Republicans Release “Pledge To America” Position Paper
It’s supposed to be a Contract With America for a whole new generation, I guess, and what’s in it is all well and good (like like the focus on fiscal issues as opposed to social issues) but what disturbs me is what’s not in it.
Read the full document below.
The pledge calls for a roll back of discretionary spending to 2008 levels. That’s great, but discretionary spending is only about 44% of the budget. Social Security, Medicare and other non-discretionary spending makes up 56% of the budget.
Cuts for that spending are glaring in their omission from this document.
What’s more, unless I’m missing something, the proposed spending cuts in this bill won’t actually eliminate deficits. Which is nothing short of frustrating. Tax cuts are all well and good, but unless we cut spending to the point of at least eliminating the deficits (if not paying down the national debt) all we’re doing is deferring tax hikes to the future.
This is some pretty thin gruel, I think, and I wonder if Republicans wouldn’t have been better off not offering anything at all.
