Clean air and water is “nice to have” but nonessential
by digby
Here’s what the right is likely to propose in the upcoming budget battles, via Sahil Kapur at TPM:
House Republicans unveiled legislation Monday that dramatically cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and various arts and wildlife programs.
The draft legislation (PDF), which will face committee hearings starting Tuesday, slashes the fiscal 2014 budget for the Interior Department and for the EPA by $5.5 billion from existing levels enacted for 2013 — a 19 percent cut that brings base funding down to $24.3 billion. It’s $4 billion below levels already required by sequestration — automatic spending cuts that both parties say are senseless and onerous.
House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said the bill “reflects the extraordinarily hard choices needed to maintain critical investments and services for local communities,” while “dramatically scaling back lower-priority, or ‘nice-to-have’ programs.”
The proposal reflects the GOP’s opening salvo in what is shaping up to be an ugly battle to keep the government open when funding expires on September 30. Republicans are demanding a swath of new cuts to domestic programs, in part to protect the military budget from long-term spending reductions that the two sides agreed to in 2011.
The president, meanwhile, has reportedly offered up December deficit cliff offer as an opening bid and is working with the Chained-CPI Gang in the Senate to get an agreement to get that done.
So, here are the options so far:
- Slashing government programs like the EPA which the Republicans characterize as “nice to have” but nonessential.
- Slashing the social insurance programs instead (preferably with some phony “tax reform” so Democrats can pretend that they soaked the rich even though they didn’t.)
- Already scheduled military cuts which President Obama, most Democrats and all Republicans have said they cannot tolerate.
Gosh, I wonder how this is going to go?
.