It's Not About The Budget

Tonight Senate Republicans filibustered a bill that would have ended the $21 billion Big Oil would have received in tax subsidies over the next 10 years.  The procedural motion that would have put the bill up to a vote failed with a tally of 52 - 48, and yes for those of us that passed grade school math 52 is more than 48 but due to the filibuster by the GOP the motion required 60 votes to break said filibuster.  The House GOP passed a bill extending these subsidies on Tuesday even though according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey I referenced in a previous blog post noted that 75% of Americans are against continuing these subsidies.

Republicans are holding the world economy hostage with the threat of not raising the US debt ceiling unless we make serious budget cuts.  Now as I've posted before and as the Tea Party has recently confirmed it's all a bluff, they will allow the debt ceiling to be raised prior to the Treasury running out of money in August.  But all of this brings me to my point, it's not about the budget.  The GOP really doesn't care about how much money the government spends, it's about where it's spent and who it's spent on.  Tonight's vote was a perfect example,  here you have a politically easy way to reduce spending by $21 billion for corporations who don't need the extra money.  I say it's politically easy because you have the support of 75% of the public, but instead you vote against it.  You vote against it because it's Big Oil who is making large contributions to your re-election effort.  Instead you vote to cut Medicaid, do away with Medicare, shrink unemployment benefits, and cut education because the majority of those who benefit from these services are unable to make large contributions to your campaign.  I know I sound like a broken record but the GOP only represents the few at the top, they do this at the expense of the rest of us.

This will probably get lost in the spin or the next political distraction but when 2012 comes around we need to remember who voted to keep tax subsidies for the most profitable industry in the country while making up for that loss on the backs of the elderly and our children.  The GOP could have done the right thing tonight, but instead they focused on the money not the budget.