Boehner and McConnell Balance Their Budget on the Backs of the American People

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:43 pm

The House did it, then the Senate did it, killing a budget that attacks the American people. As pointed out here yesterday, 27 million Americans lose their health insurance if Congress gets its way. The rich, of course, get to keep theirs.

What is interesting is the way in which House Speaker John Boehner chose to present this dubious accomplishment. Taking to Facebook, he posted,

As you can see, being Boehner, he chose anything but an honest approach.

In a statement yesterday, Boehner claimed:

In seven years, President Obama has never proposed a budget that balances. For a span of four years, Senate Democrats didn’t pass a budget at all. Now, four months into the new Congress, Republican majorities in the House and Senate worked together to pass the first joint 10-year balanced budget in 14 years. This is a big win for the American people, and a fulfillment of our promise to govern responsibly and return the annual appropriations process to regular order. Workers and families deserve a federal government that spends within its means and treats Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars with respect.

Well, at least the treats the non-taxed dollars of the rich with respect.

Mitch McConnell did some crowing of his own on Facebook:

We should all fall down on our knees and cry out, “We’re not worthy!” as we bow toward the great one, right?

What’s funny about all this crowing is that thanks to Obama and the Democrats, we have had 51 consecutive months of job growth, and added 9.4 million jobs to the economy. And he wants to give us 1.2 million over TEN YEARS?

Boehner and McConnell are living in an alternate universe.

Here’s the problem. Funny doesn’t get the job done. We need serious effort, not unintentional comedy from Republicans.

For the record, McConnell isn’t making Republicans all that happy either. The Daily Caller has complained that McConnell plans to add billions to the deficit in a separate bill, making the balanced budget no more than sleight of hand. Bernie Sanders agrees. He has already exposed a laundry lit of budget gimmicks:

• Using the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, which falls outside of the budget caps to significantly increase defense spending;
• Masking the true consequences of their policies under the guise of ‘unallocated’ cuts and ‘government-wide’ savings;
• Only achieving their goal of ‘balance’ by using made-up ‘dynamic’ numbers; and
• Dismantling health care reform, but keeping the savings and revenues that support it.

However, there are more serious problems with this budget than simple dishonesty. As Nancy Pelosi has pointed out, what she calls “the GOP’s “Work Harder for Less” budget”:

• slashes programs for K-12 education
• cuts Pell Grants that help low-income students attend college
• repeals the Affordable Care Act
• cuts investments in infrastructure and innovation

“And let’s not forget,” she says, “the GOP budget does all of those things while empowering special interests and paving the way for huge tax breaks for millionaires.”

America of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. Pelosi reminds us that “This budget makes it harder to buy a home, pay for college, or save for a secure retirement. Put simply: the GOP budget is a DISASTER for hardworking families, while millionaires and billionaires make out like bandits.”

Don’t you love these two clowns telling us how great an opportunity we have standing before us being peons for the rich and serfs for the corporations?

The GOP’s American dream is not OUR American dream. It is not the American dream that has attracted millions to these shores. Immigrants today, like our immigrant ancestors, want something more than the chance to be a form of sustenance for the 1 Percent.

If the Republicans want to throw away all their gains in 2016, they are going about it the right way.

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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