House Republicans’ latest efforts to overt the impending automatic-cuts to the pentagon as a apart of last year’s debt-ceiling circus has resulted in possibly their worst idea yet.
The new plan is to cut over $300 billion from social programs instead, including a massive cut to Meals on Wheels.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key House committee has voted to cut food aid, health care and social services like Meals on Wheels to protect the Pentagon from a crippling wave of budget cuts come January.
The cuts approved by the Republican-controlled panel total more than $300 billion over the coming decade.
They are but a fraction of the cuts called for in the broader, nonbinding budget plan that passed the House in March and are aimed at preventing the Pentagon from absorbing a 10 percent, $55 billion automatic budget cut in January that’s the result of the failure of last year’s deficit “supercommittee” to reach a deal.
The AP reports that the new proposal will be “dead on arrival” in the democratically-controlled senate, to which I say “no shit.”
Meals on Wheels delivers meals to seniors who cannot provide for themselves, and enables them to stay in their homes rather than a nursing home. Nursing home care can cost up to $70,000 per year per patient, while the cost of Meals on Wheels is roughly $1,700 per year per patient.
Spending on Meals on Wheels actually saves money. But I’m sure this all about jobs. Or something.
I suppose we should thank the Republicans for writing the attack ads for us. They literally voted to take food away from your grandmother.
