Of Sequester, Squander, and How Congress Sold Out the People

Occupy Wall Street ‏@OccupyWallStNYC

Of #Sequester, Squander, and How Congress Sold Out the People
http://www.occupy.com/article/sequester-squander-and-how-congress-sold-out-people
… via @Occupy @uncutcg

Likewise in Washington, there’s plenty of money to avoid the $85 billion in sequester cuts that will be coming in March. Some of the worst cuts will be to programs like the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program, early childhood education, and federal funding for immunizations and vaccinations for children.

Congress would like to have us believe that there’s no money to pay for those programs, even though the Senate unanimously approved a $700 billion military budget in December on a 98-0 vote. And in the last ten years, we’ve spent almost $800 billion on “homeland security,” but there’s no help for hungry families who will be losing food assistance thanks to the sequester.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has cost us approximately $400 billion to date, and was recently grounded indefinitely due to faulty construction. If it becomes operational, the program would have a whopping $1 trillion budget. Even John McCain has called the program a“scandal and a tragedy.”

But for some reason, we can’t find the money to keep federal meat inspectors employed, who will lose their jobs after the sequester cuts take hold in March. And even though “Too Big to Fail” banks are still getting their $83 billion annual subsidy, there’s somehow not enough money to keep federal air traffic controllers employed when the FAA is forced to absorb $600 million in cuts from the sequester.

(More at the link.)