverage to their employees, eligible seniors are receiving $250 checks to help with the cost of their prescription drugs and new consumer protections that put the American people in charge of their own care take effect in less than a month. Further, the new law strengthens the long-term viability of Medicare that millions of seniors depend on, by cutting waste and fraud, and increasing efficiency. It is also improving quality of care and giving consumers new benefits. But repealing the law means a larger budget deficit, and a health care system that gives insurance companies all the power.
As the CBO has once again made clear, we can’t afford to go back.
So, even though the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) would cost hundreds billions of dollars, the Republicans are ready to vote on Eric Cantor's idiotic dog-and-pony-show bill, but in the process they will raise deficits by $455 billion and do nothing to offset that in terms of spending cuts.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Republican Party.
Update 3:05 PM CST: And here is the Republican response, via Joan. Responding to a CBO report that repealing Obamacare will cost an eye-popping $145 billion over 10 years (and 0.5% of GDP per year after that), Boehner basically shrugged it off. "They're entitled to their opinion," Boehner told CBS.