Ron Sider on the Proposed Republican Budget by Ron Sider On March 20, Congressman Paul Ryan (chairman of the Republican Budget Committee in the House) released the proposed Republican budget for FY 2013. Your voice is needed today to ensure that we do not balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor. His budget proposals would: 1. Increase defense spending by $228 billion over the next ten years. 2. Give more huge tax breaks to the richest 1%. 3. Drastically cut many programs for poor Americans. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did a careful review of the impact of the Ryan budget. The CBO says: 1. The Ryan budget would cut programs that help low and middle-income people afford health insurance (Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance programs, etc.) by more than 75% by 2050. 2. The number of people without health insurance would be much higher than under current law. 3. Because the Ryan budget dramatically cuts total federal spending, federal spending on many things like education, many programs for low-income people, law enforcement, highways, medical and scientific research, etc. would largely have to disappear. This is NOT the way to solve the budget deficit. Increasing the defense budget, giving the richest people more tax cuts and slashing programs for the poor and seniors is just plain immoral. As I show in my new book, Fixing the Moral Deficit: A Balanced Way to Balance the Budget, there is a better way: increase taxes on the richest Americans; cut the defense budget by at least $100 billion a year; cut wasteful, duplicative programs; make some real changes in Medicare and Social Security.
Our nation faces an historic choice. It is urgent that you let Washington
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know what you think. Please write your Senators and Congressperson and say: We oppose the Ryan budget’s proposals that would balance the budget on the backs of the poor.
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