Budget Cuts may mean harming the Health of Seniors and the Health of the Environment with less money for regulators.
POLITICO.COM -
"The Arena" Forum -
July 13, 2011 -
Debt Stalemate and Possible Effect on the Environment
Some excerpts ( the best of many ) :
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David Mark Moderator :
Anglers and hunters don't like what they're seeing in the dash to slash spending. Under a proposed House spending plan the Interior Department’s overall budget would fall $720 million from fiscal 2011. The measure also includes language that would allow chemical companies and large agriculture operators to skirt pesticide permit requirements and enforcement of certain mountaintop mining rules.
Will sportsmen, who argue clean air and water is needed to hunt and fish, extract political revenge at the polls? Hill Republicans that in tight budget times there simply isn't money for burdensome environmental regulations. Will they win the argument?
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Michael Arcuri Former congressman (D-N.Y.) :
Let's hope they don't win this argument. It shameful that some members of Congress are attempting to use this crisis to extract concessions for corporations that really don't need them.
So let's see if we have this right there isn't enough money to keep our water that we drink and need to live clean, there isn't enough money to keep the air that we breath and need to live clean, there isn't enough money to maintain Medicare for the elderly that need it at its present level, and there isn't enough money to continue Social Security for Americans that need it. But there is enough money to continue the Bush tax cuts for America's millionaires and billionaires, there is enough to continue IRS tax perks for America's millionaires and billionaires and the Republican members of Congress are trying to make that argument with a straight face.
Come on now - the Emperor Has No Clothes On and Americans really need to see this sham for what it is.
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Michael Yaki Member, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights :
Under the rubric of "any excuse will do" the right-wing of the House Republicans will try to accomplish what Tom DeLay and others couldn't - rollback environmental and consumer protections and benefits for seniors in fealty to their Big Money donors, and use the current budget woes to justify their slash-and-burn tactics. This will come down to the Obama administration's willingness to standup to the House and standup on behalf of constituencies which cross party-lines.
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Jason Huff Democratic consultant :
That is the headline that I run with an any race against a member of the House: Congressman X believes there simply isn't room in the budget (your tax dollars) for clean air and water. What is more important than that? If you cannot breath clean air and drink non-carcinogenic water, what is this country worth?
I want to know the business interests that are more important than pure natural resources. Please turn to your child on a hot day as you had them a drink of water and say "Sorry, baby: I know the water is black and tastes and smells like burnt rubber, but we have to make sure oil companies keep their tax breaks to increase their record profits. When you grow up you will realize that is what the Founding Fathers risked their lives for - oh, that and ending slavery: hat tip to Michele Bachmann."
The new House majority has had a good time their first six months, as it has been fairly easy. All they have had to do is find a friendly reporter and say that they were elected to Congress to slash all spending. Well, team, Americans pay taxes for other things than just to pay the salaries of their reps: they pay them so that they won't choke to death breathing or poison themselves or their children when they turn on the tap or eat fish from local waters.
This is supposed to be a hard job, ladies and gentlemen. It's not just parades and fundraisers. Politicians say that they don't want to leave the next generations a financial catastrophe; don't leave them an environmental one as well. This is more than just an issue for sportsmen: it's an issue for anyone walking this earth, and hunters and anglers will walk right to the ballot box and make a change they can believe in.
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Brad Bannon President, Bannon Communications Research :
The proposed cuts in the Department of Interior budget demonstrate that congressional Republicans are just using the budget deficit as an excuse to dismantle environmental policies that their BFF, Big Business doesn't like. If Eric Cantor and the rest of the tea party types were really concerned about the budget deficit, they would support President Obama's effort to save money by ending billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies to Big Oil.
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