With the sequestration cuts just days away, Republicans have spent the last several focused on rhetoric instead of policy. By any sensible standard, GOP policymakers have invested no real effort on resolving the problem, and have instead devoted all of their energies in winning a public-relations fight once the sequester starts doing real damage.
And with this in mind, one might expect their message to be amazing. After all, once a political party gives up on governing and focuses solely on messaging, it's stands to reason they'll be pretty good at it.
And yet, Republicans' sequestration message "is all over the place." GOP leaders believe the sequester will be awful but they want to let it happen. The policy was integral to the Republican fiscal plan and it's entirely the White House's idea. When Republicans say the cuts will hurt, that's fine; when Democrats say the cuts will hurt, it's evidence of scare tactics.
And now Republicans are simultaneously convinced the cuts will hurt and help the economy.
For those who can't watch clips online, Rep. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a likely U.S. Senate candidate, argued over the weekend that sequestration cuts "must" happen in order to "get this economy rolling again."
As a matter of economic policy, Price's argument is practically gibberish. Taking billions out of the economy and forcing public sector workers from their jobs does not get an economy "rolling," unless we're talking about "rolling" downhill. Independent economic estimates, including that of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, suggest these cuts will likely cost the U.S. economy 750,000 jobs just this year, which leads to legitimate questions about whether Price, a member of the House Budget Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, has the foggiest idea what he's talking about.
But the larger point is, Price's comments offer a reminder that Republicans don't even agree with other Republicans. If the sequester will "get this economy rolling again," why is Price's party so eager to blame the policy on President Obama? Why are some far-right House Republicans saying these cuts will do real harm while other far-right House Republicans say the exact opposite?
In the meantime, while conservative policymakers trade contradictory talking points while focusing entirely on winning a p.r. fight, the White House is focused on the policy consequences.
The White House on Sunday detailed how the deep spending cuts set to begin this week would affect programs in every state and the District, as President Obama launched a last-ditch effort to pressure congressional Republicans to compromise on a way to stop the across-the-board cuts. [...]
Seeking to raise alarm among a public that has not paid much attention to the issue, the White House on Sunday released 51 fact sheets describing what would happen over the next seven months if the cuts go into effect. [...]
The sequester -- worth $1.2 trillion over 10 years -- effectively orders the administration to make across-the-board, indiscriminate cuts to agency programs, sparing only some mandatory programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.
I've included the state-by-state links below. Each of the documents are pdf.
1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. California
6. Colorado
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware
10. Florida
11. Georgia
12. Hawaii
13. Idaho
14. Illinois
15. Indiana
16. Iowa
17. Kansas
18. Kentucky
19. Louisiana
20. Maine
21. Maryland
22. Massachusetts
23. Michigan
24. Minnesota
25. Mississippi
26. Missouri
27. Montana
28. Nebraska
29. Nevada
30. New Hampshire
31. New Jersey
32. New Mexico
33. New York
34. North Carolina
35. North Dakota
36. Ohio
37. Oklahoma
38. Oregon
39. Pennsylvania
40. Rhode Island
41. South Carolina
42. South Dakota
43. Tennessee
44. Texas
45. Utah
46. Vermont
47. Virginia
48. Washington
49. West Virginia
50. Wisconsin
51. Wyoming
Leave a Comment:
One right hand doesn't know what the other right hand is doing!
Karen, how do people like you - people with brains - stay in South Carolina without going crazy? I ask in all curiosity, because it makes no sense to me, why anyone with a brain from any of the old Confederacy sticks around. You must have an extremely high pain threshold for idiocy.
Our Congress is comprised primarily of wealthy people.
They have prosperity.
They give us austerity.
I guess some of these Republican operatives saved the koolaid from the Bush administration, and have begun to drink it again!
These Republicans clinging to ideological nonsense have really made it tough on the rest of us to make a living, and even, to smile daily! -Kevo
I don't know Steve. Maybe we should ask Shooter to explain "why . . . some far-right House Republicans (are) saying these cuts will do real harm while other far-right House Republicans say the exact opposite?" He holds himself out as our resident expert on all things Republicrazy.
Oh Please... "Here shooter, here boy " We have a juicy morsel of Republican conundrum.
Yes lets ask shooter and the other members of his Dimwit Trolling Team to explain it.
Thank you for the state by state analyses.
On the radio this morning Ben Shapiro said this is all Obama brilliantly devising to divide and conquor the Republican Party. He said everything Obama does this term is to destroy the Republicans. Apparently looking inward is not Benny's strong point...
If only it was true....
This is the only thing that the Republicans are helping the President with!
Laying off people will help create jobs. Interesting talking point.
Sort of like eating a pound of fudge will help me lose weight.
