I worked at the local bar growing up. Other than a couple of churches and a post office, it was the only place for human contact in my town.
The same handful of folks rolled in each day for their breakfast beers and a few rounds of Keno, betting in small amounts of dollar bills pulled, crumpled, from their pockets with shaking hands and toothless smiles.
I’ve seen people live and die based on what the government wants to give them.
Most didn’t work at all because they made more money not working. The crippling impact that government handouts have on people is real.
These “golden handcuffs” were a point on which I lobbied for a non-profit opposing Medicaid expansion many years ago. Wyoming considered expanding government handouts to working-age adults who were underemployed, but able-bodied and working age.
This policy endeavor was a huge part of my conservative awakening.
I realized the government doesn’t engage in results-driven policy. Instead, we’ve contrived moral standards and political correctness that run counter to common sense and fiscal reason, usually for the benefit of corporations working in the shadows. Individual rights are devalued – as political behavior becomes as ugly as a judgmental sermon from a false servant.
This is the lens through which I view Tuesday’s concurrent resolution to establish the congressional federal budget. The House passed theirs along party lines with only one Republican stray voting against.
U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, kicked off the fireworks. He said the Republicans’ goal was to rein in reckless spending and reignite economic growth.
“My Democrat colleagues are going to reach way back to the only place they know how to run. Making false claims and fear mongering,” he said. “Why? Because they are still, even after the recent election, disconnected from the people’s reality. Because they are more concerned with protecting unionized government bureaucrats and woke and wasteful government programs than they are about protecting taxpayers and their sacred treasure.”
Rep. Tim Moore, R-North Carolina, said on social media, “Here’s the truth: This budget does NOT cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.”
But there’s still some fearmongering. I decided to do what a good ole Sandhills girl does – lay eyes on it myself and filter out the BS. I read the entire resolution and found that Medicaid cuts do not appear a single time in any of it. Even the New York Times reported, “The budget resolution itself is silent on whether Congress cuts Medicaid…”
Democrats speculate, however, that the resolution instructs $880 billion in cuts over the next decade, and the only place to find that money would be Medicaid programs.
Republicans countered, saying they hope to strengthen these programs and get them to the families that genuinely need them. In the past decade, they noted, Medicaid has accounted for over $550 billion in improper payments, making it one of the government’s largest sources of payment errors.
Vulnerable Americans and providers should get what they’re due, rather than seeing it mislaid, Republicans argued. Over $50 billion every year in fraudulent Medicaid payments were distributed, other lawmakers noted.
Some remaining issues of contention are the ongoing deficit that is hard to contain overnight. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, took to social media to say the resolution doesn’t do enough to cut spending and will increase the deficit by over $300 billion a year.
This will be a big elephant to eat. President Donald Trump said in a Tuesday press conference that both the House and Senate have good ideas but more work is required to get a good product.
Republicans also want to adopt national work requirements for able, working-age adults without children. I agree with this notion as a place for good cuts if we need them. Golden handcuffs are pretty but they bind us and our divine purpose.
I still think often about those folks at the bar. One gentleman gave me a handmade rosary for my 21st birthday, and I cried. I never let him say the “GD” words when he sat at my bar, and it must’ve made an impression. It was a piece of sanctity in a world shackled to money.
When you love people, you want the best for them – even when they don’t want it for themselves. You see their autonomy and self-worth when they can’t. Real love isn’t a shackle to a faceless master.
Cassie Craven can be reached at: ccraven.law@gmail.com
