by Pamela Powers Hannley On Wednesday, March 20, 2013, the US House of Representatives voted on a series of amendments to the Republican Majority Budget, penned by Rep. Paul Ryan. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) amendment, dubbed the Back to Work Budget, was one of yesterday's votes. It lost 84 to 327, with no Republicans … Read more
The following guest commentary about the current budget battles in DC was submitted to the Arizona Daily Star for publication. Since the Star chooses to primarily publicize Republican budget plans– and no other ideas, including those proposed by Southern Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva– they didn't publish this commentary about the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Back to Work Budget. So, here you go…
On Tuesday, March 12th, the Congressional
Progressive Caucus released its proposed federal budget. Dubbed the “Back to
Work Budget”, it will be presented as an amendment to the already discredited
Paul Ryan and Congressional Majority budget. The CPC budget will reduce the
Federal Budget Deficit by more than $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years, will
create 7 million new jobs in its first year, and preserve existing benefits for
Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ “Back to
Work” budget will also make public healthcare affordable to the nation by
offering a public option.More after the jump.
Since the Tea Party took over the House of Representatives after the disastrous 2010 election, you'd think the most pressing job facing the Congress was to lower taxes on the richest Americans. (Feather-bedding the 1% is right up there with squashing our civil liberties, suppressing voter turnout, grandstanding about cutting "entitlements" (AKA earned benefits), supporting Wall Street banksters, and protecting Citizens United and the obscene campaign finance system we have.
Just look how many marches, blog posts, letters to the editor, calls to representatives, and Occupations it took to overturn the Bush Era Tax Cuts on people who make more than $400,000 a few months ago. (And it still probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for three percentages that changed public opinion– 99%, 1%, and 47%.) More on taxes and budgets after the jump.
In his recent talk in Tucson, John Nichols of The Nation warned against budget solutions proposed by the Fix the Debt Coalition, a group of 127 billionaires, "lesser millionaires," and corporate CEOs.
According to Nichols, this exclusive club of 1%ers is rolling out a $60 million advertising campaign to promote the new Simpson-Bowles Plan for debt reduction, according to Nichols. The original Simpson-Bowles Commission– dubbed the Cat Food Commission because of its cuts to senior citizen benefits– was infamously unpopular when it was proposed originally. The Simpson-Bowles redux may be even worse.
How would the billionaires' club "fix the debt"? By reducing Social Security payments to the elderly and disabled, by raising the eligibility age for Medicare, by dramatically cutting Medicaid support for the poor, by eliminating the Affordable Care Act and changing Medicare to a voucher program for future recipients, by imposing austerity on 99%, and by [wait for it] lowering taxes on billionaires and corporations.
This article (after the jump) from the Washington Post outlines exactly what Nichols warned Tucsonans about.
On Wednesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) released its "Back to Work" Budget. Think of it as the polar opposite of the Republicans' "Stab Americans in the Back" budget penned by Congressman Paul Ryan and released earlier in the week. Special thanks to Congressman Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the CPC. Each year, the CPC releases a common sense budget plan. When will Washington DC listen, when will the Lame Stream Media cover it? Go to this link to tell your Congressional representative to vote for the Back to Work Budget.
Here is the summary from the CPC…
7 million new jobs in one year
$4.4 trillion in deficit reduction
We’re in a jobs crisis that isn’t going away. Millions of hard-working American families are falling behind, and the richest 1 percent is taking home a bigger chunk of our nation’s gains every year. Americans face a choice: we can either cut Medicare benefits to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or we can close these tax loopholes to invest in jobs. We choose investment. The Back to Work Budget invests in America’s future because the best way to reduce our long-term deficit is to put America back to work. In the first year alone, we create nearly 7 million American jobs and increase GDP by 5.7%. [Details and graphics after the jump.]