House GOP Plan to cut $2.5 Trillion

[89Hen]

That's just an incorrect statement.

It's precious that some of the "small government, libertarian" conks don't get this.

Kudo's to Cluck for not being one of these.

I'm not a libertarian.

[Baldy]

Actually, it was the Republicans who tried to put a provision into Obamacare where Congress would be subject to the same health care as us ordinary peons. Do you want to guess who killed that provision?

Yeah but that was before they won control of the house.

Freshman Rep. Andy Harris won his seat by vowing to repeal the new health care law, but he's a little less cavalier about his own insurance plan. Harris may hate Obamacare, but Harris really hates that his own taxpayer-subsidized policy won't kick in for a whole month after he's sworn in to serve his first term as a Republican congressman.

The incoming Maryland representative surprised his fellow noobs at an orientation session Monday, Politico's Glenn Thrush reports, with his indignant response to learning that his health policy won't take effect till February 1, even though he'll take office January 3. Why should he go 28 days without health care? he asked. “Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” a witness told Thrush, noting that Harris’s request was rather similar to "the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions ... -Care-5819" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're gonna have to do better than that.

[kalm]

It's precious that some of the "small government, libertarian" conks don't get this.

Kudo's to Cluck for not being one of these.

I'm not a libertarian.

Hence the quotation marks.

[89Hen]

I'm not a libertarian.

Hence the quotation marks.

You lost me.

[Ibanez]

http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-w ... nding-cuts

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.

Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.

International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.

Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.

Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.

Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.

Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.

U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.

Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.

Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.

John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.

Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.

Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.

Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.

Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.

Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.

Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.

New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.

Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.

Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.

Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.

Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.

Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.

Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.

Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.

U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.

General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.

Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.

Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.

No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.

End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.

IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.

Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.

Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.

Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.

Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.

Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.

USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.

Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.

Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.

Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.

Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.

HUD Ph.D. Program.

Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

Cool....but how can you really address a problem without cutting the Military spending?

My thoughts exactly. Also, how do you plan to collect unpaid taxes now when you have been negligent for so long? If there will be an drastic increase in IRS employment that will soley tackle that issue, then I am all for it.

[kalm]

Hence the quotation marks.

You lost me.

I know.

[Ibanez]

http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-w ... nding-cuts



Cool....but how can you really address a problem without cutting the Military spending?

My thoughts exactly. Also, how do you plan to collect unpaid taxes now when you have been negligent for so long? I'm talking about taxes accross the board, not just Federal Employees. It is a start. If there will be an drastic increase in IRS employment that will soley tackle that issue, then I am all for it (and it's cost).

[SDHornet]

Question: If a high speed train connecting two large cities passes close by a small place, should the train stop or bypass it? Should a place be cut off just because it's tiny? Interesting to think about. Knowing Cali the way I do, the tiny places will get short shrift because L.A. makes the rules.

My freshman year I didn’t have a car and took Amtrack to get from SD to Sac...all I have to say is I don’t think there is a system more inefficient. You expect the train to blow through the central valley right? Wrong. About every 20-30 minutes a stop was made at some cow town and maybe a handful of people got on or off. This turned an 8 hour drive into a 12 hour marathon train ride.

If high speed rail in CA is to take off, they need to ignore the random cow towns in the valley and hit major hubs where people can find a bus or regional mass transit. The only stops through the valley that are needed (assuming coming from LA) are one in Bako, one in Fresno, one in Stockton, and terminate it in Sac. Then run spur lines from Stockton to SJ and or Oakland or anywhere next to a BART hub that can get people to anywhere in the Bay Area. Also include a line from LA to SD. If anyone needs to get anywhere along the coast between SD and LA, they can take the slow Amtrack service already provided.

[93henfan]

I like how the GOP singles out unpaid taxes by federal employees.

Let's see. There are 309 million people in the US. There are 2.7 million federal employees, or less than one percent of the population. Wouldn't it net about 99 times as much if they collected the upaid taxes of non-federal employees first?

Hello! (and yes, I know the actual workforce is not 309 million)


At least the Republicans are sticking to their MO here. If they could get this whole list through, it would have corporations, particularly oil companies, smiling all the way to the bank while education, arts, worker pay, and the environment are trashed. Sounds like a fun time for everyone.

[mebison]

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.

Very curious if someone could explain this? They aren't seriously suggesting shuttering ALL of the DOE's research labs, are they? Argonne, Lawrence Livermore, Argonne, etc? I can't find a specific branch or lab strictly called Applied Research.

