Half Of The Spending Cuts In Blunt?s Jobs Plan Aren?t Actually Spending Cuts
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 27th, 2010 4:37 am by HL
Half Of The Spending Cuts In Blunt?s Jobs Plan Aren?t Actually Spending Cuts
Last week, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who is running for his state’s open Senate seat, proposed a “jobs plan” that included what he has claimed is $2 trillion in spending cuts. “In this plan, Roy identified over two trillion dollars in cuts right off the bat that can be taken out of government,” said former Missouri treasurer Sarah Steelman, who has endorsed Blunt’s campaign. But in what he charitably calls an “accounting error,” the Kansas City Star’s Dave Helling notes that fully one half of Blunt’s spending cuts aren’t actually spending cuts at all:
A look at that plan shows half of those savings — $1 trillion — would come from Blunt’s proposal to repeal the health care reform package…Repealing health care reform would eliminate $1 trillion in spending, but it would also eliminate the $1 trillion in tax and fee increases and Medicare reductions that are in the law as well. The net effect of health care repeal on the federal deficit is, roughly, zero.
Actually, contrary to Helling’s assertion, repealing the Affordable Care Act wouldn’t have zero effect on the deficit: it would actively increase it. According to the Congressional Budget Office, repealing the bill would increase the deficit by $455 billion over the next ten years. But the point remains that the only way Blunt’s push for repeal works as a deficit reduction measure is if he plans to keep all of the tax increases and Medicare savings, without actually giving anyone any additional health care. And as The Wonk Room explains, Blunt’s other deficit reduction plans are equally unimpressive.
Daniels To Accept $434 Million In State Aid That He Requested But Then Opposed
In an interview this week, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) asserted that “only a blind zealot” would say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus) “has done any good.” “It hasn’t worked,” he said. “It’s trickle down government is the best way I can describe it.” Daniels’ rhetoric hid the fact that he not only trumpets stimulus investments on his state’s website, but he also signed a letter in February asking that some stimulus provisions be extended.
Now that an additional $26 billion in state aid has been approved by the Congress, Daniels has his hands open for $434 million, “even though he opposed the legislation”:
“Whether it’s wise from a national standpoint, whether it’s really doing anything about the private economy where we need the jobs, that’s an open question to say the least,” Daniels said…“But they’re going to send it so we’ll be very cautious with it. … The most likely event is that it helps us maintain our position in the black with a little more room to spare.”
“If they send a check, we’ll cash it,” said the governor’s press secretary, Jane Jankowski. So, for the record, Daniels requested the money in February, opposed it this month, but now plans to accept it, just like all the other governors who have grandstanded against stimulus funding before gladly taking it. Daniels says that the additional funding “helps us maintain our position in the black” without noting that he is only in the black because of the Recovery Act.
In fact, the Indiana budget includes more than $1 billion in stimulus money. The Wonk Room warns that Indianans should keep an eye on this money, as Daniels used education funding from the Recovery Act not on students and teachers but to boost his state’s Rainy Day Fund.
