Budget Deal Sets Stage for Arctic Drilling And Tax Cuts

[Guest guest]

J

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:23:55 -0500

Budget Deal Sets Stage for Arctic Drilling And Tax Cuts

 

 

 

 

 

Lets see now...So people in the oil business get tax cuts and

incentives to

drill in Alaska and the Arctic. In the mean time, we are cutting back on

student loans, Medicaid, and Medicare, and agricultural subsidies. But we

are increasing military spending.

 

FOUR MORON YEARS!!!

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042800

446.html

 

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Congress passed a five-year, $14 trillion budget last night that will pave

the way for oil drilling in parts of an Alaskan wildlife refuge, a new

round

of tax cuts and the first curbs on entitlements for the poor in nearly a

decade.

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Nearly a third of that total would come from Medicaid, the primary federal

and state health program for the poor. At the same time, the budget makes

room for $106 billion of tax cuts over five years, $70 billion of which

would be protected from a Senate filibuster.

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Opponents countered that any deficit reduction wrought by cuts to programs

mainly for the poor would be more than offset by extending tax cuts that

largely benefit the rich.

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" Sad to say, the country would be better off with no budget plan than with

this one, " said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal

Center

on Budget and Policy Priorities. " Without it, deficits would be lower, and

cuts in programs for the needy wouldn't be imposed to pay for more tax

cuts

for the wealthiest. "

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<SNIP>

The budget deal alone does not ensure changes, but it will allow

Congress to

pass Medicaid curbs, oil drilling, tax cuts and other controversial

measures

with a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60-vote majority

needed

to overcome a filibuster.

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<SNIP>

An additional $6.6 billion in savings would come from changes to the

federal

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., including higher premiums charged to

companies with pensions covered by the federal insurance program. Some of

the largest business groups in Washington warned that increased premiums

would force some companies to drop their pension plans, worsening the

precarious economic position of the PBGC.

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<SNIP>

Other entitlement savings could come from the earned-income tax

credit, farm

programs, federal power marketers and spectrum auctions and nutrition

programs.

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<SNIP>

Defense spending would jump in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, to $439

billion from $422 billion, not counting emergency spending bills. But

domestic discretionary programs would be frozen at $404 billion, and would

stay frozen for three years, Gregg said.

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