CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PLANS WOULD SLASH SPENDING ON SOCIAL PROGRAMS, ELIMINATE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Miriam Raftery

March 18, 2015 (Washington D.C.) – The Republican-controlled House and Senate budget proposals call for $5.5 trillion in spending cuts including deep  cuts in Medicare,  food stamps and other social programs. It also includes tax cuts for the wealthy and $40 million in increasing “emergency” war funding for the military.  It would also repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

The proposals claim they will ultimately balance the budget and produce a surplus – but even some Republicans says the gimmicks relied on for those claims make the likelihood of achieving those goals doubtful.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says the budget will control spending and reduce the deficit. “It’s a budget that will support economic growth and more opportunity for hard-working families while protecting our most vulnerable.”

Yet the House and Senate versions of the budget both have deep cuts in programs that help vulnerable and poor Americans.  Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has stated, “The Republican budget would drastically cut the tax bill for the average millionaire while raising taxes on the average middle class. That is not just irresponsible, it’s immoral,” the Hill reports.

Reid also accuses Republicans of “cooking the books” by relying on overly optimistic economic projections. 

Even some Republicans agree.  Republican Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado says, “I don’t know anyone who believes we’re going to balance the budget in 10 years. It’s all hooey,” the New York Times reports.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former Presidential candidate, called the House Republicans’ version “not legitimate budgeting,” the New York Times reports.

The budget eliminates new taxes funding the Affordable Care Act yet still assumes the same level of federal revenue that those taxes provide. How? By assuming that the Republican tax cuts for the wealthy and other economic proposals would create a “macroeconomic impact” that would somehow grow the economy to $33 billion by 2025.

Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton sent tweets blasting the GOP budget for taking healthcare away from 16 million people by eliminating the Affordable Healthcare Act. Another 21 million could lose healthcare due to Medicaid cuts, some analysts predict.

“Repeal of the ACA would let insurers write their own rules again,” Clinton said, also blasting cuts to Pell grants for college students.  “Budgets reflect our priorities. They should help families get ahead, educate our kids, and spark small business growth.”

Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the House budget committee, stated bluntly, “This takes budget quackery to a new level.”

One person stands between the Republican-dominated Congress and seeing such budgets enacted: President Barack Obama, who could veto such extremist budgets, setting the stage for yet another showdown or government shutdown.

The President had this to say, in a statement to reporters at the White House. “What we’re seeing right now is a failure to invest in education, infrastructure, research and national defense. All the things that we need to grow, need to create jobs, to stay at the forefront of innovation and to keep our country safe.”

The President will likely be the final decision maker, since Republicans are also working to change Senate rules to prevent a filibuster by Democrats.

 

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Comments

ridding the Republic of the

ridding the Republic of the stupidity that is obamacare will help to re establish the principles of honest government and return medical costs to an more appropriate level ... it is based on lies and faulty calculations and needs to be scrapped as does ALL federal involvement in healthcare.