Republicans Are Cutting Off Opportunity for All But the Wealthy Few
Last week, House Republicans proposed a budget that looked very similar to the failed policies of the previous Ryan budgets – offering the same trickle-down policies that make it harder for Americans to afford a middle class life. The congressional budget plans adopted by the House and Senate Budget Committees get more than two-thirds of their cuts from low and middle-income Americans. The House voted on six budget proposals today, three of which were authored by Republicans. While the GOP budgets differ slightly, all promise to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest while calling (yet again) to repeal the Affordable Care Act – a move that could double the amount of uninsured Americans.
GOP lawmakers have been talking a lot about “opportunity” lately in a rhetorical attempt to appeal to the middle class, but it’s clear from their budget that they’re using a creative definition of opportunity. We compared the House GOP budget to the President’s proposed budget to examine how the GOP’s budget will hit our hardest working citizens.
Taxes:
- GOP Budget: Rigs the game in favor of the wealthy few by cutting taxes for millionaires by an average of $50,000.
- POTUS Budget: Helps relieve some of the burden on middle class families by improving the Child Tax Credit and expanding the Earned Income tax Credit for working families
Healthcare:
- GOP Budget: Takes health care away from more than 16 million Americans while jeopardizing care for seniors and low-income families.
Education:
- GOP Budget: Reduces access to education for low-income children, young adults, and children with disabilities by reducing access to Head Start for 35,000 students, cutting funding for 1.9 million students in disadvantaged schools, and reducing financial aid for 8 million college students.
- POTUS Budget: Increases access to high quality education for all students, preschool through college, by adding $2.7 billion in funding for K-12 education, providing universal pre-k and making a high-quality community college degree free.
Investing in Working Families:
- GOP Budget: Puts obstacles in the way of working families trying to achieve economic security by taking away job training and employment services, cutting nutrition assistance for the millions of families who need it to put food on the table, and cutting funding for veterans.
- POTUS Budget: Paves the way for all citizens to achieve the American dream by making childcare more affordable, preserving nutrition assistance and increasing funding for our veterans.
BOTTOM LINE: The House Republican Budget again relies on the same trickle-down economic policies that have failed to grow our economy or raise wages, and have instead left working families behind. Budgets are a statement of values, and yet again the GOP is sending the message that they will stand with the wealthy few, instead of you.
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