Congratulating Oneself

Thus, some $6.4 billion of the cuts are in the Medicare program, including a freeze in payments to home health care providers. Another $4.8 billion will be lopped out of spending over the next five years by trimming Medicaid outlays for prescription drugs and increasing co-pays.

And then there are the higher rates for student loans, both PLUS and Stafford, that the bill mandates. Now, that’s what I call investing in the future.

President Bush is of course looking forward to signing the legislation and said after the House passed the bill that his budget proposal, which would be sent over to Capitol Hill soon, “will continue to build on the spending restraint we have achieved.”

Part of what is upsetting about this charade is that these same politicians who are crowing about making these cuts are the very same ones who already have spent the money elsewhere (at least in their heads) by aiming to set in concrete the tax cuts that are only temporary in past tax-cutting legislation.

So, the reality is the money won’t be saved, i.e., won’t be reflected in the budget deficit coming down. What will happen is the pain will be shifted onto the backs of one segment of society while the proceeds will go into the pockets of another segment.

This sentiment was expressed by one representative, Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., who originally voted for the bill but changed his vote this time around. He said, according to The New York Times, he was “very concerned about how the legislation reduces funding for mental health and education as well as important health care areas that will ultimately target our nation’s most needy citizens.” Well said, congressman.

The old adage that “the rich get richer” did not always necessarily mean that “the poor get poorer” the way it does today. That’s why the self-congratulation going on about this bill is not only dispiriting. It’s disgusting.

Steve Piontek

Editor-in-Chief