GOP shutdown of government is latest in attack on America's poor

The Republicans' ongoing civil war—a feud between uber-wealthy good-ol' boys (repped by John Boehner) and stubborn, draconian blowhards (the Ted Cruz camp)—unfortunately has bled all over the rest of the country. And now, sadly, millions of low-income Americans are getting screwed.

So, let's take a moment and look at how this past spring's “sequestration” (Beltway speak for “crappy budget cuts”) and Monday evening's “shutdown” are making life hellish for millions of Americans.

This week, new applicants to Medicaid and Medicare, basically the elderly and the working poor, will have to go without health care. Applications for citizenship and visas also stop. As does WIC, the Women, Infants and Children program that feeds nearly 10 million poor children and their mothers.

The processing of new student-loan applications freezes as well. Funds for Head Start, which provides kids education, nutrition and health services, expire—and an estimated 70,000 were already kicked out of Head Start this past March because of the sequestration.

Also, earlier this year, most housing agencies ended Section 8 vouchers, costing low-income residents millions in rental assistance. Funding to help unemployed seniors pay for meals lost $51 million. The Violence Against Women Act lost $26 million, which means less for local agencies to prosecute domestic-violence crimes. At universities, the Federal Work-Study Program that gives poor students jobs to pay tuition took a big cut. And on and on.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones is up more than 1,000 points since March's sequestration and is holding on steady since Monday's shutdown.

Now, explain how the GOP's “plan” isn't just an all-out assault on the most vulnerable Americans.