Sometimes
a budget is a moral document. Sometimes it’s a threat. With the passage
of Rep. Paul Ryan’s latest austerian budget, the GOP is once again
spelling out very clearly what they want to do to America. It’s not a
threat, but a promise that Americans must make sure Republicans never
have the power to fulfill.
Last week, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
thanked House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan for his latest
budget. “Thank you,” Durbin wrote, “thank you Congressman Paul Ryan, for
reminding us what Republicans would do if they had control.”
Maybe it’s time
to thank House Republicans for passing another budget that will go
nowhere in the Senate and will never bear President Obama’s signature,
but spells out exactly what Republicans will do the moment they have the
power.
Not that they
said as much during the debate over the Ryan budget. Over the last two
days, Republicans resorted to a rhetorical trick unworthy of a
second-rate high school debate team. “Only in Washington,” they said
over and over again, “is a spending increase called a cut,” because the
budget increases federal spending at a slower rate.
Only in the Republican mind is a reduction in spending not a cut. Whether you call it a $5.1 trillion spending reduction or $5.1 trillion in cuts, that’s how much less
the government would spend under the Ryan budget. Most of those cuts —
69 percent — come from programs that serve low- and mid-income
Americans.
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The Ryan/GOP budget repeals Obamacare. This alone should get it laughed
right out of Washington as a non-starter. Never mind that this would
take health care coverage away from millions of Americans, with no GOP
alternative to replace it. The chances of the Republicans wining
majorities in the House and Senate big enough to pass a repeal, and override the inevitable presidential veto, are so slim that it’s a waste of ink to even include repeal in a budget.
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The Ryan/GOP budget cuts welfare programs by $5.4 billion over 10
years. It slashes agricultural programs by $23 billion, and turns SNAP
into a block grant — slashing funds and handing what’s left to states
with a no-strings-attached guarantee of “flexibility.” If state
governments reduce food stamp recipient numbers, they may do as they see
fit with the overrun.
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The Ryan/GOP even cuts the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program,
which Ryan says is being “abused.” Could it be that Ryan is as outraged
as Fox News anchor Stuart Varney that states are continuing to help the poor feed themselves
by tying food stamp eligibility to home heating assistance, making more
low-income families eligible for food stamps? Is formulating an end run
around Republican cuts to food stamps and continuing to feed the poor
“abuse”? It is, if you’re a Republican.
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The Ryan Budget destroys Medicaid by turning it into block grant.
Indexing it to inflation and population growth means steep cuts, because
health care costs are rising faster than inflation. States will have
fewer and fewer resources for their Medicaid programs, and will take
steps to slash their caseloads.
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The Ryan/GOP budget obliterates Medicare by turning it into a voucher
program. Republicans swear that it’s “premium support,” not a voucher.
But instead of the longstanding Medicare guarantee, the elderly will
receive government subsidies to purchase private health insurance. If
health care costs continue to rise faster than the general inflation
rate, the “premium support” won’t keep pace, and the costs will be
shifted to the elderly.
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They Ryan/GOP budget harms young Americans by cutting financial
assistance, and increasing student debt. Pell grants come in for a cut
through a maximum eligibility cap, and ending funding for less than
half-time students. In addition, young people would have to start paying
interest on their student loans while they are still in school.
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The Ryan/GOP budget paves the way for another financial crisis. Cuts to
the Securities and Exchange Commission budget means fewer regulators
policing the financial sector. The budget transfers the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau budget from the Federal Reserve to Congress,
where inevitable cuts and partisan obstruction will mean less
protection for financial consumers. Restricting the ability of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will probably increase the
likelihood of more taxpayer bailouts of big banks.
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The Ryan/GOP budget increases military spending. Actually, military
spending is the one area where the Ryan/GOP budget spends big, with a
$483 billion increase.
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The Ryan GOP budget cuts taxes on the wealthy. All these cuts go to pay
for mystifying tax breaks for the wealthy. The budget reduces the top
taxes rates by replacing them with two brackets of 10 percent and 25
percent, and give millionaires a $265,000-a-year tax break, at a cost of
$6 trillion in lost revenue — which Ryan assumes will be made up, because his cuts will stimulate so much economic growth that tax revenues skyrocket.
To hear House
Republicans tell it over the last couple of days, these cuts will hardly
be felt. Americans know better. That’s why the majority of Americans
have repeatedly rejected the GOP’s austerian agenda again and again.
The Ryan/GOP budget goes against what Americans want, on issue after issue.
But Republicans will try to make sure it’s what we get if they get half
a chance. Today’s vote on the Ryan Budget was just our annual reminder.
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