MADISON – Following is the statement of Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate on the newly released Republican budget plan offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.
“This budget is more of the same from Paul Ryan, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble and the Congressional Republicans. In their haste to pander to the far right wing and moneyed special interests, they have put forward a budget that contains an average $150,000 tax cut for millionaires and billionaires that is paid for by deep budget cuts that cost jobs and hurt average Americans, especially seniors, veterans and children.
This budget ends Medicare as we know it, puts health insurance companies back in charge of people’s health care choices, and puts the guaranteed coverage seniors have earned and paid for at risk. Under the Ryan Plan, Medicare as we know it would cease to exist and instead would be turned into a voucher program, putting seniors at risk of paying thousands out of their own pockets.
The Ryan budget would hurt the economy by slashing investments in education, R&D, job training and rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges. And making arbitrary cuts that don’t distinguish between wasteful spending we need to cut and investments we need for the future is no plan at all, it’s just political grandstanding.
Mitt Romney called the last Ryan budget ‘bold and right.’ Of course, that is par for the course for someone so hopelessly out of touch with the concerns of Americans. Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the GOP need to learn that slashing health care for seniors and cutting to the bone investments in education, research, veterans’ programs and job creation while maintaining billions in subsidies for oil companies, tax loopholes for Wall Street hedge fund managers and giving even more tax breaks to the wealthy is neither bold nor right. It’s outrageous and wrong.”
