Operation On-Your-Own

Earl Hadley
October 18, 2005

Earl Hadley is education coordinator for the Campaign for America's Future.

Conservatives have some nerve. Only a group with a misplaced sense of entitlement would try to push $70 billion in tax cuts through Congress, while cutting anywhere from tens to hundreds of billions in dollars from programs that assist working and middle-class families. The misplaced priorities of conservatives is not news, but their willingness to use the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina as a justification for these program cuts takes their outrageous and calculated behavior to another level.

Before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, conservatives had $70 billion in tax cuts, along with $35 billion in program cuts, lined up for two filibuster-proof votes. After Katrina, to their dismay, conservatives were forced to postpone these votes, as well as a vote on repealing the estate tax. The logic was pretty obvious: With hundreds of thousands of people struggling to find health care, employment, schooling and housing, it wasn’t the best time to push through tax breaks for the wealthy, while cutting health care, nutrition and other forms of assistance. But conservatives were not ready to throw in the towel; they were merely waiting for the right moment to reassert their agenda. They were also growing increasingly angry about the thought of the federal government taking a leadership role, financially, in rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.