Operation Offset

Operation Offset is the name given by the House Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group of conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, to the $543 billion spending-cut plan they propose to offset the cost of the Hurricane Katrina "relief and reconstruction effort" of the Gulf Coast. 

Read the September 21, 2005, "internal Republican Study Committee document" posted online by The Raw Story; also available on the RSC website (PDF file).

"Offsetting" the Military
"The Republicans have put their cutting efforts in military terms, calling it 'Operation Offset' - a further insult to the men and women in uniform they are now trying to screw over," David Sirota wrote September 22, 2005. "The specifics are ugly. They are, for instance, asking troops to 'accept reduced health care benefits for their families.' Additionally, 'the stateside system of elementary and secondary schools for military family members could be closed.' In the past, this idea 'has faced strong opposition from parents of children attending the schools because public schools [in and around bases] are seen as offering lower-quality education.'

"None of this, I suppose, is all that surprising," Sirota said. "In the past, we've seen tax cuts put before making sure troops have adequate body armor heading into war - a tax/budget decision that very likely increased U.S. casualties. We've also seen Republicans vote down efforts to reduce tax cuts for the very wealthy in order to restore cuts to military family housing. And we've seen tax cuts come as the White House has refused to adequately fund a variety of other programs for troops. The truth is, the GOP has in moments of candor admitted that they care about cutting taxes for the wealthy far more than they care about the troops.

"As you may recall," Sirota wrote, "it was Tom DeLay who said before the Iraq invasion 'Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes.' Apparently to the Republicans, nothing is more important in the face of a war AND massive destruction to the homefront than cutting taxes either."

Related Links

 * Dana Milbank, "Support for Troops Questioned. Democrats Detail Bush's Cuts in Military Family Benefits," Washington Post, June 17, 2003.
 * Rick Maze, "GOP lawmakers propose cuts to offset Katrina costs," Army Times, September 21, 2005.
 * James Joyner, "Lawmakers Propose Defense Cuts to Offset Katrina Relief," Outside the Beltway, September 22, 2005.

Some of the Proposed Spending Cuts

 * "delaying the start of the new Medicare prescription drug coverage for one year to save $31 billion and eliminating $25 billion in projects from the newly enacted transportation measure."
 * "eliminating the Moon-Mars initiative that NASA announced on Monday, for $44 billion in savings."
 * "ending support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, $4 billion" in savings.
 * "cutting taxpayer payments for the national political conventions and the presidential election campaign fund, $600 million" in savings.
 * "charging federal employees for parking, $1.54 billion" in savings.

Support for "Operation Offset"

 * News Release: "FreedomWorks Members to Rally in Support of Operation Offset. Dozens to attend and show support for House effort to fund Katrina relief with budget savings," FreedomWorks.org, September 21, 2005.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Hurricane Katrina: List of related pages
 * Rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: domestic policy initiatives
 * U.S. budget deficit
 * U.S. tax cuts