Congressman Cooper Makes This Constituent Proud

I tire of politicians who complain without offering creative solutions to deal with the subject of their complaints. So I am pleased that my U.S. Representative, Jim Cooper, has not only been vocally critical of the House Republicans' proposed budget, but he also has proposed an alternative.

The Republican-backed budget reconciliation package will cut $50 billion social programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and student loan programs and will not, according to Cooper, decrease the already excessive federal deficit. Cooper's plan, by contrast, claims to cut $50 billion from "handouts Congress has been giving away to corporations."

"Oil and gas companies are reporting record profits of staggering amounts yet Congress gave the industry an $8 billion handout in the energy bill passed this summer, just to go out and do their job,” U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper said. “That makes no sense. Federal spending should not be based on the special interests of those with access to effective lobbyists in Washington but, unfortunately, corporate entitlements have become an increasing part of business in Washington.”

If I correctly understood a report this morning from Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN, (no link to the report available), Cooper's proposal will soon go to committee, where it will likely be defeated.

I appreciate Cooper's efforts to reduce the deficit first by cutting irreponsible spending that benefits the very wealthy and to resist passing spending cuts that will hurt our most vulnerable citizens. I understand that government social programs are often inefficient and have been known to spend money irresponsibly. But cutting funds for programs that benefit Americans in need must be done slowly and carefully, so that no one (for lack of a better phrase) gets screwed. Where immediate and substantial cuts are concerned, start with revenue that goes to people who don't actually need it. (And I'm not convinced that corporations are using most of their hard-lobbied entitlement money to create new jobs.)

I didn't vote for Jim Cooper, and I've been more or less ambivalent toward him since he's been in office. But I'm glad to see him articulate an alternative vision for budget reform.