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n2doc's JournalHouse GOP floats $23B in food stamp cuts in budget package
Source: CBS
WASHINGTON -- Republicans controlling the House are proposing $23 billion worth of food stamp cuts over the coming decade. They are part of a $170 billion spending cut package aimed at getting tea party lawmakers to vote for a broader 10-year budget plan.
The food stamp cuts would be to benefits for able-bodied recipients without children and those who receive a greater benefit because they also qualify for home-heating subsidies. They are a small part of the 10-year, approximately $720 billion budget for the program.
GOP leaders have struggled to win enough support among Republicans for their broader budget plan since it permits higher agency budget levels than last year's budget deal.
It's not clear the package of binding "sidecar" spending cuts will add enough support to pass the GOP budget.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-gop-floats-food-stamp-cuts-in-effort-to-revive-budget/
Trump signals backing for cuts to Social Security, Medicare
Billionaire Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, shifted his position on cuts in Social Security and Medicare on the eve of his visit to Capitol Hill for meetings with Republican congressional leaders.
After claiming to reject such cuts throughout the Republican primary campaign—distancing himself from rivals who all backed one or another version of “entitlement reform”—Trump signaled Wednesday that he was reversing his position.
His top policy adviser Sam Clovis addressed a Washington DC conference hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a group established by the billionaire former Nixon cabinet member to push for the dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in the name of cutting the federal budget deficit.
Even attending the conference was something of a signal, given the Peterson group’s identification with entitlement spending cuts. Clovis underscored the message, telling the conference, “I think after the administration’s been in place, then we will start to take a look at all of the programs, including entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.”
He added that Trump would not propose any changes in these programs during the election campaign, but wait until a new administration and Congress were elected. At that point, he said, “We’ll take a hard look at those to start seeing what we can do in a bipartisan way.”
more
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/05/13/trum-m13.html
Blood THC levels after smoking pot are useless in defining “too high to drive”
Measuring ‘drunk’ is pretty easy; the more alcohol someone drinks, the more alcohol shows up in that person’s blood and the more impaired that person becomes, falling somewhere on a scale of tipsy to wasted. Measuring ‘high,’ on the other hand, is far hazier—much to the dismay of some states' law enforcement.
Blood tests that try to quantify marijuana use are in fact useless at assessing how impaired a driver is, according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. In other words, the study found that people with low blood amounts of THC—or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive component of pot—may still act as if they’re really stoned. On the other hand, some people may have THC measurements off the charts yet still act normally.
The finding is critical because several states have already set legal limits for the amount of THC a person can have in their blood while driving. AAA concluded that such limits are “arbitrary and unsupported by science, which could result in unsafe motorists going free and others being wrongfully convicted for impaired driving.”
For the study, AAA researchers combed through arrest records for impaired driving as well as results from toxicology tests and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) exams. This exam includes roadside sobriety tests such as walking and turning, standing on one foot, and nose touching.
more
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/legal-limits-for-marijuana-dui-are-arbitrary-and-unsupported-by-science/
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