Asking why Republicans are for and against cuts is expecting them to think logically. They do not even know what thinking logically means. Without going into the details of deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning, logic basically means recognizing cause and effect. If you do A than B will result; if you do C than D will result. You do have to recognize facts. If you live in a fantasy world where you can make up your own facts, you can not draw logical conclusions.
There's been a lot of words over what it means but the main thing is the republicans are divided against themselves. That's one good aspect of this. If they let it happen they will be even more at odds.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
bflynch, #8.1,
We are soon going to see evidence of that.
The salient point about Republicans is that they are not divided over starving the beast (government) and never have been. From the outset, they have been against the entitlements. They care only about the rich and as far as they are concerned the poor simply don't matter. They feel, "Let the charities feed and clothe those who cannot pull themselves up by their bootstraps."
I was raised by them. I know them. This is really how they think.
I became a Democrat because of them. Growing up, I saw too many people whose bootstraps were too weak to pull them up. There is simply no evidence to support the GOP's position. All evidence is to the contrary.
What we are witnessing here is the subtle difference between RWNJ’s and RWNJINO’s
Rachel, I keep hearing pundits/ politicians suggest, "Oh, nothing too drastic is going to happen with sequestration cuts. They will be reversed in a few days."
Could you educate us on COST of even a brief disruption and restart? All I can see is the waste of taxpayer dollars to prepare, adapt, reverse, and restore operational systems (months of correction), as well as the cruel human implications --- all because of a congressional self-inflicted, needless problem created by the people we are paying to solve problems for us. All who support this idea for should be publicly exposed for poor judgment with their misuse of public funds understood.
They want to have someone to quote on their side to prove they were right all along about the results of the sequester. In other words, when they bargained for this, they did not know, but it sounded good. Doesn't sound so good today or this week. Kind of reminds me of the guy who caught the gator and was holding its mouth shut--then realized that he didn't know how to let go and jump clear.
Don't you find it rich that the GOP is accusing Obama of utilizing "scare tactics" by taking sequestration consequences to the public? Coming from the same folks who brought us the smoking gun as a mushroom crowd?
Good point, Mary!
So does this mean Obama can claim bipartisanship...with the TP wing no less?...since some Republicans are saying that Obama is at "fault" for letting the sequestration take place while other republicans are saying that the sequestration is important for the future health of our country. Strange bedfellows indeed.
But...I tend to agree with Steve...they just don't have their act together in regards to messaging. They all hate the President, and I have no doubt that if ANY republican found they were on the same page as the Pres, they would quickly change positions.
Just wait til people need their services - then and only then will Americans understand what "BIG GOV'RMINT" does for them and demand that these "crisis" moments by the GOTP be stopped! Hate to say it, but Americans haven't a clue about what the "government" actually does and have swallowed the dumbing down messages about "BIG GOV'RMINT" whole by the GOTP and corporate owned media that continues distraction & mendacity!
" This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins." - Ben Franklin
It couldn't happen to a more brazen and deserving country of complete idiots.. The only saving grace is cutting military spending, by which we should be cutting more!
Trollop, #15
I agree with Howard Dean that the sequester is not Armageddon, but a chance to trim that bloated military budget. The rest can be remedied quickly as the GOP will get Holy Hell from their constituents when the other cuts begin to hit home.
Besides, the government has cried wolf so many times and then at the 11th hour, done the proper thing. That is likely to be the case this time, although I am more doubtful at this point.
Make no mistake, the American public will plant the blame squarely on Obama and he knows it. Hence the panic scramble to avoid and deflect. If he had done what he was supposed to, like lead and govern instead of tear down the nation, the GOP would not be so in opposition. The majority of the country do not want a socialist nation.
Time to trim the fat!
Yeah! and Romney was going to win in a landslide!!!
Really? 54% of the American voting public approves of Obama vs. 19% of the Republican House (which is what is holding up any legislation at this point). Obama has repeatedly offered to compromise, but Republicans seem to think that they are the ones who won the last two Presidential elections, and should be able to dictate their policies instead.
The GOP would not be in so much opposition if Obama were just to give them everything they want, instead of what he was elected to do. And they don't mind holding the country hostage to achieve their goals.
Name one single bill passed by both the House and Senate, and signed by the President. Every bill sent to the Senate by the House has poison pills inserted, making it an absolute certainty that they wouldn't even make it through the Senate, much less to the President. That's the fault of the Reptilians, not the President.
How has Obama torn down the nation? C'mon, give us a little more than you have, because you're talking through your hat. You may disagree with Obamacare, but that's not tearing down the nation. The private insurer's are salivating at the chance to get 30 million new customers. We spend more money on defense than any administration in history (including G.W.'s). The US is far from even being close to a "socialist" nation.
