Appearing as a guest on Thursday's PoliticsNation show on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank mocked House Republicans for repeatedly holding unsuccessful votes to repeal ObamaCare as he suggested they should continue to "waste" time so "they'll be less of a harm to the country" because that way "they're not cutting food stamps." Milbank:
But maybe we should not be criticizing the House Republicans for doing this because every day they waste trying to repeal ObamaCare, they're not cutting food stamps, so perhaps we should encourage them to spend the taxpayers' money doing this. They'll be of less harm to the country...
After host Al Sharpton complained that people would be hurt by budget cuts, Milbank continued:
The loss to these food stamps, that's a long-term issue starting with next year's part of the agriculture budget in which they actually manage to increase funds going to farmers while making larger than ever seen before cuts to the food stamp program. So these aren't hurting people right now. There's other things doing that. This is what's going to happen in the future. So I'm suggesting perhaps they should spend more time doing pointless things, so they can't actually get to the business of making these cuts for the future.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, May 16, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: You know, Dana, when you look at today Speaker Boehner, he explained his party's plan to create jobs, and it was all about repealing ObamaCare. Listen to this.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH) CLIP #1: We want to improve the economy and improve the prospects for creating jobs-
BOEHNER CLIP #2: -jobs is our primary focus-
BOEHNER CLIP #3: Jobs is what this is all about. These are the thousands and thousands of pages of ObamaCare regulations. And if we want the jobs, we need to get rid of this.
SHARPTON: So their job-creating plan is repeal ObamaCare?
MILBANK: Reverend Al, their plan for just about everything is repeal ObamaCare. I was at a news conference this morning, and Michele Bachmann gets up and says the IRS scandal proves that we need to repeal ObamaCare. So I think that, you know, this is by one count the 37th vote -- I think that's conservative. In fact, there have been arguably more than 40 different attempts to repeal ObamaCare, but maybe we should not be criticizing the House Republicans for doing this because every day they waste trying to repeal ObamaCare, they're not cutting food stamps, so perhaps we should encourage them to spend the taxpayers' money doing this. They'll be of less harm to the country... (INAUDIBLE)
SHARPTON: They found a way to vote last night, but, Dana, you know I travel a lot. The thing that really bothers me is people are really hurting. I mean, this is not just pundits talking on TV. Where the rubber meets the road in this country, people need these health care, the things that will benefit and provide things from this health care legislation. This is real stuff.
MILBANK: That's right, Reverend. Well, there's a couple of different things we're talking about here. Now, one is the immediate cuts that people have felt already in terms of Head Start and other programs from the sequester.
SHARPTON: Right.
MILBANK: The loss to these food stamps, that's a long-term issue starting with next year's part of the agriculture budget in which they actually manage to increase funds going to farmers while making larger than ever seen before cuts to the food stamp program. So these aren't hurting people right now. There's other things doing that. This is what's going to happen in the future. So I'm suggesting perhaps they should spend more time doing pointless things, so they can't actually get to the business of making these cuts for the future.
