SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) speaks at a press conference on May 19, 2021.
(Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
GOP Offers Preview of Austerity Targets: Food Aid for Poor Families, Student Debt Relief, and More
"Why is it that whenever tough choices are required, Republicans want working families and children to make the sacrifice?" asked the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
Feb 09, 2023
Republicans on the House Budget Committee offered a preview Wednesday of the programs they're looking to cut or overhaul as part of any agreement to lift the debt ceiling, a target list that includes food aid for low-income families, climate justice and electric vehicle funding, student debt relief, and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The proposed cuts were outlined in a press release issued by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee.
In total, Arrington put forth roughly $780 billion in proposed spending cuts, nearly half of which would come from reversing President Joe Biden's student debt cancellation—a plan that is currently blocked pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Notably absent from the House GOP's outline was any mention of the U.S. military budget, which currently represents more than half of the federal government's discretionary spending and is a hotbed of the kind of waste and fraud that Republicans claim to oppose.
At $858 billion, the fiscal year 2023 military budget alone is larger than the $780 billion in cuts Arrington has floated.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg that the GOP's proposed spending cuts are a needless attack on the vulnerable.
Experts have repeatedly warned that more stringent income verification and work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, for instance, would result in food aid cuts for many needy families.
"Why is it that whenever tough choices are required, Republicans want working families and children to make the sacrifice?" Boyle asked. "Why not keep our children fed and families healthy, and instead work with Democrats to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes?"
Arrington's recommendations come as the GOP is facing growing backlash over its efforts to use the debt ceiling—and the looming possibility of a U.S. default—as leverage to pursue steep spending cuts, something the party has done to disastrous effect in the past.
Advocacy groups and analysts were quick to assail Arrington's proposals.
The Debt Collective, an organization that supports student debt cancellation, wrote on Twitter that "it doesn't 'cost' $379 billion to cancel $379 billion of student debt."
"It's pure fiction to think that killing cancellation will mean the [Department of Education] will collect $379 billion," the group added. "Even the Federal Reserve knows there will be record defaults."
Krutika Amin, associate director of the Kaiser Family Foundation, noted that the GOP proposal to cap Affordable Care Act subsidies at 400% of the federal poverty line "would mean middle-income people pay more for coverage."
"A 60-year-old making $55,000 in 2023 pays 8.5% of their income on a silver plan," Amin observed. "Without subsidies, they would pay over 20% of their income on average."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
joe bidenrepublican partystudent debtausteritybrendan boyleclimate justicedebt limitfood aidhouse gopjodey arringtonsnapspending cutsdebt ceiling
Republicans on the House Budget Committee offered a preview Wednesday of the programs they're looking to cut or overhaul as part of any agreement to lift the debt ceiling, a target list that includes food aid for low-income families, climate justice and electric vehicle funding, student debt relief, and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The proposed cuts were outlined in a press release issued by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee.
In total, Arrington put forth roughly $780 billion in proposed spending cuts, nearly half of which would come from reversing President Joe Biden's student debt cancellation—a plan that is currently blocked pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Notably absent from the House GOP's outline was any mention of the U.S. military budget, which currently represents more than half of the federal government's discretionary spending and is a hotbed of the kind of waste and fraud that Republicans claim to oppose.
At $858 billion, the fiscal year 2023 military budget alone is larger than the $780 billion in cuts Arrington has floated.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg that the GOP's proposed spending cuts are a needless attack on the vulnerable.
Experts have repeatedly warned that more stringent income verification and work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, for instance, would result in food aid cuts for many needy families.
"Why is it that whenever tough choices are required, Republicans want working families and children to make the sacrifice?" Boyle asked. "Why not keep our children fed and families healthy, and instead work with Democrats to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes?"
Arrington's recommendations come as the GOP is facing growing backlash over its efforts to use the debt ceiling—and the looming possibility of a U.S. default—as leverage to pursue steep spending cuts, something the party has done to disastrous effect in the past.
Advocacy groups and analysts were quick to assail Arrington's proposals.
The Debt Collective, an organization that supports student debt cancellation, wrote on Twitter that "it doesn't 'cost' $379 billion to cancel $379 billion of student debt."
"It's pure fiction to think that killing cancellation will mean the [Department of Education] will collect $379 billion," the group added. "Even the Federal Reserve knows there will be record defaults."
Krutika Amin, associate director of the Kaiser Family Foundation, noted that the GOP proposal to cap Affordable Care Act subsidies at 400% of the federal poverty line "would mean middle-income people pay more for coverage."
"A 60-year-old making $55,000 in 2023 pays 8.5% of their income on a silver plan," Amin observed. "Without subsidies, they would pay over 20% of their income on average."
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Republicans on the House Budget Committee offered a preview Wednesday of the programs they're looking to cut or overhaul as part of any agreement to lift the debt ceiling, a target list that includes food aid for low-income families, climate justice and electric vehicle funding, student debt relief, and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The proposed cuts were outlined in a press release issued by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee.
In total, Arrington put forth roughly $780 billion in proposed spending cuts, nearly half of which would come from reversing President Joe Biden's student debt cancellation—a plan that is currently blocked pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Notably absent from the House GOP's outline was any mention of the U.S. military budget, which currently represents more than half of the federal government's discretionary spending and is a hotbed of the kind of waste and fraud that Republicans claim to oppose.
At $858 billion, the fiscal year 2023 military budget alone is larger than the $780 billion in cuts Arrington has floated.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg that the GOP's proposed spending cuts are a needless attack on the vulnerable.
Experts have repeatedly warned that more stringent income verification and work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, for instance, would result in food aid cuts for many needy families.
"Why is it that whenever tough choices are required, Republicans want working families and children to make the sacrifice?" Boyle asked. "Why not keep our children fed and families healthy, and instead work with Democrats to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes?"
Arrington's recommendations come as the GOP is facing growing backlash over its efforts to use the debt ceiling—and the looming possibility of a U.S. default—as leverage to pursue steep spending cuts, something the party has done to disastrous effect in the past.
Advocacy groups and analysts were quick to assail Arrington's proposals.
The Debt Collective, an organization that supports student debt cancellation, wrote on Twitter that "it doesn't 'cost' $379 billion to cancel $379 billion of student debt."
"It's pure fiction to think that killing cancellation will mean the [Department of Education] will collect $379 billion," the group added. "Even the Federal Reserve knows there will be record defaults."
Krutika Amin, associate director of the Kaiser Family Foundation, noted that the GOP proposal to cap Affordable Care Act subsidies at 400% of the federal poverty line "would mean middle-income people pay more for coverage."
"A 60-year-old making $55,000 in 2023 pays 8.5% of their income on a silver plan," Amin observed. "Without subsidies, they would pay over 20% of their income on average."
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.