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They want to get rid of the unimportant things like...healthcare for the poorest americans and the elderly...but....scan down to the last line and look what IS included. Priorities are such a HUGE problem. It is outrageous. This an interesting article.
House passes, sends Bush $39B spending cuts
Narrowly passed bill will cut health care spending on programs for the poor and elderly.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives narrowly won passage on Wednesday of a controversial bill to trim about $39 billion from domestic spending over five years, capping a year-long push to cut health care for the poor and elderly and other programs.
By a partisan vote of 216-214, the House approved the bill, sending it to President George W. Bush for signing into law.
The bill, approved in the Senate in December only after Vice President Dick Cheney cast a rare tie-breaking vote, was approved by the House late last year. But a small change made by the Senate forced another House vote.
The spending cuts are a high priority of conservative Republicans who want to continue cutting taxes amid huge budget deficits, which could top $400 billion this year.
"Today we can begin the process of controlling out-of-control government spending," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a conservative Republican.
Referring to $70 billion in proposed Republican tax cuts, Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said, "You don't have to be much beyond sixth grade to know that's going to add to your deficits" when offset by only $39 billion in spending cuts.
Republicans said the reductions would begin to rein in "entitlement" programs that will account for a growing part of federal spending as the baby boom generation qualifies for government health benefits.
"These programs need our reform," said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican, who said the spending cuts would force improvements.
But Democrats blasted provisions to save about $8 billion over 10 years by cutting federal enforcement of child support payments and saving billions by allowing college student loan costs to rise.
Medicaid cuts
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office this week said cuts to Medicaid spending would affect 13 million poor people, 20 percent of the program's participants. Many of those would be children, the CBO said.
The savings would include higher out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and other medical care for the poor.
Lonny Lefever, 53, who lives in the small town of Rosewood in western Ohio, is a Medicaid participant who was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1995.
Lefever told Reuters in a telephone interview that higher copayments on the $1,800 in life-saving prescription drugs he takes each month will erode his only source of income, Social Security disability payments.
Asked how he would cope with higher out-of-pocket costs, Lefever said: "I'll be honest with you. My thought would be to get it (money for prescription drugs) any way I could. But I don't want to go to jail." He added: "I would just hope I'd last until we got some other responsible government in position to change these laws. It's scary."
Besides slowing the growth in many domestic programs, the legislation has a wide impact on U.S. policies.
It would change some banking regulations and increase the premiums companies would pay to the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
It also would end a U.S. trade law, declared illegal by the World Trade Organization, that let the government distribute duties it collects on foreign goods to American companies.
The bill also sets Feb. 17, 2009, as the deadline when television stations must switch to airing only new digital broadcasts. It provides up to $1.5 billion to help some consumers buy converter boxes so existing televisions do not go dark after the transition.
House passes, sends Bush $39B spending cuts
Narrowly passed bill will cut health care spending on programs for the poor and elderly.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives narrowly won passage on Wednesday of a controversial bill to trim about $39 billion from domestic spending over five years, capping a year-long push to cut health care for the poor and elderly and other programs.
By a partisan vote of 216-214, the House approved the bill, sending it to President George W. Bush for signing into law.
The bill, approved in the Senate in December only after Vice President Dick Cheney cast a rare tie-breaking vote, was approved by the House late last year. But a small change made by the Senate forced another House vote.
The spending cuts are a high priority of conservative Republicans who want to continue cutting taxes amid huge budget deficits, which could top $400 billion this year.
"Today we can begin the process of controlling out-of-control government spending," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a conservative Republican.
Referring to $70 billion in proposed Republican tax cuts, Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said, "You don't have to be much beyond sixth grade to know that's going to add to your deficits" when offset by only $39 billion in spending cuts.
Republicans said the reductions would begin to rein in "entitlement" programs that will account for a growing part of federal spending as the baby boom generation qualifies for government health benefits.
"These programs need our reform," said House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican, who said the spending cuts would force improvements.
But Democrats blasted provisions to save about $8 billion over 10 years by cutting federal enforcement of child support payments and saving billions by allowing college student loan costs to rise.
Medicaid cuts
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office this week said cuts to Medicaid spending would affect 13 million poor people, 20 percent of the program's participants. Many of those would be children, the CBO said.
The savings would include higher out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and other medical care for the poor.
Lonny Lefever, 53, who lives in the small town of Rosewood in western Ohio, is a Medicaid participant who was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1995.
Lefever told Reuters in a telephone interview that higher copayments on the $1,800 in life-saving prescription drugs he takes each month will erode his only source of income, Social Security disability payments.
Asked how he would cope with higher out-of-pocket costs, Lefever said: "I'll be honest with you. My thought would be to get it (money for prescription drugs) any way I could. But I don't want to go to jail." He added: "I would just hope I'd last until we got some other responsible government in position to change these laws. It's scary."
Besides slowing the growth in many domestic programs, the legislation has a wide impact on U.S. policies.
It would change some banking regulations and increase the premiums companies would pay to the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
It also would end a U.S. trade law, declared illegal by the World Trade Organization, that let the government distribute duties it collects on foreign goods to American companies.
The bill also sets Feb. 17, 2009, as the deadline when television stations must switch to airing only new digital broadcasts. It provides up to $1.5 billion to help some consumers buy converter boxes so existing televisions do not go dark after the transition.
in taxes. Crazy system all the way through.
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