Bernie Sanders Says No to Latest Budget Deal, Calls It Robin Hood in Reverse

[kpete]

Source: BUZZFLASH

Bernie Sanders Says No to Latest Budget Deal, Calls It Robin Hood in Reverse
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 04/13/2011 - 10:33am. Alerts
BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT NEWS ALERT

The following is a news release from the office of Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent - Vermont):

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will vote against a bill that cuts more than $38 billion from programs that help working families without calling for shared sacrifice by the wealthiest Americans.

Bush-era tax breaks for the very rich were extended last December - driving up the deficit. "Today, in order to reduce deficits that Republicans helped create, they now are slashing programs of enormous importance to working families, the elderly, the sick and children," Sanders said. "At a time when the gap between the very rich and everybody else is growing wider, this budget is Robin Hood in reverse. It takes from struggling working families and gives to multi-millionaires. This is obscene."

While it is too soon to determine the exact impact the cuts will have on Vermont, Sanders, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said "there can be no doubt that these cuts will be devastating to working families in Vermont and throughout the country."

Read more: http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12595

---

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/index.cfm?id=3990a1d9-fdd7-4ba5-8c08-53f8368289b7

[polichick]

1. One of few who actually represent the people - bless him! k&r

[Atman]

2. Go Bernie!

You make New Englanders proud.

[SusanaMontana41]

25. He makes me proud, too. Can I have him as my senator? Stuck in Texas ... then in Nebraska. n/t

[JuniperLea]

3. I'll be interested to hear what he has to say after Obama gives his plan...

Very interested.

[SusanaMontana41]

26. Obama's plan is capitulation. Read all about it here:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/budg-a13.shtml

What difference does "after the speech" make? I can make up my mind before. As can Sen. Sanders. As can everyone.

[cui bono]

28. Especially when the speeches are empty rhetoric. n/t

[truebrit71]

4. Good for him...wish there were registered Dems in Congress that thought this way too...

...

[Zorra]

5. There you have it. If Bernie doesn't like it, it is bad for the American people.

I trust Bernies intentions and judgment a zillion percent more than anyone else in the Senate.

[namahage]

34. So by that logic, closing Gitmo is bad for the American people. n/t

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Doctor_J]

7. Can't be - the pragmatists are all saying the prez kicked Boner's ass

and that I want a pony, and that I am secretly hoping for President Gingrinch in 2013.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Perfect imagery. This man is the lone voice of conscience there. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

9. Bernie nailed it

[ProSense]

10. The release has the numbers accurate, but

no benefits are being cut:

1. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC): $504 million -

This would be absolutely awful, if it were accurate. But it turns out the “cut” is simply a government clawback of unspent money left over from fiscal year 2010. Not a penny is being cut from actual WIC recipients.

link

CBS: Budget deal details: Cuts that aren't quite cuts

<...>

Among the cuts:

$700 million from clean and safe drinking water programs;
$390 million from heating subsidies;
$276 million from pandemic flu prevention programs; and
$1.5 billion from the president's new $8 billion initiative to spur high-speed rail development.

Many of the cuts appear to have been cuts in name only, because they came from programs that had unspent funds.

For example, $1.7 billion left over from the 2010 census; $3.5 billion in unused children's health insurance funds; $2.2 billion in subsidies for health insurance co-ops (that's something the president's new health care law is going to fund anyway); and $2.5 billion from highway programs that can't be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation.

About $10 billion of the cuts comes from targeting appropriations accounts previously used by lawmakers for so-called earmarks - pet projects like highways, water projects, community development grants and new equipment for police and fire departments. Republicans had already engineered a ban on earmarks when taking back the House this year.

<...>

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

12. Moronic. n/t

[Phlem]

16. Ignore

[Poboy]

19. superglued.

[ProSense]

21. Moronic x 2. n/t

[zipplewrath]

13. One must understand how government funding works

This fiscal year isn't over, and money from the last fiscal year that hasn't been spent yet, doesn't mean it had no intended use this year. It is not uncommon for federal dollars to be authorized for expenditure, but not spent for a year or more. Suggesting that money that has either been allocated, authorized, or outlayed can somehow be cut with no effect, is ignorant of how federal money is regularly spent. These are cuts and they will affect current and future spending of those departments.

