GOP’s $2.5 Trillion Cut Would End USAID, But Still Doesn’t Touch Military
Most of Cut Is Rolling Back Non-Military Spending to 2006 Levels
House Republicans today unveiled the “Spending Reduction Act,” a measure that officials say would save $2.5 trillion over the next decade, bringing non-military spending back to the 2006 levels and eliminating dozens of programs.
Amongst the programs ended would be the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been heavily active in rebuilding projects in occupied Afghanistan, but which has come under massive criticism for its inability to either accomplish anything meaningful or account for where most of the money went.
It doesn’t, however, touch the military budget, which has continued to hit new records every year. Though the Pentagon has proposed some “cuts” these will only be cuts in the rate of military growth, and not in absolute spending.
But avoiding the Defense Department in today’s act doesn’t mean such cuts won’t eventually be debated, as a number of incoming Republican Congressmen have insisted the out of control war spending must eventually be tackled if the budget is to be balanced.
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ghouri
January 21st, 2011 at 3:00 am
They can,t not cut as the interest to 13 trillion dollars will be around 900 million dollars. They will continue to print dollars and take loans to fince the budget deficit till they are rooted out.
Joel
January 21st, 2011 at 6:09 am
Surprise, surprise!
David4Peace
January 21st, 2011 at 9:12 am
$2.5 TRILLION?? Not including the military? Where are these supposed cuts coming from?
mark
January 21st, 2011 at 10:17 am
Americans=Dumbest people on the face of the planet. That is all.
thedissenter
January 21st, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Surprise, surprise! They slash the one tiny bit that actually did some good so that they can reallocate it to the monster that does all the harm. Now, they can shout how much they saved and cut and sliced and diced. There's no hope.