In short, we know where the blame is going to fall, and what might have turned out to be a chance in 2014 for the Reptilians to make some gains will turn out to be disaster for them. The American people will not forget because we will not allow them to forget who did this to us.
I heard on the radio this AM that 80% of Americans don't even know about the sequester. Local TV news stations give this about ten seconds of coverage and no one can tell from those few seconds what is going on in DC.
I was hoping we, on this blog, were a bit more representative than that!
Really #16,
You are so wrong. First, Obama has already trimmed "the fat". Second, the entitlements HELP the economy in so many ways that to end them woould be to destroy the American economy.
We need REVENUE, you idiot. Why don't you care about your taxes going to subsidize Big Oil? That's a crazy policy. Big Oil is obscenely profitable.
Folks, we need to stop listening to what these people say, and start seeing, really seeing, what they do. And, I mean both Dems and Rupubs. Of course they are scrambling to place blame of the sequester cuts on each other. These cuts are going to hurt the middle and lower classes like hell, and neither side wants to accept the blame for it, but both sides clearly want this to happen. Did Obama set this into action, or was it the Repubs? BOTH! And both want to cut "Big Government". We know the Repubs want to do that because they say so. We know Obama wants to do that because, despite his pretty speeches to the contrary, that's what he has been doing since he took office. Don't believe that? What other President has cut federal spending and federal jobs during a recession? Poppy Bush? No. Clinton? No. "W" ? No. Just Obama. And if you don't believe that, check out Maddow's show from 20 Feb about Obama's cuts to federal employment. Obama has done more to shrink the government than Grover Norquist ever dreamed.
The sequester is going to happen because it is a quick and easy way to cut federal spending across the board, and then to restore spending to the programs, and only the programs, that the people in power want restored. That will NOT include food stamps or Headstart or anything the Repubs do not approve of, or is helpful to the people making less than 100K a year.
Please people, stop listening and start seeing. Barack Obama is no more a friend to the people than the Republicans are. Look at his record.
How about being a little more fact "heavy" and give us your take on what Obama has done to screw up the economy? I bow to your wisdom, because you are obviously a mind reader, who can divine what Obama "really" is thinking and wants to do, versus what he says and is actually trying to do.
G.W. didn't cut jobs during the recession? He started the recession; the economy lost millions of jobs, including 870,000 in his last month in office. What other President has cut taxes while starting two wars?
These sequester cuts were meant to scare the hell out of anybody with a lick of sense. They were so draconian that no reasoning, thinking, caring person would allow them to happen. So everybody agreed to do this, thinking it would never happen. But Republicans refused to consider anything at all which would represent a compromise, preferring instead to try to use the debt limit and the sequester as hostage taking, to get through extortion what they couldn't get at the ballot box. So while everybody signed off on it, only the Republicans are responsible for reaching the point we are now at.
Let the Reptilians kill food stamps, unemployment benefits, and tear apart the safety net, and there won't be enough holes for them to hide in from the wrath of the American public. An unemployed, starving person with children and no way to feed them, will be looking in YOUR kitchen, and all your Second Amendment rights won't be worth spit. When you have nothing left to lose, then all the restraints are gone, because laws only matter when you're not fighting for your life.
#17.1
The GOP will never be able to starve government in the way they want. To cut entitlements like Social Security would have such a terrible effect on the economy that it is unthinkable. It would throw millions of seniors into poverty and the end of the buying power of seniors would hit home really fast with businesses everywhere.
It's an absurd Republican ideology with no basis in fact. They have to know that plunging elderly people into poverty is not going to help the economy! What's the matter with them?
Plus, look at what austerity is doing to the UK and Greece! It's awful!
People like Rand Paul, Paul Ryan and the rest are so off the mark it is laughable.
Obama and Boehner playing the blame board game - cartoon: http://distilledmagazine.com/blame-game/
I think when deciding what cuts to make, Congress should START with their own jobs. They actually only work about 6 months of the year what with all their recesses and week long vacations etc. If we cut the annual salary of all 450 representatives and all 100 senators in half, we could save $47,850,000 right off the top. It is sooooo easy for our congress people to talk about cutting things sine they know THEY will continue to get their full salary and won't be impacted one iota. But maybe they would look at things a little differently if they knew that the first thing to be cut was THEIR salaries. Just sayin'.
Indiana just announced"
"Due to federal automatic spending cuts as part of sequestration, payments of federally extended unemployment insurance benefits will be temporarily suspended on Saturday, March 2, 2013, until further guidance from the federal government is received."
I am not sure they can do that. I certainly hope not. Though the GOP would cut those people off benefits if they could. That is how hateful they are.