We have a President who is intentionally hurting the nation and the people he’s entrusted to serve. In the name of the sequester, the White House’s own plan to clinch a budget deal last year, Obama is willfully and intentionally doing as much damage as he can. This is not subjective, but is verifiable fact.
The President rejected a proposal by the Senate Republicans to give the President more flexibility to pick and choose which programs should be cut to reach the $85 billion spending reduction over seven months mandated by the so-called sequester. That would have given him the opportunity to meet the requirements of the budget deal, without affecting the people our government is supposed to be serving. Keep in mind, that these legislatively mandated reductions are not cuts in actual spending, but only reflect a 2.5% reduction in the growth of government spending.
According to the President a few weeks ago, “There’s no smart way to do that [the sequester cuts],” he said. “These cuts are wrong. They’re not smart, they’re not fair. They’re a self-inflicted wound that doesn’t have to happen.” This is a surprising admission that his own plan is, in fact, stupid!
Actually, Mr. President, there was a smart and prudent way to do it. The third annual installment of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report spelled out a reasonable way to meet the spending-growth reduction. According to Sen. Tom Coburn, “These are among the findings in the new GAO report that found 162 areas where services are duplicated or money is being wasted in the federal government. The annual cost of duplicative or wasteful programs is estimated at roughly $250 billion. That’s 250 billion dollars a year,” Coburn said. “Just in waste, in duplication, in stupidity, and lack of efficiency and effectiveness by the federal government. (It) makes you want to pull your hair out.”
By simply incorporating the GAO recommendations, cost savings amounting to three times the $85 billion reductions specified in the sequester deal could have been realized! And there would be no impact on travelers, no impact on meat inspections, no furloughed TSA agents or Department of Energy employees, and no impact on our military’s ability to protect the nation.
But Obama rejected congressionally authorized flexibility in applying the reductions, and he opted instead to make the sequester as painful as possible. The Washington Times reports of emails to department heads that the administration intended to make good on its warnings of the “painful” sequestration cuts. According to the Times, the emails directed agency heads, “not to do anything that would lessen the dire impacts Congress had been warned of.”
It’s clear that Obama intends to make the cuts painful to average Americans while he and his family continue their lives of royalty, which we bankroll to the tune of $1.4 billion per year. In the seven weeks since he announced the White House tours would be cancelled, he’s had ten trips, and two all-star concerts in the White House. Don’t hold your breath watching for the Obama’s to curtail their extravagant travel and vacation plans! The only thing being cut at the White House is White House tours. And further proving that it’s all political, and that the President still does have discretion, Obamacare employees are not being furloughed, or facing reduced pay or work hours.
For air travelers it’s a different story, as they began this past week to feel the pain of the President’s decision as the Federal Aviation Administration has furloughed 1,500, or 10% of the nation’s 15,000 air traffic controllers. This has created delays of hundreds of flights.
Sen. Rand Paul said this week, “I think that it’s inexcusable to take important things like travel, air traffic controllers or meat inspectors or something that most of us agree we should have, and play a game with it,” the senator said. “The same day that [President Obama] announces that we have no self-guided tours in the White House, he sends $250 million to Egypt. We’ve got money. It’s a matter of priorities, and a good leader wouldn’t cut essential services. So I think it’s a bit of a charade and it ought to stop.”
Clearly the White House places politics ahead of the needs and interests of the American people. It would appear that either he thinks the blame should be ascribed to members of Congress who would not agree to the budget deal last year without some spending cuts, or he is intentionally curbing high profile, required services to show that we can’t cut a dime from actual spending. Most likely, it is for both of those reasons, which places his political agenda ahead of our interests.
The President rejected flexibility in applying the spending cuts, ignored the GAO report of where reductions could be made without adversely affecting services, and his agency heads are being instructed to make the cuts “as painful as possible.” This is not leadership; it’s ignominious politics, Chicago-style!
AP award winning columnist Richard Larsen is President of Larsen Financial, a brokerage and financial planning firm in Pocatello, Idaho, and is a graduate of Idaho State University with degrees in Political Science and History and former member of the Idaho State Journal Editorial Board. He can be reached at rlarsenen@cableone.net.
Loading ...
Crimes Of The Illegals
“If we would reach a degree of civilization higher and grander than any yet attained, we should welcome to our ample continent all nations, kindreds [sic] tongues and peoples; and as fast as they learn our language and comprehend the duties of citizenship, we should incorporate them into the American body politic. The outspread wings of the American eagle are broad enough to shelter all who are likely to come.”– Frederick Douglass
Under Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression, local governments ordered the deportation of illegal aliens to make jobs available to American citizens who desperately needed work.
Harry Truman introduced legislation in 1951 to reduce the illegal immigration problem.
And then in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported approximately 1.3 million Mexican nationals due to the growing threat to national security and the American economy.
This current administration walks contrary to the presidents who actually served those they were responsible to represent! At a time when America is in an “economic crisis,” Obama and his minions (Psalm 12:8) have again displayed their disdain for America and her people by opening our borders and welcoming illegal immigration … and the crimes illegals commit along with it.
First, is it not this administration that attacks governors and even sues states on our southern border for enforcing the laws against illegal immigrants? Yes, it is.
Is it not this administration that also recently granted amnesty to 800,000 illegals so this president could round up some more young voters? Yes, it is.
Is it not the Department of Justice that has bullied states over voter-ID laws (and has even gone so far as to claim it is racial profiling) to ensure that illegal aliens have free reign in America? Yes, it is. Attorney General Eric Holder has now even called amnesty for illegals a “civil right,” as if to say the illegals have a right to break the law. This should come as no surprise. (Do not forget that this is the same attorney general who placed guns into the hands of violent criminals in Mexico to blame the American people for the crimes he contrived through “Fast and Furious.”)
On the other hand, is not this administration responsible for violating every American citizen (suspected terrorist) who desires to fly out of an airport when the TSA frisks him or her at the security checkpoint, which clearly violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution? Yes, it is.
What? We are required to show our IDs to get on an airplane, but we are not required to show IDs when we vote?
Case in point: This administration is not only overlooking the illegals, but encouraging illegal immigrants while harassing American citizens. This is not only illegal, but it is treasonous.
The borders are wide open without and within, and this administration is there to ensure they remain open. What people may not realize are the repeated crimes against the American people by illegal aliens who have been deported time and time again. The Department of Homeland Security has even gone so far as to release hundreds of illegals out of prisons, letting them loose on the American people. It is time that America begins to hear the cries of the victims and bring forth justice – and it starts with this administration.
The crimes committed in America by illegal aliens are horrendous. But because the American people allow this administration to remain in power, we have repeat offenders emboldened to commit crimes at will, killing our police, raping our women, and even kidnapping our young.
America, not to speak is to speak; and not to act is to act. It is time to speak and to act. The American people cannot stand down. Silence is consent.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that immigrants (legal and illegal) comprise 20 percent of inmates in prisons and jails. Here are some of their crimes committed against the American people (Warning: disturbing content):
Who is Bradlee Dean?