This week, House Democrats introduced our budget alternative -- a budget dedicated to the priorities of the American people: creating jobs, raising new ladders of opportunity, and building an economy that works for everyone.
It is a stark contrast with the broken priorities of the Republican budget, which under the false pretense of deficit reduction and a balanced budget, is yet another attack on American seniors, students, workers, and middle-class families -- all while protecting "give-aways" for the wealthy and the corporations that ship jobs overseas.
The Ryan budget kills jobs at home by gutting critical investments in education and technological research, and throws a wrench in the engine of American innovation. Instead of laying the foundation for innovation to create the middle-class jobs of tomorrow, or spur new technology, economic growth, and the next generation of entrepreneurs, the Republican budget uses fuzzy math and magic asterisks. This embarrassing budget is an excuse to assault the social safety net that saved millions of Americans who fell off the economic ladder during the Bush recession.
Programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, and job retraining help Americans get back on their feet when they are down and out and laid off through no fault of their own. The Republican budget uses these programs as punching bags for their reckless agenda of cut, cut, cut and gut, gut, gut. Republicans' relentless attacks on these programs will only hasten the descent and harden the fall for Americans who are already teetering on the brink of poverty.
Republicans are playing their favorite game with the federal budget -- "hide and cut it." First they hide behind budget gimmicks and magic asterisks, then they cut unnamed programs that all magically fall on the backs of the poor, working families, seniors, and the middle class. By avoiding the tough decisions and using fuzzy math to cut taxes for the millionaires and billionaires, they give billions to their friends on Wall Street. Once again, Republicans have used their meat axe approach to kick away the ladder into the middle class and they refuse to ask the wealthiest among us to contribute a dime toward deficit reduction... the hypocrisy in the Republican budget knows no bounds.
Once again House Republicans have chosen to take food from the mouths of hungry children in order to throw red meat to their insatiable base that only hungers for more and more cuts. In good conscience, I cannot support this monstrosity of a budget. I urge my colleagues to vote against this latest effort to gut the middle class, slash the safety net, and remove essential protections for millions of Americans.