budget
budget
Cut foreign spending
In regards to “There are 150 million reasons” on page 3A of Sunday’s paper: The story talks about some of the reasons our government can’t seem to come up with a working budget for our country.
There are all the entitlements and government programs that help or provide support for our citizens. It is in fact the return of the dollars that most of our citizens paid in the first place when they had jobs.
Our government officials a few years ago decided to give our jobs away to the rest of the world, so now we have none. The same government officials are now trying to push us off a cliff because they can’t work out a budget.
The story says there are 150 million reasons why the budget can’t be resolved, I have little problem supporting and helping U.S. citizens with the money and programs they receive. I have not seen much talk about cutting funds to the rest of the world, a world that only takes our help and money but returns nothing. They don’t pay taxes, most don’t even like us, but we send them money every day and can’t seem to find a way to reduce the budget. Let’s cut Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, all domestic programs? How about some of the world programs; then we could live within our means? Social Security is not an entitlement program.
Bob Dempsey
Kailua-Kona
Budget
Preserve science
This January, core government functions such as scientific research, education, public safety, and environmental protection will face deep cuts under budget sequestration. If lawmakers cannot put politics aside to avoid continued cuts to these programs, our nation’s security, global competitiveness, and economic growth will be compromised. Teachers will be taken out of classrooms, cutting-edge research will be stifled and conservation of America’s natural resources will be diminished.
Experts agree these essential jobs and services are not the drivers of our nation’s debt, and these federal programs have already done more than their part to reduce the deficit — cut to levels not seen since the Eisenhower presidency. I urge the president and members of Congress to work together to find a balanced approach to address the deficit and to prevent further cuts to science.
Frank Cipriani
Hawi