Democrats Stand with Middle Class Families and Seniors; Supp

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Democrats Stand with Middle Class Families and Seniors; Support Deficit Reduction Plan That Asks All Americans to Pay Their Fair Share
Who Will Republicans Stand With?
http://www.democraticwhip.gov/sites/def ... 092011.pdf


The deficit reduction plan put forward by the President is a balanced approach to reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen entitlement programs and ensure that all Americans pay their fair share. But rather than work with Democrats on a balanced plan, Republicans immediately rejected the President’s proposal because it calls on all Americans to do their part. By opposing a plan that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share, Republicans will be forced to answer the question: Who do they stand with?
Will they continue to fight to protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires,
And end Medicare, dramatically raising health care costs for seniors?
Republicans voted several times for a budget that ends Medicare and:
Raises seniors’ health care costs by more than $6,000 per year
Reopens the prescription drug donut hole, costing an estimated 4 million seniors who fall into the coverage gap up to $44 billion by 2020, including $2.2 billion in 2012 alone
Increases the cost of wellness visits, forcing at least one million seniors and people with disabilities to pay over $110 million more for this critical service in 2012
And requires 54-year-olds to save an additional $182,000 more just to cover health care costs
And cut investments in education and workforce development?
The Republican budget made drastic cuts to education and job training programs, including:
Kicking more than 200,000 children out of Head Start and putting 55,000 teachers out of work
Slashing education funding overall by more than fifteen percent, the largest cut to education funding in history
Cutting Title I grants program, affecting 2,400 schools serving 1 million disadvantaged students and costing approximately10,000 jobs
Reducing the maximum Pell grant awards by $845 per student
And cut investments in our infrastructure?
The Republican Transportation, HUD Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012 makes cuts to infrastructure that would cost 600,000 construction jobs and would undermine our ability to out-build our competitors and strengthen American competitiveness
And cut assistance to lower incomes families and the elderly?
The Republican budget and Agriculture Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012 drastically cuts food assistance for women, children and seniors
The Republican Transportation, HUD Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012 zeroes out programs that revitalize public housing and create jobs and address homelessness
Or will they stand with middle class families and seniors and support a balanced deficit reduction plan?
We know where the majority of Americans stand – according to a recent CNN/ORC International poll, 63 percent of Americans said they support a deficit reduction plan that asks everyone to pay their fair share. We hope Republicans will listen to the American people, put everything on the table in the Joint Select Committee, and work with us on a balanced approach to create jobs, reduce the deficit and protect the middle class, seniors and most vulnerable among us.