Yesterday the Republican’s released a plan to cut $2.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. The plan is being met with a lot of skepticism, even from FOX News where Neil Cavuto noted that the plan actually saves only $330 billion.
The plan, which does not touch the Pentagon or Homeland Security, calls to return non-discretionary spending to the 2006 level. Think Progress highlights why this is such a bad idea:
Returning non-defense discretionary spending to the 2006 level — and then keeping it there — would result in billions of dollars in cuts to vital and popular programs and agencies like Pell Grants, the FBI, the Coast Guard, the National Institutes of Health and the federal prison system.
But even worse, as Steve Benen points out, is that the GOP’s new plan would cost us thousands, if not more, of jobs:
The likelihood of these cuts actually passing is non-existent, but it is a helpful snapshot of Republican priorities. But also note perhaps the most important detail about a plan such as this one: it would be devastating for American jobs. Indeed, if lawmakers were to get together to plot how Congress could deliberately increase unemployment, their plan would look an awful lot like this one. The RSC proposal would deliberately fire thousands of civilian workers, force states to make sweeping job cuts, and lay off thousands more who work in transportation and infrastructure.
But there’s a deeper problem in this plan that I don’t see mentioned. As I said, the GOP wants to take spending levels back to 2006 and keep them there, but what about inflation? The government isn’t exempt from an increased cost of things like office supplies, fuel and energy and all the other costs associated with running a business. The CPI (Consumer Price Index) has increased every year since 2006, which is evident by this chart:
| Year | CPI-U |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 201.6 |
| 2007 | 207.342 |
| 2008 | 215.303 |
| 2009 | 214.537 |
| 2010 | 218.056 |
So how would the government deal with an increased cost of doing business while maintaining the same budget levels? Well the only cut to make then is in salaries, which means more people losing their jobs.
This proves to me that the Republicans have no real plan to cut the federal budget. They are unable to come up with an actual plan that is feasible enough to implement, so they are going to create these faux plans that have no route to implementation and quite possibly push our fractured economy back on life support.
Welcome to the Republican run Congress where reality and jobs take a back burner to political rhetoric and bottom line.