GOP “Spending Reduction Act of 2011” takes on traditional Republican enemy – Energy Efficiency???

( – promoted by lowkell)

For all those people who decided to return to the GOP in 2010, last Thursday you got a good look as the unintelligible priorities of a party on the fringe.  The Spending Reduction Act of 2011 takes on many Republican foes rather than identify the most effective areas to cut spending.  The legislation, released by conservative House members, and looking for co-sponsors, pledges to trim $2.5 trillion without adding burden to the wealthy or cutting wasteful military spending; nor phasing out America’s involvement in our two wars.

The biggest targets: health care, home ownership (turning Fannie and Freddie into private market mortgage companies), Medicaid, the federal workforce, and perhaps most unintelligible a limit on discretionary spending amounting to $2.29 trillion of “non-defense” spending.  This of course means, no government investment in well, anything, except Medicare, Social Security, and of course, the military.  Infrastructure will have to take a backseat I suppose, especially given their desire to cut, not increase, gasoline taxes.

But Republicans really boggle the mind by identifying specifically as a key target in other programs: Energy Efficiency?  

Energy efficiency is the cheapest way to reduce pollution, improve economic development and productivity, cut costs to the American public, and spur innovation.

They single out as wasteful programs:

– Energy Star – a program designed to let the American Public know they are buying more efficient appliances that will lower their electric bill.  

– Weatherization grants – a program designed to make homes more insulated from outside weather conditions, particularly in poor neighborhoods.  Heating and cooling is the most significant of residential energy costs.  

– Applied Research programs at the U.S. Department of Energy – a program designed to promote technological innovation through partnership with the scientific community and colleges and universities.

Discretionary spending cuts will also gut programs for wind, solar, geothermal, battery technology, and other critical alternative energy research programs designed to make us more competitive.

They also love to target the poor, you know, those freeloaders who aren’t able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps…because their bootstraps are made in China.  The prevailing wage is in their crosshairs.  

Of local concern, they want to cut off federal support for Washington DC.  Because, it’s not like they have to spend more than several months a year there anyway, right?  

Of course they also want to cut funding for public broadcasting, the arts, public transit, international partnerships and aid (like the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development).  

They also single out funds for the Irish.  Who needs them right?  And they single out Egypt, because, how important are they anyway?  

Ultimately, legislation like this shows the Republican Party is not serious about deficit reduction.  They want to make the poorest among us sacrifice so the wealthy can still watch big televisions and pay fewer taxes.  This isn’t grassroots activism, it is country club capitalism.  It shows that one party actually tries to solve problems for all Americans, while another party tries to solve no problems expect maybe punishing people that say nasty things about them.  It is like a classroom of children elect a student council which passes a rule where the kids they don’t like, don’t get to play with the toys.  

This is as stupid and outrageous as it gets folks.

See the legislation here:  http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/Up…

The next step is to see how many Virginia GOP Congressmen decide to be co-sponsors.