Selective Welfare

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Looking more closely at the massive budget cuts proposed by the Republican Study Committee more closely, the “best” part comes in Title IV, when it comes time to cut corporate welfare. A decent chunk of the cuts come from repealing the Applied Research for Renewable Energy Sources Program, the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative Program, the Clean Coal Technology Program, and the FreedomCAR Program. All reasonable government programs to promote renewable energy—the sort of thing we need more, not less, of. But never mind that. The sum of these cuts runs to less than $1 billion. Meanwhile, of course, the $2.6 billion worth of recently-passed subsidies to oil and gas companies—”to encourage domestic oil and gas production”—went untouched.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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