Griffin: Email Shows Obama Administration’s Pain-Inflicting Plan

[petegz28]

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02) issued the following statement in response to the Obama Administration’s effort to intentionally undermine government operations in order to score political points:

“This email confirms what many Americans have suspected: The Obama Administration is doing everything they can to make sure their worst predictions come true and to maximize the pain of the Sequester cuts for political gain. Instead of cutting waste, the Administration Obama is hurting workers. President Obama should stop protecting wasteful government spending.”

According to an internal email, Charles Brown, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) eastern regional director, asked his superiors about how much flexibility he had in trimming his program’s budget in light of the sequester. The response from the Obama Administration was clear:

“We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 States in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So, it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.” (emphasis added)

That response, according to Brown's email, came from someone in the USDA’s Office of Budget and Program Analysis (OBPA), which is responsible for “coordinating the preparation of the Department's budget estimates, legislative reports and regulations. OBPA provides direction and administration of the Department's budgetary functions including development, presentation, and administration of the budget,” according to the agency’s website.

http://griffin.house.gov/press-relea...nflicting-plan

[patteeu]

Disgraceful. Of course, that's SOP for this administration.

[donkhater]

Budget Politics
By Thomas Sowell
3/5/2013

Back in my teaching days, many years ago, one of the things I liked to ask the class to consider was this: Imagine a government agency with only two tasks: (1) building statues of Benedict Arnold and (2) providing life-saving medications to children. If this agency's budget were cut, what would it do?

The answer, of course, is that it would cut back on the medications for children. Why? Because that would be what was most likely to get the budget cuts restored. If they cut back on building statues of Benedict Arnold, people might ask why they were building statues of Benedict Arnold in the first place.

The example was deliberately extreme as an illustration. But, in the real world, the same general pattern can be seen in local, state and national government responses to budget cuts.

At the local level, the first response to budget cuts is often to cut the police department and the fire department. There may be all sorts of wasteful boondoggles that could have been cut instead, but that would not produce the public alarm that reducing police protection and fire protection can produce. And public alarm is what can get budget cuts restored.

The Obama administration is following the same pattern. The Department of Homeland Security, for example, released thousands of illegal aliens from prisons to save money -- and create alarm.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it is planning to cut back on the number of air traffic controllers, which would, at a minimum, create delays for airline passengers, in addition to fears for safety that can create more public alarm.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have offered to pass legislation giving President Obama the authority to pick and choose what gets cut -- anywhere in the trillions of dollars of federal spending -- rather than being hemmed in by the arbitrary provisions of the sequester.

This would minimize the damage done by budget cuts concentrated in limited areas, such as the Defense Department. But it serves Obama's interest to maximize the damage and the public alarm, which he can direct against Republicans.

President Obama has said that he would veto legislation to let him choose what to cut. That should tell us everything we need to know about the utter cynicism of this glib man.

The sequester creates more visible damage and more public alarm than if the president were given the authority to trim a little here and a little there in the vast trillions of dollars spent by the government, in order to make a relatively small "cut" that still leaves total federal spending higher than last year.

Only in Washington is a reduction in the rate of growth of spending called a "cut." Moreover, costly boondoggles not covered by the sequester can continue and grow.

Obviously Obama wants public alarm, which he can use to help defeat the Republicans in the 2014 elections, so that Democrats can take back control of the House of Representatives.

When Obama was offered the authority to make the spending cuts wherever he chooses, anywhere in the government's multi-trillion dollar budget, it was the only power that this power-grabbing president has rejected.

Why? Because with this new power would go responsibility for the consequences of his choices. And responsibility for consequences is precisely what both the Obama administration and the Senate Democrats have been avoiding for years, by refusing to pass a federal budget, as required by the Constitution of the United States.

Democrats prefer to get the political benefits from handing out goodies, while Republicans can be blamed for not subsequently raising enough taxes to pay for the Democrats' spending spree.

If Obama succeeds in maneuvering the Republicans into positions that cause them to lose control of the House of Representatives in the 2014 elections, then as a president who never has to face the voters again, he would be in an ideal position to create a big spending liberals' heaven.

But it will be far from heaven for the economy, with Obama-appointed bureaucrats burying businesses in red tape and job-killing costs, while expanding the size and arbitrary powers of government. We could become the world's largest banana republic.

[stonedstooge]

No more tours of the White House. Had to close those down due to lack of funds

[Taco John]

That's just piss poor leadership. Rather than directing people to cut waste, he's encouraging people to destroy lives. That's embarrassing.

[Bootlegged]

Gee - its almost what was outlined in 2016 the movie. Of course that was just a partisan hack job.

[alpha_omega]

No problem...someone will be along shortly to tell us how awesome this is.

[Bootlegged]

"Capitalism is theft" "America's influence in the world must be diminished."

- Obama

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Bootlegged

"Capitalism is theft" "America's influence in the world must be diminished."

- Obama

"I like to make up quotes."

- Bootlegged

[headsnap]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

"I like to make up quotes."

- Bootlegged

"This is all I got!"

- cosmobama20002

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by headsnap

"This is all I got!"

- cosmobama20002

Seemed an appropriate response to a made-up quote. What, it deserved a real response? You're defending making shit up?

[Bootlegged]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

Seemed an appropriate response to a made-up quote. What, it deserved a real response? You're defending making shit up?

I run around the Internet policing anti-Obama quotes!!! Show me your source and footnotes NOW Mr.!

[Comrade Crapski]

Originally Posted by Taco John

That's just piss poor leadership. Rather than directing people to cut waste, he's encouraging people to destroy lives. That's embarrassing.

I don't know why this comes as a surprise to anyone, it's been his M.O. since 2008.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Bootlegged

I run around the Internet policing anti-Obama quotes!!! Show me your source and footnotes NOW Mr.!

I run around the internet making shit up. Makes me feel smart to impress dipshits who don't know any better.
/Bootlegged

[jjjayb]

Originally Posted by headsnap

"This is all I got!"

- cosmobama20002

Waiting to get his marching orders from the DNC on how to respond to this.