Republicans Say No Lawyers for the Poor

Republicans Say No Lawyers for the Poor

The House Republicans' Study Committee has released its proposal for 2.5 trillion dollars in spending cuts over the next 10 years. As promised, the cuts would only affect "non-defense discretionary spending." Even then, the Committee waved away most of the responsibility of choosing which programs to cut by relying on what Talking Points Memo calls an "aspirational spending cap" (translation: future Congresses can easily ignore it). But they did name many specific programs they want to eliminate—and as Grist's David Roberts points out, the list might as well be titled the "Thumbing Liberals in the Eye Act of 2011." Poverty alleviation, public transportation, foreign aid and the environment are the primary targets of the Study Committee, with little to no regard to the relative effectiveness and value of each program.