Think of the children — no, not those children!
Fox News is in an uproar because of a sequester cut that forces Republicans to have to actually explain to their constituents that the sequester which they voted for, twice now, actually exists.
The White House has suspended tours as of Saturday. Thus congressmen will temporarily be barred from handing out ticket to see the actual windows Ann Romney already had her curtains picked out for.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN! screams Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Eric Boiling.
They’re being deprived HISTORY.
Of course, as the sequester begins to roll out in earnest, there are actually kids to worry about: the poor ones.
The National Memo‘s Joe Conason explains:
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which began to warn of sequestration’s very real impact weeks ago, the government will have to turn away as many as 775,000 women and children who qualify for WIC, the “highly effective” national nutrition program. Back when there was bipartisan opposition to letting people starve, legislators of both parties worked to ensure that WIC funding was sufficient to enroll every qualified family. Everyone seemed to agree that the program’s cost was trivial compared with the social, moral, and yes, economic benefits of properly feeding all hungry infants and children.
WIC was signed into law during the Nixon administration. “More than half of all infants and a quarter of all children aged one to five receive WIC benefits,” according to a 2007 study.
And since the sustenance it provides helps the poor children who often end up on Medicaid develop healthily, the program is extremely cost effective. An estimated $1.77 to $3.13 in Medicaid costs is saved for each $1 spent on WIC.
Cutting WIC is dumb. And that’s the point of the sequester. The cuts are supposed to be dumb — that’s why we should just cancel it. But since the cuts are slowly rolling out and likely to be blunted for the middle class by the improving economy, canceling White House tours is a way of communicating the actual stupidity of the sequester to average American family.
Hannity and Boiling want to raise the money to keep the tours going because of the the kids! Raw Story‘s David Edwards points out that money could provide 90,000 food stamp meals. It could also help countless families on WIC.
By cancelling White House tours, the president has opened himself up for potential criticism of his travel and audacious willingness to play golf on a weekend — criticism he would have gotten anyway.
But if Fox News is going to scream about the kids, how about screaming about the kids who are going to be screaming because they’re starving.
Of course, the GOP is just trolling here. Kids being deprived historical knowledge is only good for the bottom line. For those who don’t learn from history are doomed to watch Fox News.
