GOP Budget Calls For Fire Sale Of Public Lands While Preserving $40 Billion In Tax Breaks To Big Oil

[Galraedia]

Source: ThinkProgress

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released the GOP budget yesterday morning. In all the coverage about the massive shortcomings of the budget, many may have missed the proposal to sell off millions of acres of the public lands that belong to all of us.

Tea Party favorite Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is credited with adding the language, which says:

Sales of Unneeded Federal Assets: In the last year alone, Republicans put forth proposals to sell unneeded federal property. Representative Jason Chaffetz has proposed to sell millions of acres of unneeded federal land. Likewise, Representative Jeff Denham’s bill to authorize the sale of billions of dollars worth of federal assets would save the government money, collect corresponding revenue, and remove economic distortions by reducing public ownership. Such sales could also potentially be encouraged by reducing appropriations to various agencies. If done correctly, taxpayers could recoup billions of dollars from selling unused government property.

This is likely referring to Chaffetz’s bill, H.R. 1126, the “Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2011.” The radical proposal would force the government to sell off 3.3 million acres of public lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming to the highest bidder, without specifying how American taxpayers would receive a fair compensation for them.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/03/21/449046/gop-budget-calls-for-fire-sale-of-public-lands-while-preserving-40-billion-in-tax-breaks-to-big-oil/

[peacebird]

1. Read: fire sale for the benefit of our rich buddies, F U american citizens who actually value

our national treasure of forests, and wild spaces

[northoftheborder]

2. Simply awfully wrong.

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. Amazing Similarities

This fire sale has some amazing similarities to the proposed fire sales in Britain and Greece. And who will buy these assets? Our billionaires will buy some and some will go to foreign investors like the Chinese, the Saudis, the Indians and whoever.

Welcome to the road of "one world government" and "one world global" ownership. And it will be brought to you by Mittwit Romney and the GOP and paid for by the likes of the Koch brothers.

[hue]

4. This makes me wish I believed in judgement day & hell!! n/t

[liberal N proud]

5. They need to sell the land so someone can get richer from the resources.

Trees, coal, oil etc.

[bluedigger]

6. The vulture capitalism government model.

Sell off the assets, walk away from the deficits, take the profits, and move on.

[sarcasmo]

18. +1

[highplainsdem]

7. They started talking about this over a year ago, and ALEC is behind it at the state level.

Links to two old DU topics, the first from last February, about a Daily Caller article on this "yard sale":

Crazy RWers (okay, that's redundant) now talking about national "yard sale" of government assets

This second topic, from last March, is about ALEC's role in promoting the sale of government lands:

The GOP blueprint for state legislatures - ALEC's "State Budget Reform Toolkit"

[bluesbassman]

8. I bet a lot of this land has oil underneath it, yet they still want to give Big Oil welfare.

While the Republican budget calls for selling public lands with unclear consequences, it also preserves a decade’s worth of tax breaks to Big Oil companies, which total approximately $40 billion. At the same time, the five largest oil companies made record profits of $137 billion in 2011.

The greed and hypocricy of these people knows no bounds.

[nobodyspecial]

19. Obama really needs to hit these tax breaks harder

People are mad about prices and many don't realize how much of a break they get when they are raking in billions.

[mugwort3]

9. typical Republican

The part where it reads reducing appropriations to various agencies. Does anyone know what agencies? I don't want to presume. I know in the state where I live, (PA) Republican Governor Tom Corbett proposes 20 % cuts in mental health, developmental disabilities, addiction issues, specialized housing for people with various disabilities. My info relate here?

[wordpix]

10. fascist oligarchy has returned, this time to America

These people are criminal

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. THis makes me gag: "House Budget Committee CHAIRMAN Paul Ryan (R-WI)"

An idiot with an (R) after his title!

[SunSeeker]

12. Gov. Schwarzenegger tried the same stunt in CA, Gov. Brown stopped it.

It's an obvious Republican ploy: pillaging what the public owns. They never met a park they didn't think looked better with a oil derrick stuck in it.

[cstanleytech]

13. Why do I get the sense that the sale of the "uneeded land" was proposed to benefit the 1%

more than it was to balance any budget?

[Historic NY]

14. Wasn't the land bought for preservation......in the first place.

to be held for the American people. Teddy Roosevelt would be beating these jackwagons with his big stick.

[usrname]

15. The unneeded Federal assets are the GOP office holders

Sorry, they've already been sold for pennies.

[Scuba]

16. Rec. Forwarded to several Wis District 1 voters with plea to support Rob Zerban against Paul Ryan.

[lunatica]

17. Open up our National Parks to developers now!!

Imagine the entire rim of the Grand Canyon gleaming with gated communities for the ultra wealthy and hotels, casinos and vacation destinations and mining to keep up with our energy needs! And the things they could do with Yosemite National Park!

I just shudder to think of all that wasted real estate! It's so sad to be wasteful like that when you could get some real money out of the National Parks instead of having to throw money away maintaining them. Who the hell can ever get rich that way?