You ever wonder why they hate Tom DeLay? What is he considered? “The Hammer”. He’s “abusive”. Tom DeLay will tell you what he thinks. Anybody in our culture that tells you what they think is considered abusive and is a threat, and here’s the real reason, one of many, that they really hate Tom DeLay. It’s an Associated Press story. You know, we have a $2.6 trillion budget that just narrowly passed in the Congress, 2.6 six trillion. What are the caterwauls from the left about this? “Cuts. Draconian cuts. Inhumane, unfair cuts.” And they’re focusing today on cuts in Medicaid. Medicaid cuts? “Why it’s just unseemly. I can’t believe this president would do it.” Nothing’s been cut. How in the world do you cut things when we’re spending $2.6 trillion? We’ve never spent $2.6 trillion in a year before. This budget is $2.6 trillion. Tell me what’s being cut? Nothing is being cut. We may reduce the rate of growth in things, that may be happening in Medicaid, the rate of increase in benefits may be reduced. It’s Medicaid and it’s a 1% reduction in the rate of growth, a 1% reduction in the rate of growth. It’s not a 1% cut of anything. Instead of going up 12%, it’s going to go up 11%. Or instead of ten, eight, nine percent. Whatever the number is going up, it’s going up by minus 1%. And so Washington is all over the place. “Oh, no, this is horrible. It’s a cut!” It’s not a cut. It’s a reduction of the rate of growth.
“Congress narrowly passed $2.6 trillion budget plan Thursday, cut back spending on the Medicaid healthcare program for the first time since ’97. In a step toward trimming federal deficits, DeLay says, ‘It’s time to trim popular but wasteful programs.'” That’s why they hate Tom DeLay. Time to trim them. Trim them. They’re still going to grow. They’re going to grow faster than your kid. They’re going to grow faster than the weeds in your yard. They’re just not going to grow as fast as they used to and yet, “Oh, no, Mabel! Why, it’s all over for us. There’s a 1% reduction in the rate of growth of Medicaid. We are screwed.” It’s this kind of thinking that actually gets in the way of real budget reform, but that’s why they hate DeLay, because he advocates stuff like this.
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