Shocker: Deficit Fraud Blunt Doesn't Have A Serious Plan To Reduce Federal Deficit
In the years since Republicans drove themselves out of power, they've talked a big game about the deficit spending and national debt. They didn't care enough about those issues to govern in a fiscally responsible manner when they had the power, of course. But that isn't stopping them from making bold-sounding, yet vapid, promises to address the federal budget deficit. Roy Blunt's appearance on the Dana Loesch program yesterday provides a perfect example of this phenomenon.
LOESCH: One of our callers, David, asks how you plan on paying down the massive debt -- if that's listed up on your website or not.
BLUNT: You know, I think that is on the website. If not, I've said it enough times. First of all, I would not do the last -- I would not spend the last three hundred billion dollars -- I would stop spending, is first thing I'd do, and I wouldn't spend the last three hundred billion dollars of this foolish stimulus plan that Robin Carnahan supported, that the President swore, that I found. I'd repeal the health care bill...
Listen:
Health care reform reduces the deficit, and a proposal to cut off the remaining stimulus spending -- however misguided -- wouldn't do anything to substantively address future deficits. Moreover, Blunt's response does nothing to address the underlying structural deficit problems, which is what Loesch asked him about. Here's a breakdown of what's causing the deficits from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
I also looked at the "Spending Cuts" section of 'Roy Blunt’s Jobs Plan' to see what else he has in mind. As you might expect, the details don't match his big talk.
| Proposal | Notes | Impact on Deficit |
| Repeal remaining stimulus funds, including those dedicated to middle class tax cuts | Blunt claims "more than $300 billion had yet to be spent by the federal government." This is an outdated number - see Recovery.gov. The remaining $285 includes: - $65B in tax benefits - $138 in contracts, grants, loans - $142B for for education, health care, other entitlements |
$285 billion in proposed spending cuts |
| Repeal health care reform law | TPM: "CBO itself says that the final health care law, as enacted and which is taking shape today, will decrease the deficit by $138 billion, as compared to what would have happened if Congress had done nothing. Now that it's the law of the land, CBO would find that a straight repeal would increase the deficit by about the same $138 billion." | Increase the deficit by more than $138 billion over tens years |
| "Real Entitlement Reform" | Blunt doesn't have a proposal for this -- just fuzzy language about the need to enact unspecified changes | No plan, no numbers |
| Cut Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Fund | ThinkProgress: "He also says he’d cut an unidentified “wasteful welfare program,” which is presumably the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Fund that House Republicans like to cite all the time. But it’s actually a successful work program that is supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, including 4,600 in Blunt’s own state." | $25 billion, per Blunt's 'jobs plan' |
| "Reform Fannie and Freddie Mac" | Blunt's plan does not specifies what this "reform" would entail. | $30 billion, per Blunt's 'jobs plan' |
| "Sell Excess Federal Property" | Blunt claims "the government owns as much as $18 billion in excess and mostly unused real estate around the country." No word yet on why Blunt didn't do anything about this obscene waste when he was in the House Leadership. | $18 billion, per Blunt's 'jobs plan' |
| "End Taxpayer Subsidies for Unions" | The goal of this proposal is to stop public employees from doing any union activity during work hours. | $1.2 billion over ten years, according to Republican Caucus |
| Withdraw from unspecified international organizations and end federal advisory groups | Blunt cherry picks a couple of silly-sounding groups (e.g., International Coffee Organization), but doesn't provide a full list of organizations he wants to cut |
Up to $842 million per year if every program is ended, according to Blunt- up to $8.4 billion over ten years. |
| "Freeze...domestic discretionary spending at the 2008 level" | No actual plan here, explanation of how he'd achieve spending reductions. | No plan, no numbers |
| Net impact: | $230B in deficit reduction over 10 years |
Not exactly impressive stuff. Blunt certainly hasn't proposed anything to reduce the structural deficits that will need to be addressed after the economy is on more solid footing. But again, it's not fair to treat Blunt's policy proposals as though they are serious policy proposals.
