Moral Values?

So, under President Bush, budget surpluses turned to huge deficits. The deficit has many causes; economic downturn, Iraq, tax cuts, increased spending. The moral thing to do is to try to reduce this, right?

But the devil is in the details. There are really only two options, to increase revenue (taxes) or decrease spending. Bush has ruled out increasing revenue, so that leaves deceasing spending.

What would a biblical approach to cutting federal spending look like? I doubt that Medicaid, the program that focuses on health care for the poor, disabled, and elderly, would be where the Good Samaritan would make cuts.

Strengthened by the election, the Republican majority on Capitol Hill looks ready to join President Bush in putting a lid on federal Medicaid spending, according to members of Congress and state officials.

“Republicans are real sincere about cutting the budget, and that makes Medicaid vulnerable,” said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where Medicaid legislation starts.

Real sincere about cutting the budget, huh?

Congress will have many high-ticket items on its agenda next year. Bush has called for a reform of the tax code that almost certainly would result in lost revenue. Bush wants to overhaul Social Security, a process that could force the federal government to borrow an estimated $2 trillion to fill the gap between lost tax revenue and the benefits promised taxpayers 55 and older.

While the President on Thursday ruled out tax increases to finance any Social Security changes, aides say his views on Medicaid will be contained in the budget he unveils in February.

As he met in the Oval Office with a panel of advisers on Social Security, the President declared: “We will not raise payroll taxes to solve this problem.”

Hmm. So since Bush must be responding to the huge mandate he received in November, then most Americans probably agree with this approach, right?

Americans, while supporting deficit reduction, are overwhelmingly against targeting Medicaid for big cuts, said Linda A. DiVall, a GOP pollster.

When asked where Congress should cut spending, survey respondents start with trimming the tax cuts enacted by Republicans during the first Bush term, and follow with cuts in foreign aid, corporate tax breaks, the war in Iraq and welfare, DiVall said.

But where did those survey results come from? Can you really trust those GOP pollsters?