The major division between the two right-wing, big business parties (the Dems and the Repugs) is over taxes. The Democrats advocate at least a modest increase in taxes on the wealthy so that they can present the gutting of social benefits for working people as "equal sacrifice."
Are working people still, really, gullible and stupid enough to accept this without protest? We shall see.
The Republicans want to dispense with any pretense of "fairness," and make even bigger slashes in spending to finance additional tax cuts for the rich. So far, as in all previous such fake "showdowns" under Obama, the Republicans have prevailed, insisting that tax increases for the rich are not on the table.
This week's action focused on the $17 billion appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture, which includes major cuts in nutrition programs like food stamps and WIC, a program that provides food commodities for pregnant and nursing women and their children. The bill also calls for a cut in the number of federal food safety inspectors.
According to an analysis by the Obama administration itself, the cuts would mean that 1.1 million recipients of emergency food aid will go hungry! Not satisfied with the depth of these cuts, a group of ultra-right Republicans then tried and failed to impose even deeper cuts, including an additional 10% chopped from WIC.
(This report is based on one that can be found here.)
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