Bill O’Reilly recently got into a screaming match with Alan Colmes and Kristen Powers over President Obama’s alternative plans for the sequester . But is Bill O’Reilly wrong?
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Bill O’Reilly argued that the President has not made any “specific” proposals about spending cuts . When Alan Colmes countered saying that the President wanted to make cuts to entitlement programs and Medicare , Bill O’Reilly accused him of lying.
Bill’Reilly apologized to Alan Holmes for the screaming, but he still insists that President Obama does not have an alternative plan for sequester spending cuts:
“Lots of folks talking about my shootout with Alan Colmes last night where I asked him what specific budget cuts President Obama has proposed. Colmes hemmed and hawed saying the President is promising to cut Medicare or something. But the truth is Mr. Obama has not put forth any specific federal spending cuts. It’s all a bunch of general nonsense and so Colmes and I got into it.”
Bill O’Reilly is lying that President Obama does not have plan at all. You can find the Obama plan yourself on the White House home page by clicking the prominent button that says “SEE THE PLAN.” It leads to a page titled “A Balanced Plan to Avert the Sequester and Reduce the Deficit.”
The Obama alternative plan to the sequester consider entitlement programs and Medicare, which would supposedly save $400 billion. Another $400 billion would come from “eliminating some agriculture subsidies and reforming the postal service, among other proposals. On the revenue side, the plan calls for closing tax loopholes and limiting deductions to 28 percent for the wealthiest Americans.”
The Obama plan is comprised of both tax increases and spending cuts, with the new deficit reductions totaling $1.3 trillion over 10 years on top of what’s already been enacted. The House Republican plan, which was shot down by the Democrat controlled Senate, was comprised entirely of $1.4 trillion in spending cuts. Some parts of the Obama plan I’ve noticed include ideas agreed upon with Republicans.
But it could be said that Bill O’Reilly would be right to call a portion of Obama’s sequester plan a “bunch of general nonsense.” The $680 billion in tax increases tend to be very specific and targeted (the “rich,” of course). $100 billion in spending cuts would come from “non-defense discretionary spending,” but that’s one giant argument waiting to happen since it’s so vague and does not specify exactly where those cuts would take place. The other $100 billion would be specific to defense spending and the Pentagon would be given control on how it’s proportioned.
The health savings part is worse. $170 billion in savings come from simply paying less for drugs and hospital payments. The remaining $230 billion in savings supposedly come from encouraging efficient care, asking rich people to pay more, “program integrity,” and “other health savings.” The Non-Health Mandatory Savings section also includes vague “reform” and further “program integrity.”
So Bill O’Reilly is both right and wrong about President Obama’s alternative plan to sequester spending cuts. Do you think Bill O’Reilly should apologize further, or at least take a look at the Obama sequester plan on his show?
http://youtu.be/UItRaKXqFDs