[93henfan]

Eliminate health care for Federal employees and fund high-speed rail with the savings.

What the living fuck are you talking about? Federal employees healthcare is not some kind of cadillac plan. We choose from the same shit that everyone else does and if you read the "what do you pay for health insurance" thread a few months back, you'd see that my plan if pretty damn average. My premium just went up over $60/month for the new year; now paying just over $250 month. Hell, I just stopped taking one of my medications because they upped my copay for a month's supply from $35 to $76 for the new year. JMU DJ suggested a non-prescription equivalent which I am about to order.

I don't know if Congress is somehow different or if you meant to say "Congress" instead of "Federal employees", but you're really speaking out of your ass here. Please stop trying to lump honest, hardworking, non-union federal employees like me in with fat cats inside the beltway.

[AshevilleApp]

Eliminate health care for Federal employees and fund high-speed rail with the savings.

What the living **** are you talking about? Federal employees healthcare is not some kind of cadillac plan. We choose from the same **** that everyone else does and if you read the "what do you pay for health insurance" thread a few months back, you'd see that my plan if pretty damn average. My premium just went up over $60/month for the new year; now paying just over $250 month. Hell, I just stopped taking one of my medications because they upped my copay for a month's supply from $35 to $76 for the new year. JMU DJ suggested a non-prescription equivalent which I am about to order.

I don't know if Congress is somehow different or if you meant to say "Congress" instead of "Federal employees", but you're really speaking out of your ass here. Please stop trying to lump honest, hardworking, non-union federal employees like me in with fat cats inside the beltway.

But isn't it widely known that all federal employees make $120,000 a year?

[89Hen]

Please stop trying to lump honest, hardworking, non-union federal employees like me in with fat cats inside the beltway.

You almost had me agreeing with you.

[93henfan]

Please stop trying to lump honest, hardworking, non-union federal employees like me in with fat cats inside the beltway.

You almost had me agreeing with you.

Fuck off, loanshark.

[93henfan]

But isn't it widely known that all federal employees make $120,000 a year?

That's part of the story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05826.html

[TwinTownBisonFan]

You almost had me agreeing with you.

Fuck off, loanshark.

but honestly, your - and only your - shit is incapable of stinking... to be sure.

[93henfan]

Fuck off, loanshark.

but honestly, your - and only your - shit is incapable of stinking... to be sure.

Huh?

[TwinTownBisonFan]

but honestly, your - and only your - shit is incapable of stinking... to be sure.

Huh?

your insistence that you, and you alone are the only government employee who works hard and earns their pay and that every single civil servant in a union is some leaning-on-his-shovel derelict... seems like a round-about way of saying "yes, but my shit doesn't stink"

[89Hen]

[93henfan]

Huh?

your insistence that you, and you alone are the only government employee who works hard and earns their pay and that every single civil servant in a union is some leaning-on-his-shovel derelict... seems like a round-about way of saying "yes, but my shit doesn't stink"

You must have missed my other 500 posts defending the federal workforce.

[93henfan]

Can I borrow some of that?

[JMU DJ]

JMU DJ suggested a non-prescription equivalent which I am about to order.

This was just an Omega-3 supplement you were taking right? No other active ingredients in the med you were taking, besides the fact that it was "ultra pure?"

[93henfan]

JMU DJ suggested a non-prescription equivalent which I am about to order.

This was just an Omega-3 supplement you were taking right? No other active ingredients in the med you were taking, besides the fact that it was "ultra pure?"

It had two ingredients. Omega-3 and something with some really long name which my doctor said was the only thing in the world keeping me from completely unravelling and shooting up a federal building.

The stuff you recommended has both I hope?

But seriously, it was the Lovaza. They more than doubled my copay.

[kalm]

You almost had me agreeing with you.

Fuck off, loanshark.

I'm sorry 93 but 89's opportunity to maybe some day own 7 mansions and approach Walton family like wealth trumps your greedy desire to make a decent middle class living for you and your family.

[AshevilleApp]

But isn't it widely known that all federal employees make $120,000 a year?

That's part of the story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05826.html

I know some Federal employees here in NC. They were wondering themselves who the hell was making all the money. That kind of pay is for reserved for top dogs within the various agencies state offices, not the rank and file or mid level employees.