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Among the architects of the GOP budget: Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.), and Tom Price (R-Ga.).

(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)



The GOP-dominated House and Senate passed their budget resolutions last week, and in the process proved beyond reasonable doubt that the majority party is less interested in governing than in sending symbolic valentines to the wealthy.

As usual, this will lead to the same ideological war that consumes our politics, but this budget also represents a war against cognitive function, because only in the fantasies of ideologues can one expect to make $5 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years without raising any taxes.

Unless, of course, you do it by advancing a budget that promotes the existence of a privileged class and a servile class. Stop us if you've heard this routine before:

There are more cuts to food stamps, mostly by "block-granting" the SNAP program, which shifts much of the burden to the states - states like Texas, where one in four children live in poverty, or Mississippi, where the number is one in three.

There is a $90 billion cut in Pell Grants over 10 years, which will make college impossible for millions.

They want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, again, because anything that improves the lives of 16.4 million working people cannot possibly be a good thing; and they want to make a $400 billion cut in Medicaid, because they found 11 million others who don't deserve health care.

They want to gut Dodd-Frank again - this time by removing regulators' liquidation authority over banks, because House Budget chair Tom Price (R-Ga.) considers it an example of the "onerous policies" of the financial reform act.

And they're doing all this while increasing defense spending to $612 billion.

Here's what the Republican budget doesn't do: It doesn't acknowledge 45 million Americans living in poverty - not even the 15 million who work year-round. It doesn't create jobs, address infrastructure, raise the minimum wage, reduce college debt, promote scientific research, or deal with income inequality.

So these are not serious people. And New Jersey Republicans march in lockstep, as usual, failing to summon the courage to stand up to what is a deranged set of priorities.

Take a bow, patriots.

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