House GOP to slash environmental, arts funding

[cali]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans Monday proposed slashing cuts to environmental programs and funding for the Smithsonian Institution and the arts as they unveiled the latest legislation to implement the second year of budget cuts required under so-called sequestration.

The $24 billion spending measure would gut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency with a one-third cut and cuts the National Endowments for the Arts by almost half. Overall, the measure funding the Interior Department, EPA, national parks and federal firefighting efforts is cut by 19 percent below funding approved in March.

It takes a more modest approach to the national parks with a slight increase over levels mandated by sequestration, the across-the-board cuts forced by Washington's failure to strike a bipartisan budget accord. And firefighting efforts would benefit from $1.5 billion in "emergency" funds on top of the spending limits set by the GOP's austere budget plan.

The measure is the latest of 12 spending bills for the almost one-third of the federal budget funded each year by Congress in the form of day-to-day operating budgets for government agencies. Such budgets are hit the hardest by sequestration.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_BATTLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-22-14-18-22

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. They would, wouldn't they?

Bastards.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. But remember...both parties ARE THE SAME

It's true...I read it right here on DU

[Marr]

3. Are you kidding? This *is* an example of the parties being too much alike.

Is either party proposing deep cuts to the military budget? The intelligence budget? Deep cuts to big business subsidies?

No, instead they're heading for the usual line of scrimmage; i.e., purely symbolic, demographic-oriented bullshit. But sideshows like this are what they'll fight over, and they'll actually call it a lively debate, as if we're all four years old.

If the Democrats respond to this by pushing for the kind of cuts I mentioned above, then I'll be right there with you saying they're quite different. If they just wink and grab their football helmets, well...

[villager]

4. Neither of the "two" parties would ever dare propose seriously cutting the funding of their masters

...in the corporate/surveillance state.....