Reduces Jobs and Harms Economic Growth.
Putting
Americans back to work is the fastest and most effective way to reduce
the short-term deficit – but the Republican budget turns its back on
American workers.
· Hurts Jobs This Year – The Republican budget
does nothing to replace the sequester with a more thoughtful
deficit-reduction plan. Consequently, the budget will do nothing to
prevent the loss of 750,000 jobs that the Congressional Budget Office
estimates will result from allowing this year’s sequester to move
forward.
· Hurts Jobs Next Year – According to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, the House Republican budget would cost 2 million jobs in 2014.
Gives Windfall Tax Breaks to the Wealthy.
· Tax Breaks for the Wealthy, Tax Increases for Everyone Else –
The budget aims to lower the top individual and corporate tax rates to
25 percent, at a cost of nearly $6 trillion, which Republicans say they
will pay for by closing unspecified loopholes. Republicans would use
all savings from closing tax loopholes to lower tax rates, particularly
for businesses and higher-income individuals – at the expense of
middle-income taxpayers, who will pay an average of $3,000 more per
family.
· Not a Dime of Loophole Closures for Deficit Reduction
– The budget fails to reduce the deficit by one dime by closing even
one special interest tax break, like those for big oil companies,
corporate jets, and overseas tax havens.
Slashes Critical Investments in Our Future. The
budget’s cuts to investments in areas such as education, transportation,
research and development, and energy will weaken the middle class and
U.S. economic competitiveness. These cuts will force our businesses to
work with a less skilled workforce, an outdated transportation network,
and reduced technological innovation.
· Slashes Education Funding – The Republican
budget eliminates the entire mandatory Pell Grant program, a cut of
$98 billion over the next ten years. It also lets student loan rates
double in July, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, and cuts student loan
funding by a total of $70 billion over ten years.
· Erodes Transportation Funding – The budget cuts key transportation investments by more than 20 percent.
· Eviscerates Broad Array of Important Investments
– Non-defense discretionary spending – the part of the budget that goes
to fund the National Institutes of Health, air traffic controllers,
food safety inspectors, Head Start, national parks – is cut by more than
twice as much as it would be cut if the sequester went into effect and
stayed in effect for ten years. In 2014, that means $55 billion in
additional cuts below the sequester level.
· Neglects R&D and Clean Energy – The
Republican budget cuts investments in research and development and clean
energy. It guts investments in clean energy while ignoring the tax
breaks big oil companies have benefited from for decades, even as their
profits pushed $1 trillion over the last ten years. Federal funding for
research and development strengthens American manufacturing, supports
clean energy technologies that lack private sector investment, and
bolsters our nation’s international competitiveness.
Breaks Promises to Seniors and Puts Vulnerable Populations At Risk.
The GOP budget makes major cuts affecting health care and nutrition
assistance for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and children and
families struggling to get by.
· Slashes Medicaid – The budget jeopardizes the
health and financial security of the 62 million seniors, disabled
individuals, and working families who rely on Medicaid. The budget’s
Medicaid “block-grant” plan simply means slashing $810 billion from
federal Medicaid spending over ten years, and by nearly one-third in
2023 alone, and leaving it to states to decide what to do next.
Block-granting Medicaid will strain state budgets and lead many states
to end care to millions of seniors and disabled individuals, who account
for about two-thirds of program spending.
· Ends the Medicare Guarantee – Over the long
term, this budget ends the Medicare guarantee on which seniors depend
and replaces it with a voucher for the purchase of insurance that is not
guaranteed to keep pace with health care costs over time, thereby
shifting the risk of rising costs onto seniors and disabled
individuals. The policy in the budget affects everyone who qualifies
for Medicare in 2024 or later.
· Increases Costs for Today’s Seniors – The
budget eliminates all of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for
seniors: it reopens the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, or
“donut-hole,” and it increases costs to seniors for preventive care
services. Reopening the donut hole alone will increase costs for
Medicare beneficiaries with high prescription drug costs by an average
of over $13,000 from now through 2022.
· Drastically Cuts Nutrition Assistance – The Republican budget
drastically reduces the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,
formerly called “food stamps”). SNAP currently serves 48 million
people, nearly three-quarters of whom are in families with children.
The only ways to reduce SNAP costs significantly are to throw people off
the rolls or reduce the allotment per person, making it virtually
impossible for economically struggling families to afford a
nutritionally sound diet.
· Puts Insurance Companies Back in Charge – The
budget again assumes repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage
expansions and patient protections. This means 27 million Americans
will lose access to affordable health insurance, and insurers can once
again do things like deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
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