The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives today unveiled their latest budget proposal. Though there are many questions yet to be answered, one thing is clear—they have learned nothing from the damaging budget battles of last year. This latest budget blueprint not only mirrors last year’s disastrous effort but also manages to reject what little bipartisan budget agreement was forged in 2011.
This year’s proposed House budget for fiscal year 2013 starting in October would once again end the Medicare guarantee, once again slash investments crucial to the middle class and to future economic growth, and once again cut taxes for the rich and protect taxpayer subsidies for oil companies. It once again ignores current economic challenges by offering no credible job-creation measures, and it once more places virtually the entire burden of debt reduction onto the shoulders of those least able to bear it.
On top of all that, the new plan, designed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), proposes spending levels that are well below those that were agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats just eight months ago. And so once again this appears to be a budget specifically designed to cater to the richest 1 percent while poking everyone else—including the middle class and anyone who wants to see bipartisan agreement on the federal budget—right in the eye.
Here are the six most important failures of the new House budget plan. It would:
- Undermine the middle class
- Rig the system even more heavily in favor of the richest 1 percent
- End the Medicare guarantee and raise health care costs for seniors
- Undercut the economic recovery
- Deviate dramatically from a balanced approach to deficit reduction
- Renege on last year’s bipartisan budget agreement
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