This cries out for attention.   Following Republican attempts to demonize Hillary Clinton for the attack in Benghazi, it turns out it is the Republicans themselves who have been cutting funding for security at embassies and consulates.

According to a piece in “The Hill,” dated September 18, 2012,  “Republicans have sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars slated for security at U.S. embassies and consulates since gaining control of the House in 2011.”  The story by Alexander Bolton, goes on to highlight specific cuts, saying,  “The administration requested $1.801 billion for security, construction and maintenance for fiscal 2012; House Republicans countered with a proposal to cut spending to $1.425 billion. The House agreed to increase it to $1.537 billion after negotiations with the Senate. “

A piece in the Huff Post, written by Sarah Bufkin in October of 2012 points out that, “Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) acknowledged on Wednesday that House Republicans had consciously voted to reduce the funds allocated to the State Department for embassy security since winning the majority in 2010.”    Chaffetz, is further quoted as saying, “look we have to make priorities.” 

Dana Milbank, is quoted in a piece from MSNBC, saying –

“For fiscal 2013, the GOP-controlled House proposed spending $1.934 billion for the State Department’s Worldwide Security Protection program – well below the $2.15?billion requested by the Obama administration. House Republicans cut the administration’s request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration’s request.) Last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Republicans’ proposed cuts to her department would be “detrimental to America’s national security” – a charge Republicans rejected.”

“Ryan, Issa and other House Republicans voted for an amendment in 2009 to cut $1.2 billion from State operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions. Under Ryan’s budget, non-defense discretionary spending, which includes State Department funding, would be slashed nearly 20 percent in 2014, which would translate to more than $400 million in additional cuts to embassy security.”

Apparently the Republican strategy is to confuse the issue by transferring blame to others before the American people discover what’s really going on.    When will the mainstream media do a proper job of calling these guys out?

Here’s a video clip from Barbara Boxer in May of 2013.    The lip-sync is off, but you’ll get the idea.