Rep. Earl Blumenauer: New Republican Rules Threaten Infrastructure Funding

[marmar]

from the Infrastructurist:



This week, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives adopted a new set of rules for the way the House runs – rules which threaten to undermine funding for our nation’s critical infrastructure needs.

Under these rules, the new Republican majority will enact a draconian budget without a single hearing, without any input from the Budget Committee, without any outreach to Congressional Democrats, and without a direct vote by the House of Representatives. Merely by entering a statement into the record, the Budget Chairman can subject all spending beyond whatever levels he deems appropriate to a point of order. This level of concentrated authority runs contrary to the premise of transparency that Republicans campaigned on, and, given its disregard for scrutiny, runs the risk of greatly damaging our infrastructure, our economy and the welfare of millions.

The rules themselves make a mockery of prudent budgeting. While the Republican rhetoric has been laudable in some instances, their “Cut-as-you-go” rule is riddled with loopholes. For instance, it allows tax cuts for corporations to be deficit financed, while programs like child tax credits must find offsets. In fact, these rules forbid eliminating even the narrowest special interest tax loophole to find revenue for effective government programs.

The most casual glance at the origin of this country’s debts illustrates the fallacy of their approach. These rules make it possible to make permanent the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for the highest-income taxpayers without finding a dime to offset the cost to our nation. The rules also allow the Republican majority to ignore the cost of repealing the Affordable Care Act, which not only saves nearly $150 billion during the next 10 years, but reduces healthcare costs by nearly a trillion dollars during the following decades. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.infrastructurist.com/2011/01/07/rep-blumenauer-new-republican-rules-threaten-infrastructure-funding-guest-post/

[louis-t]

1. Repugs are DETERMINED to ruin this country.

Sick.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Well, the majority of Americans got what they voted for. n/t

[shraby]

3. Not the majority of Americans..the majority of those who voted.

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Any one who didn't vote, got what they wanted.

Those who stayed at home voted with their ass. If they wanted something else, they should have got themselves off their sofa's and voted.