Redstate

By docj Posted in User Blogs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

This is precisely why we donated money, held signs, manned phone banks, pestered friends, family and total strangers with phone calls, email and "Dear Friend" cards in order to elect a Republican majority in the Senate, right?

Continuing...Here's some money quotes from the GOP Squish leading the charge to convince the Senate the Medicaid couldn't possibly be reduced by 1% (ONE STINKING PERCENT!) over the next 5-years.

"It may well be a matter of life and death for thousands of Americans"

Yep, people are going to die if we reduce one-percent of Medicaid spending - right out the of the left's talking points.  Thanks Gordo.  Thanks for standing up for the people who pay the bills.

Smith said paring Medicaid, which serves nearly 50 million people, would hurt "the most vulnerable Americans." He would eliminate the Medicaid cuts and create a commission to study the program's spending and report back in a year.

More from the left's talking points - and another commission!  Wow, talk-talk-talk while we're burning cash.

It should be noted that every single Senate Democrat supports this proposal - I cannot wait to hear all the Demos' defenders on this board start to tell us how "fiscall responsible" that is.

Granted, not all of the GOP are prepared to go soft on fiscal responsibility:

Sen. Lamar Alexander R-Tenn., said the proposed savings were "a modest but important step toward controlling the biggest problem we have in Washington" -- spending by rapidly growing benefit programs.

Modest indeed, but otherwise right on.  Welcome to the fold, Lamar.

To his credit, Alan Fram - the author of this Disassociated Press story - hits the central issue on the head with this line near the bottom of the piece:

For the first time since 1997, the House and Senate both want to carve savings out of benefit programs, which consume nearly two-thirds of the federal budget and are growing rapidly.

Precisely correct.  You cannot get to balanced budgets without massive (and we're talking gargantuin) tax hikes without tackling these 900-pound Gorillas.  But here's what we who can see what even the AP now identifies as the heart of the problem are up against:

Bush proposed saving $51 billion from benefit programs over the next five years, including from Medicaid, farm aid, student loans and fees on employers to support the fiscally ailing federal agency that backs private pension plans. The House budget calls for $69 billion in savings, the Senate's $32 billion.

It should be noted that these savings are coming out of programs that are projected to spend $7.7 TRILLION over the next 5-years.  The House Majority caucus is not pleased - here's Jim Nussle (R-IA):

"They're not going to do real reform," he (Nussle) said Wednesday. "I'm very frustrated with what I see over from the other body. They're watering it down every step of the way."

Nussle predicted that the Senate's proclivity for spending will be the breaking-point between the two chambers' ability to complete a compromist budget this year.

Obviously some Squishy Republican Senators, in cahoots with the entire Democrat Senate Caucus, are more than prepared ignore what even the AP sees as the heart of the matter.

How can I get my donations back from the RNC?

And where can those of us fed-up with run-away "entitlement" spending go?

Certainly not the Demos - they're obviously no better, as this episode (1%, one-stinking percent, and people are gonna die!!!) clearly indicates.