[ProSense]

14. Ridiculous!

No benefits were cut in FY 2010. Any money allocated, but not spent in 2010, did not result in a reduction. It will have absolutely no impact on allocations for FY 2011.

[zipplewrath]

18. Yes, it will

Money each year is congizant of existing outlays, authorizations, and expenditures. A big part of what they are doing is terminating outlays and authorizations to prevent them from becoming expenditures. So anything that they wanted to do with those funds will now have to come from future funding.

[ProSense]

20. "So anything that they wanted to do with those funds will now have to come from future funding."

There were no benefit cuts in 2010. There are not going to benefit cuts in 2011.

Anything that they wanted to do has nothing to do benefit cuts. Period.

[zipplewrath]

24. But the funds cannot be spent

These are real cuts. Future benefits will be affected by these cuts.

[zipplewrath]

33. Well, except for future benefits

Government money is spent over years. Take it away and it will have to come from future funding, or cuts.

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. Alright. Okay. I am now willing to sacrfice my left arm if Bernie would run for Prez!

That man is the ONLY politician in DC who gives a rats ass about the people in this country. Robin Hood in reverse....INDEED!

[bvar22]

23. I would add Weiner & Kucinich.

There are a handful of others in the Progressive Caucus that are worth a donation and a vote,
bu they are precious few in today's New Democrat Centrist Party.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone

[katnapped]

17. Bernie sounds like a HATER

And doesn't want to Win The Future!

Yea, that the ticket....

:sarcasm:

[Phlem]

22. There are some here

who would like us to believe that we should be celebrating because we have not actually lost anything in the coming budget proposal and that excess fat is just being trimmed, which is great in and of itself.

But I will not come from a place where celebrating mediocrity is the norm. To much has been lost already. This is not a fight amongst members of the democratic party or even amongst the republicans.

This is the fight for my daughters future, period. And anyone, group, of individuals who take from her future or enable the taking of her opportunities is in my sights, period.

I want it all for her, anything less goes to the top 1%.

That will not do!

-p

[in_cog_ni_to]

27. Oh, I'm sorry to say, our kids are totally screwed. They will NEVER have what we had.

They will leave college (if they're lucky enough to go) in deep debt. IF they're lucky, they may find a job. IF they find a job, it will never afford them the American Dream because they'll have OUTRAGEOUS college loans and will pay everything they earn in their new job to pay for their education.

Our first home, bought in the 70s, was $20,000! You couldn't touch a house for that today. Most cars cost more than that! He's 18 and 4-6 years from now houses will only be MORE expensive and so will everything else. They aren't going to be able to buy a home, raise a family, pay student loans, pay outrageous utility bills, $5.00+ per gallon of gas, buy a new car and BE ABLE TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE. That's not in their futures, I'm sorry to say. :cry: I FEAR for my son's future. He's been robbed and it really pisses me off.

[Phlem]

29. I hear ya

and it is a pathetic thing that republicans frame the discussions we have in government. I will never stop, and no ignorant shit stain is going to make me stop, no matter how many f'ing links he's attached to his post.
I will not be on my death bed wishing I had tried a little harder for her. They are the people who will be running this country when we're old and they need to know we're better than this, with or without Obama. They need to know that America cares for it's own first and that rampant greed is not the norm.
Stay with him, he's still has a lot of room to learn, and don't let the repub's frame his future outlook.
I'f I'm fighting for my girl, then I'll be fighting for your son.

The moment we stop fighting is the moment all is lost.

Solidarity in_cog_ni_to and the best to you.

-p

[in_cog_ni_to]

32. :) Oh no. He's my life. I'll never stop fighting for him.

He deserves a great future and so does your daughter. With us behind them, they have a fighting chance. :)

[L0oniX]

30. They (r's and d's) are playing good cop bad cop with us.

[upi402]

31. BREAKING: President Sanders orders the DoJ to confiscate all...

Oh gawd I can dream can't I?
:evilgrin: