The GOP in Congress, dead-set on cutting the budget, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, have not thought about the true consequences of what they propose, of if they have, they actually know in their hearts that the cuts won't pass because the Senate will block them.
The former smacks of abysmal ignorance, the latter of abject hypoocrisy.
Let's think about what could happen:
Cuts to the EPA
Ignore climate change for now, which is what they're doing anyway. Worried about unborn kids, right? Well, the mercury emissions regulations would protect the neurosystems of babies in the womb. The GOP wants to cut the EPA's ability to regulate mercury emissions. So, potentially, more kids will have neurological development disorders caused by elevated mercury levels in our food.
"[Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P.] Jackson said the House Republicans' plan to cut more than $3 billion from the EPA would have a major impact. "Big polluters would flout legal restrictions on dumping contaminants into the air, into rivers, and onto the ground," she said. "There would be no EPA grant money to fix or replace broken water treatment systems. And the standards that EPA is set to establish for harmful air pollutants from smokestacks and tailpipes would remain missing."
and
"During the hearing, the EPA released a report that said that the cost-benefit of enacting the 1990 Clean Air Act under former president George H.W. Bush would reach about $2 trillion in 2020. The report also said the Act would save about 230,000 people from early death that year.
According to the report, which the EPA said received a review and input from scientists, economists and public health experts at the Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis, estimated that 160,000 cases of premature death, 130,000 heart attacks, 1.7 million asthma attacks and 13 million lost work days were prevented last year by the reduction in fine particle and ozone pollution."
Cuts to tsunami warning centers and severe weather forecasting
Tsunamis? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Well, swallow hard, America, because the GOP wants to cut our ability to see them coming. Tell that to the Oklahoma or Kansas family whose house gets destroyed and whose two-year old toddler gets killed by a twister. Tell that to the Florida families that get beset by storm surge because the evacuation order didn't come in time. Tell that to the coastal Californians when the next BIG tsunami hits.
Cuts to the National Institutes of Health: I don't even know where to begin with this.
Drug companies and scientists ire over budget cuts
Budget Cuts Threaten New-Drug Initiative
NIH Program meant to find new cures on Congress' chopping block
David Koch: Lamenting Cancer Research Cuts—and Bankrolling the GOPers Behind Them
And a summary of what else? From Lindsay Cogdill, Hood College:
"The problem that is causing an inability to compromise is a fundamental disagreement over what is important for the nation. Proposed budget cuts include cuts to programs that directly help people, such as Title X family planning and low-income heating assistance. Different people, and different political groups, consider different programs vital to America. Republicans are attempting to remain true to their ideology by cutting government spending, without considering the effects of cutting it. Of course, there is plenty of spending that can be cut - but Republicans are proposing cuts to programs like Public Broadcasting Service, funding for health research and special education, Pell Grants, and clinics like Planned Parenthood - in short, things that the American people rely on. Jobs are also sure to be lost if the Republican plan for the budget goes through. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified that budget cuts could lead to a loss of around 200,000 jobs."
Cut low-income heating assistance. More kids and families in homeless shelters; more exposure to transmitted diseases, a few more deaths due to pneumonia and the flu
Cut family planning; more kids born to low-income unmarried girls; less childcare, more disease, developmental problems, drop-outs, crime and drugs
Cut special education: more kids with developmental and psychological problems don't get recognized and treated. See above.
It makes me SICK.
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