Douglas County Democratic Party

Later this evening, House Republicans will vote on bill they are calling “Cut, Cap, and Balance” (H.R. 2650), which promises to reduce deficits and debt at the expense of economic growth, innovation and job creation, and place the greatest burden on older Americans and the most vulnerable.

Rather than taking responsibility for the tough decisions needed to reduce our deficits, Republicans including Nebraska’s own Lee Terry, have made it clear they would prefer to”Duck, Dodge, and Cover.” Their reckless, irresponsible plan would threaten both short-term economic recovery and long-term competitiveness. It would likely lead to spending cuts that look like the Medicare-killing Ryan plan on steroids. Here are just a few examples, per Jason Furman of the National Economic Council:

• The bill would abruptly cut more than $100 billion in spending in the first year alone, cuts at a level that Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf stated would “affect our projections for GDP growth over the next two years.”
• The House Budget Resolution plan would cut clean energy investments by 70 percent, infrastructure investments by a third, and education and training by 25 percent—cutting 320,000 children from Head Start and reducing aid for families trying to put their kids through college by hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.
• It would cut Medicaid by one-third over the decade, and by nearly 50% by 2030. This could, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, result in 36 million people losing Medicaid coverage, including people with disabilities and seniors in nursing homes.  And that comes on top of the 17 million who would lose coverage due to repealing subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.
• And it would cut programs for the most vulnerable – for example, by food stamp benefits for a family of four by $1,760 per year or cut 8 million households from the program.
• Finally, the House Budget Resolution proposed to convert Medicare to a voucher program, increasing costs for Medicare beneficiaries by $6,400 a year beginning in 2021 – with those higher costs increasing over time.

The GOP plan also requires adoption of a so-called “Balanced Budget Amendment” to the Constitution, in addition to the cuts described above. This draconian measure would require a two-thirds supermajority to cut tax loopholes or take other steps on revenue. Furthermore, at the end of the next decade, the House plan would still be $400 billion a year short of achieving the balanced budget the amendment would require. Unless Republicans are willing to entertain $3 to $4 trillion in additional revenues over the next decade, that means $400 billion a year would need to be cut beyond the Ryan plan.

Sixty-six percent of Americans—including a majority of Republicans—favor a balanced approach to deficit reduction. The President agreed to a proposal which would have reduced the deficit by $4 trillion, with 83% of the savings coming from spending cuts and 17% from revenue increases such as closing tax loopholes for billionaires and private jet owners. However, Republicans rejected this compromise—even though they proposed virtually the same plan back in March! Now, Republicans are playing political games at the expense of the faith and credit of the United States, putting all their weight behind a plan that is out of touch with American values with no backup plan.

Democrats and the President, on the other hand, have proposed a comprehensive approach that ensures we live within our means, reducing the deficit while supporting economic growth and long-term job creation, protecting critical investments, and meeting the commitments made to provide economic security to Americans no matter their circumstances. As of today, a bipartisan group of senators known as the “Gang of Six” have come out with another proposal—one which the President has endorsed. We have reached the eleventh hour, but the President is right: “now is the moment to rise above that cynicism and show the American people that we can still do big things.”