Will Republicans cut Pell Grants and saddle students with more debt?
Congressional Republicans have passed a budget. Now the real fight starts. The budget is a statement of priorities, but how much money different programs actually get will be determined in appropriations. So that means that's where Republicans are going to really
try to cut services Americans depend on. The plan is ugly:
Republicans said the next step will be for the Appropriations Committee to start drafting spending bills that meet the newly approved framework, which means cutting $496 billion in non-defense spending over the next decade. The budget adheres to domestic spending caps included in the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as the sequester, and uses nearly $40 billion in off-budget funds to boost defense spending to over $563 billion.
Senate Democrats plan to stand in the way of deep cuts to little things like Pell Grants, food stamps, and medical research, and what passes for good news, besides the presidential veto pen, is this:
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he doesn’t expect the deepest-cutting funding bills to even make it out of committee. Schumer said he expects Republicans to refuse to vote in favor of cuts to programs that benefit their constituents.
“It wouldn’t get to the floor,” he said. “[Republicans] wouldn’t vote for it and Democrats wouldn’t vote for it.”
Most likely, some Republicans will vote for all of the cuts and all Republicans will vote for some of the cuts, but the point is we're not looking at total unity on their side, either, for a very good reason: Many of the cuts Republicans are proposing would be really unpopular with voters. When these cuts are just talking points, Republicans can win over some voters to them. But when you start talking about cutting Pell Grants for real, as a thing that's happening rather than as part of a vague program of "trimming the fat" or whatever, suddenly people realize they don't like that so much.
There's no question there's going to be a big, long fight, though. One party will be fighting to inflict deep cuts on services Americans use every day and on investment in America's infrastructure, economy, and future. The other party will be fighting to prevent those cuts. And while Democrats aren't in a position to successfully wage an inspirational campaign to expand needed programs, I still know which side of the fight I'd rather be on.