Jon L. Christensen: “after claiming that they believe in fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, the Republicans in their years of…”

“after claiming that they believe in fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, the Republicans in their years of control in Washington have created the deepest budget deficits in American history and spiraling national debt. Now, after abandoning fiscal responsibility and borrowing to pay for tax cuts and to reconstruct Baghdad, Republicans say they must cut programs that primarily serve disadvantaged Americans in order to pay for reconstructing the Katrina-leveled gulf region. No other emergency funding required offsets. They claim that they are going to get tough on Federal spending through the budget reconciliation process where they propose a cut over $50 billion. They are getting tough all right, tough on the weak and needy, because this is where the cutting will be done: $10 billion in Medicaid cuts to health services for poor children and long-term care patients, and increasing the costs of prescription drugs for those beneficiaries; $844 million in food stamp cuts, eliminating nutrition and school lunch and breakfast benefits for hundreds of thousands of families and children; $14 billion in cuts to student aid programs, raising the costs of college for students and their families through the increased interest rates and loan fees. And it cuts all discretionary spending programs, such as veterans' health care, by a 2 percent across-the-board cut.…”