GOP selective in fight to balance the budget

Give me a break! (They nearly) shut down the government over a comparatively tiny piece of the budget? Where was the Tea Party when President Bush put hundreds of millions of Iraq War expenses “off budget?”

While constraining our expenses is important, and fiscal restraint is a purportedly a Republican concern, there has been no evidence of the GOP trying to balance the budget in my lifetime. Only when a Democrat is president do they claim to get serious about holding back spending. And then only the portion of the budget that serves the middle-class (and lower) people's needs. The significant pool of discretionary money is in the military. Until Republicans propose cutting at least twice as much from the military as from common people's services, we can't take them seriously.

Who is serious about reducing abortions? If that is the goal, full funding of Planned Parenthood makes sense. Fewer unintended pregnancies means fewer women seeking abortions.

Roger Johanson

Lisbon