In an effort to alleviate some of the blowback from shutting down the federal government, the House Republicans are introducing ‘micro-spending measures’ that would restore funding to certain parts of the government. One of those bills would restore funding to NIH at sequestration levels–which would still result in a $1.5 billion cut).

Here’s what I don’t get: if NIH is this critical, then why were Republicans content to cut its funding? If NIH is so necessary as to receive its own stopgap bill, then the NIH should receive more funding once the political crisis is resolved. It’s obviously important.

Republicans also want to restore funding to Head Start. Again, if Head Start is really that critical, then why not provide enough funding so that every child who is eligible can attend instead of cutting its funding as they did during the sequester?

Ditto parks and museum funding: virtually every federal park and museum has deferred maintenance needs that current spending isn’t meeting. So why not provide enough funding to repair these facilities, instead of cutting their budgets? If they’re important enough to open, they’re important enough to maintain.

If Republicans really cared about these things, they would have spared these organizations from sequestration, and, for that matter, increased their funding. They’re obviously good programs, or else they wouldn’t be receiving this attention.

Enough of the snark. In reality, these Republicans micro-bills are like letting the guy who beat you up then walk you home for your own safety.

Shameful and shameless.