Tuesday, March 17, 2015

House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare and Repeals the Health Law

House Republicans have just unveiled a budget proposal for 2016. They have set the bar very high, promoting a goal of hitting $33 billion in surplus by 2025. Among the new budget provisions are a plan to privatize Medicare through a voucher program, repeal Obama Care, abide by strict military spending caps, and pull money away from k-12 education programs. Do you think achieving such a surplus is possible? Will the cap on military and domestic spending cause some Republicans to vote against the plan?

13 comments:

  1. I'm a republican, and I think this is hands down the worst idea ever. Taking money from k-12 programs is incredibly insane, especially considering how many schools in Philadelphia simply don't have enough money to teach the thousands of kids in the school right now. It would be even harder if they took more funding.

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  2. I agree with Emmanuel; cutting the funding to all these important programs will not help the economy or the public opinion of congress. Additionally, there is still very much disagreement within the legislature regarding the general principle of the proposed budget, not even just specifics! If this budget were to pass, it would not end well.

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  3. I agree with both Emmanuel and Antonella. These are all important programs that need funding. Taking money away education and healthcare is not the way to reach a balanced budget.

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  4. Taking money away from educational programs and privatizing Medicare might bring America closer to reaching a balanced budget.

    However, this balance would only come about at the expense of the people who rely on these. This is definitely not a good idea and I agree with the others.

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  5. I agree with a lot of the sentiment here. While balancing the budget sounds good, the way Republicans in Congress are trying to achieve it will hurt people when they shouldn't be. Any attempt to balance the budget should involve both spending cuts and tax increases, not just one or the other. Cutting spending to programs that help people is definitely not the way to get a balanced budget, but, since Obama would have to sign off on it, Republicans are going to have to scale down their efforts or risk another government shutdown.

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  6. It is no secret that America is in desperate need of a way to balance the budget and decrease the national debt. Taking away money from educational programs would, in my book, be the last resort, though. I don't think that that is a smart idea at all. Money would be saved, but only at the expense of a good education for American children.

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  7. Cutting these specific programs like food stamps and k-12 is not how we should regain a surplus. The fact that this proposal would cut "domestic programs $519 billion below the already restrictive caps set in 2011. White House officials estimated that between the Affordable Care Act repeal and the cuts to Medicaid, 37 million people would lose health insurance, more than doubling the ranks of the uninsured," is not settling at all. Like Emily said, yes money would be saved but not in the prettiest forms.

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  8. For all the resources available in this country, our standings on the global scale of average education quality isn't nearly where it should be. Taking even further funds out of k-12 education is ridiculous. The net costs of passing such legislation outweighs the net gain.

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  9. By taking funding away from K-12 program, you merely kick the can down the road. A 33 billion dollar surplus is tempting, but in the process we would cripple our nations future, and regress from a healthcare perspective. I also feel that any type of restriction on Military spending will be met with fierce republican resistance.

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  10. A Republican himself said that balancing the budget in ten years is unrealistic. The Republicans are attempting to do something that is not achievable by cutting back on programs that are very important, such as healthcare, the education system, and our decaying national infrastructure. What good is a surplus when you have a poorly educated population, bridges that are ready to collapse, and people that are unable to pursue good health?

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  11. Yep there you have it, even Emmanuel said that this is the worst idea ever. Cutting back on really important programs such as education would make us two steps behind, heck why not 10. There are other ways to decrease the national debt, Education cutting is the LAST option. crazy people sheesh

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  12. I agree with everyone that these cuts are hurtful and not helpful. Expanding the military budget and cutting healthcare, education, and welfare? That's damaging areas that need funding the most. A balanced budget is ideal but his is not the correct way to achieve it.

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  13. Why would taking funds away from education and health care be the best idea? Of course it wouldn't. If educational programs weren't funded, then we wouldn't be able to educate all the future leaders of the world. Yeah, a balanced budget is what we want, but there are other ways to that.

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