Block Offset Agenda

You'd think the recent disasters would be a lesson in how important government funding can be for frivolous little things like flood control and emergency relief.

But, no. Apparently it's just another opportunity for the Republican conservatives in Congress to push their agenda to diminish government (as conservative leader Grover Norquist famously phrased it) "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

In the face of looming costs to rebuild flood-devastated regions, a pack of congressional Republicans have launched "Operation Offset" -- a sprawling proposal to gut vital national services, like health care for the poor and elderly, student loans, Amtrak...as well as that perennial target, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. (See entire proposal here)

This might be spun as fiscal responsibility -- after all, someone, somehow, has to pay the price for disasters like floods (and Iraq).

But, conspicuously absent from the list of ways to save money are those budget-busting tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest 1% of Americans.

The price tag for post-Katrina recovery is estimated at around $200 billion. Rolling back Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans would save us over $300 billion.

Funny how whenever belt-tightening is called for, tax breaks for the richest folks always seem to be exempt from the calculations of the Republican bean counters.

Callous, greedy, and shortsighted.

Stop them before they gain momentum.
Sign the MoveOn petition and let your representative in Congress know -- you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore!