House Republicans Still Can’t Name Any Programs They Would Cut To Pay For Bush Tax Cuts

During this campaign season, many Republicans were loathe to lay out any spending cuts that they would make in order to offset their desire to extend all of the Bush tax cuts. Extending the entirety of the Bush tax package would cost nearly $4 trillion over ten years, including about $830 billion to extend the cuts for the richest two percent of Americans alone. House Republicans, though — including Pledge to America architect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — simply said that they would cut discretionary spending across-the-board to offset that cost. “The line item would be across-the-board,” McCarthy asserted.

Even though election night was upon them and a new majority secured, House Republicans weren’t any more willing to lay out specific spending cuts last night. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that the most important thing that Congress can do is extend the Bush tax cuts. But when Matthews pressed her for spending reductions, Blackburn only named parts of the budget that she has deemed off-limits for cuts. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) did the same, refusing to name a specific cut in two separate interviews. Watch a compilation:

Contrary to one of Blackburn’s assertions, defense spending is part of the discretionary budget. The Sustainable Task Force — composed of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and some of the nation’s leading defense and budget experts — has identified nearly $1 trillion in waste that can be cut from the defense budget over the next ten years by simply eliminating unnecessary Cold War-era programs.

Blackburn and Cantor seem to be under the impression that there is nothing that matters in the non-defense discretionary portion of the budget. But that portion of the budget includes all federal education funding, some veteran’s benefits, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service, federal highway funding, the National Park Service, the Coast Guard, and Congress itself.

Will House Republicans be reducing all of those across-the-board? It isn’t likely, which means that that they will have to make even deeper cuts to some programs to achieve their desired savings. Of course, they could just be confirming that they agree with Sen. Mitch McConnell’s pronouncement that giving tax breaks to the rich is deficit spending that Republicans support!

See The Wonk Room for a list of potential progressive spending cuts that could be made.

"

NY-sen: 57% Gillibrand (D), 37% DioGuardi (R) (10 / 27-30 Siena)

Read more: Andrew Cuomo, Carl Paladino, Chuck Schumer, Jay Townsend, Joe DioGuardi, Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Governor Poll, New York poll, New York Senate poll, survey, poll update, pollsters, politics news

Siena
10/27-30/10; 603 likely voters, 4% margin of error
Mode: Live telephone interviews
Siena-release

New York

2010 Governor
58% Cuomo (D), 33% Paladino (R) (map)

2010 Senate (B)
57% Gillibrand (D), 37% DioGuardi (R) (map)

2010 Senate (A)
64% Schumer (D), 32% Townsend (R) (map)

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Josh Ozersky: Free Association with Mark Oldman

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Posted: November 1, 2010 12:34 AMBIOBecome a FanGet Email AlertsBloggers' Indexfunction hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");bubble.style.display = "none";}function hide_user_promo_bubble() {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, {opacity: {to: 0}}, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut);myAnim.animate();setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100);}function handle_promo_username(params) {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image");var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link");if (params.has_photo == "true") {img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png";} else {img.style.display = "none";Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide");}anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name;anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name;bubble.style.display = "block";var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, {opacity: {to: 1}}, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut);myAnim.animate();}if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) {YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() {var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i;if (parts.length Free Association with Mark Oldman What's Your Reaction: HPConfig.entry_digg_promo_url = 'http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-ozersky/mark-oldman_b_776773.html';digg facebook Twitter stumble redditdel.ico.us Amazing
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Read More:Eisenbergs, Josh Ozersky, Mark Oldman, Tuna Melts, Vannerchuck, Wine, Food News
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There I was, hanging out at Eisenberg's, eating a tuna melt and a diet black cherry soda, and I see Mark Oldman, the wine expert, at the next table. So I peppered him with questions.

  This Blogger's Books from The Hamburger: A History (Icons of America)
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