Center for American Progress

STATEMENT: Despite New Rhetoric on Income Inequality, House Majority’s Budget Proposal Will Only Hurt Working- and Middle-Class Families, Says CAP’s Carmel Martin
Press Statement

STATEMENT: Despite New Rhetoric on Income Inequality, House Majority’s Budget Proposal Will Only Hurt Working- and Middle-Class Families, Says CAP’s Carmel Martin

Washington, D.C. — Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement today after leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2016.

Republicans are talking big with respect to tackling income inequality and wage stagnation, but the House budget proposal does not match their rhetoric. Rather than creating jobs with investments in infrastructure and education or strengthening health care and nutrition programs to give families a foothold to climb into the middle class, the House majority has once again prioritized big tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.

If Congress is serious about addressing the issues that face working Americans, it should reject this budget and instead pass a plan that works for middle- and working-class Americans, not just the wealthy few.

Last week, CAP experts released a column highlighting how the House and Senate budgets will be a test of how serious the majority leaders are about boosting opportunity and expanding the middle class; an analysis of the urgency to include funds to cut carbon pollution and strengthen the nation’s resilience to climate change; and a report urging the rejection of dynamic scoring and the need for congressional leaders to ensure that the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation’s analyses reflect current economic research. Click here to see all of CAP’s work to date on the FY 2016 budget.

For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.

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