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Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Majority Leader, declared the budget for the rest of the year will contain language to deny funding for the health care law. The law, according to Cantor, will not include the actual language to defund Health Care. Instead, Representative Denny Reyberg (MT) will introduce an amendment to the bill that defunds Health Care Reform. 

Ali James

This is how much the government spends on the following programs in FY 2011:

A. K.

We should be vigilant against waste in every corner of the budget. But anyone seeking to restore our fiscal health should look at entitlements first, not across-the-board cuts aimed at our men and women in uniform.

Furthermore, military spending is not a net drain on our economy. It is unrealistic to imagine a return to long-term prosperity if we face instability around the globe because of a hollowed-out U.S. military lacking the size and strength to defend American interests around the world.

Global prosperity requires commerce and trade, and this requires peace. But the peace does not keep itself. The Global Trends 2025 report, which reflects the consensus of the U.S. intelligence community, anticipates the rise of new powers—some hostile—and projects a demand for continued American military power. Meanwhile we face many nonstate threats such as terrorism, and piracy in sea lanes around the world. Strength, not weakness, brings the true peace dividend in a global economy. 

J Rose

Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Budget Committee Chair, unveiled the The Path to Prosperity Restoring America's Promise which outlines the proposed 2012 GOP Budget Plan which is estimated to lead to $6.2 Trillion in spending cuts over a ten year period. Ryan argues the GOP Budget Plan will "limit government growth and give it to the states." 

FY 2011 House GOP Budget Cuts

• Security - no cuts in spending
• Global Wars - no cuts in spending
• Non-Security Cuts = $923 Billion over 10 years; this includes:
• Health and Human Services
• Education
• Housing and Urban Development
• Justice 
• Agriculture
• Medicaid Cuts = $735 Billion over 10 years
• Medicare Cuts = $389 Billion
• Healthcare Cuts = $1.4 Trillion
• Social Security Cuts = $11 Billion
• Other Mandatory Spending Cuts = $1.8 Trillion
• Cuts on Senior Assistance
• Cuts to Welfare and Food Stamps
• Cuts to Housing
• Drop the Corporate Tax Rate from 35% to 25%
• Personal Income Tax Rates: based on President Obama's own Commission, the following was recommended:
• 8%
• 15%
• 23%

Government Spending FY 2010

• Discretionary Spending FY 2010 = $1.3 Trillion = 38% of Total Spending
• Security Spending FY 2010 = $815 Billion = 63% of Total Discretionary Spending
• Includes:
• Department of Defense
• Overseas Contingency Programs; and
• Homeland Security
• Non-Security Spending FY 2010 = $491 Billion = 37% of Total Discretionary Spending
• Health and Human Services = $84 Billion
• Education = $64.3 Billion
• Housing and Urban Development = $42.8 Billion
• Justice = $27.6 Billion
• Agriculture = $25 Billion

The GOP Leadership revealed these cuts with the impression that they would lead to a cut in the Federal Deficit and Public Debt, however, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in ten years the public debt would in fact be higher than it is today.

Do you Support Congressman Paul Ryan and the House GOP's 2012 Budget?

A. K.

Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer signed an emergency bill Friday allowing the cash-short state to seek a federal waiver to temporarily remove nearly 300,000 people from its Medicaid rolls in the first such request by a state.

If granted by the administration of President Barack Obama, the waiver would let the state scale back coverage to near that of most other states and save $541.5 million, making it the single biggest element in Brewer's plan to eliminate a projected $1.1 billion shortfall in the next state budget.

Brewer said Medicaid's explosive growth is unsustainable and threatens to consume the core functions of state government.

The Arizona House and Senate approved the authorization requested by Brewer on Thursday amid questions about whether the waiver request would be approved by the Obama administration, and if the legislation would survive an anticipated court challenge. ( this was a voter approved addition for medicaid recipients)

joshua barkley

The only consistent message from the Republican party this year has been to cut taxes and lower the deficit, but is this even possible? It makes no sense to me. If you collect less money than you spend, then you are going to increase the deficit. They say that they will cut spending, but where? If they proposed to cut military spending, I would think they were actually being honest. However, they propose cutting programs that are in place to help those Americans less fortunate than others...this will never happen. They have the audacity to call people who need a helping hand from their fellow brothers and sisters of America "lazy" and not wanting to work. They sometimes call themselves the Christian party, yet they are the first to step on the poor. They call themselves the Christian party, but are more interested in building and expanding our use of weapons of mass murder than giving a fellow American and human being the ability to afford health care. Do you think it is possible to lower the deficit and cut taxes at the same time?

George Washington

A recent publication, Minimum wage is worth less than in 1968, states "[a]djusted for inflation, the minimum wage was worth $8.54 per hour in 1968, according to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute. The current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour." This means the minimum wage of today is worth $1.29 less per hour what would it be in 1968. With this in mind, the following estimated losses in spending power holds true: 

Sophia Jenson

Wisconsin unions will destroy the economy, just as they have Detroit. Praise to the Govenor who is taking on this issue with good intent and plausible measures. The cities don't have any money. Two choices....lose your job or take a pay cut ( in the form of 12% benefit participation ). I pay over 20% and don't get paid a teachers salary of over $100,000 a year to play for 8 months. Unions....we just don't need them anymore. What do you think? Are Unions still viable in 2011 or is it time to allow Capitalism to win back America?

Fricken Rich

Now that Republicans have control of the House of Representatives (and a firm grasp on the purse strings of America), should they immediately start slashing the Federal budget? They did in 1930, throwing the United States (and the developed world) into the Great Depression. Will the past mistakes of the GOP repeat themselves?

Mark Scheffler