The fickleness of politics has once again caused a power shift in the House of Representatives. The GOP is back in the saddle with Rep John Boehner leading the charge. They campaigned on lots of promises to cut spending, repeal “Obamacare” and bring accountability and transparency to the legislative process on Capitol Hill in their new governing document “A Pledge to America” (remember the 1994 vintage Contract With America?) .
Here are a few of the highlights:
CUT SPENDING: "We will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone," the GOP pledge stated.
Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget won’t be happening this year and I wouldn’t hold my breath for next year either. Seems they based this promise on $1.128 trillion budget request that was never passed.
Republicans are bristling at accusations that they're backtracking from the $100 billion promise even as they concede they can't pull it off. Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Republicans will set spending limits "for the remainder" of the budget year at levels in effect before the 2009 stimulus.
“Despite the promise of more open debate and the opportunity to offer floor amendments, GOP leaders will bring legislation to repeal Obama's signature health care overhaul bill to the floor next week and deny Democrats any chance to try to preserve popular provisions.” Such as abolishing pre-existing conditions and extending coverage to children to age 26. So much for those new House rules...
You can read more about the Boehner/GOP congressional posturing HERE and HERE.
Bottom line: The GOP will do whatever they can to score points with voters but the reality is no matter what they do, the Senate is still Democratically controlled and will be able to reverse most of the damage done at the House level.
So, look for little if any change over the next two years….. It’s just business as usual on Capitol Hill.
Amen, rockync.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference between making promises during a political campaign, and then facing the reality of governing.
I think our president learned this on January 21, 2009.
And I think your prediction is correct.
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this post. With a Republican majority in the House, and a more radicalized GOP determined to undo President’s Obama’s hard won reforms, your post reminds me to order my priorities. Assuming we can’t win every legislative battle, what is most important to me at this time?
Defending health care reform? Defending Wall Street reform. Defending the President’s climate change agenda? Raising public awareness on the risks of income inequality? Making the case that Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and balanced budgets are incompatible?
As a member of this blogging community, I will certainly contribute my part, and I surmise each one of us have similar thoughts in mind.
Feedback, please?
I am a contract employee who works on a federal installation and I just received an email from the boss about the cuts that are supposed to be made soon. I didn't read it, because it is 8 pages long and I am falling asleep at my desk, but we are assuming there will be cuts.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to talk about budget cuts in the abstract, but when it comes to naming anything specific that they will do to save $$, they got nothin.
ReplyDelete