A New Direction For America

Bush Republican Policies: Wrong Direction for Hispanic Families

Americans are worried about gas prices, health care costs, college tuition, and the continued war in Iraq. Republicans are ignoring these concerns and taking our country in the wrong direction – choosing instead to pursue issues designed to distract and divide. Democrats have a plan to take our country in a new direction to create economic opportunity and security for middle-class working families by ensuring access to affordable health care and energy, good jobs, and a secure retirement, and by putting an end to Bush’s failed Iraq policy.

Democrats have a plan for better American jobs and better pay, while the Republican economy is moving in the wrong direction for Hispanic families.

· The real median household income of Hispanic families is down $1,631 since 2000 and, because of rising consumer costs, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is at its lowest level in 50 years. [CPS, 8/06; CEPR, 6/06]

· Over the last five years, the number of Hispanic Americans living in poverty has grown by 1.7 million. More than one in five – 9.4 million – Hispanic Americans live below the poverty line. [CPS, 8/06]

· In 2005, Hispanic women were two times as likely as Hispanic men to earn $5.15 per hour or less. [BLS, 5/06]

· Instead of creating good paying American jobs, Republicans have provided billions in corporate tax subsidies for shipping jobs overseas and steadfastly refused to increase the minimum wage for nine years.

· Democrats are fighting to repeal tax giveaways that encourage companies to move jobs overseas and raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour benefiting more than 2.8 million hard-working Hispanic Americans. [EPI, 6/06]

Democrats are fighting to make college more affordable, while Republicans have slashed federal student aid by $12 billion.

· Across the country, the costs of attending a 4-year public college have jumped 32% and the costs of attending a 4-year private college have jumped 21% since fall 2000. [Dept. of Education, 2005]

· Today, the typical student borrower now graduates from college with $17,500 in debt. [Proj. on Student Debt, 2004]

· Hispanic students have the highest high school drop out rate and only 12% of Hispanic Americans over age 25 have a bachelor’s degree. [Census, 3/05]

· But rather than helping the 1.8 million Hispanic students at degree-granting institutions and the many more interested in attending college, Republicans have made it harder to pay for college – cutting $12 billion out of federal student aid programs. [Dept. of Education, 2005]

· Democrats have a plan to make college more affordable for students – expanding and simplifying tax credits for college tuition; expanding Pell Grants; and cutting interest rates in half on student loans, saving the average student $5,600 over the lifetime of their loans.

Democrats will make health care more affordable, while Republicans have done nothing to help Hispanic families with rising health insurance costs.

· In 2005, the typical American family was paying $1,200 more a year for health insurance than when President Bush was first inaugurated – increasing 55% in real terms. [KFF, 2005]

· During President Bush’s tenure in the White House, the number of Hispanic Americans without health insurance has increased by more than two million -- to more than 14.1 million. That means that one in three Hispanics lack health insurance. [CPS, 8/06]

· Yet the Republican leadership has failed to take action to lower health care costs for middle-class working families.

· Instead, Republicans created a flawed Medicare prescription drug plan, written by the drug industry, which has failed to reduce drug prices for the 3.1 million Hispanic American Medicare beneficiaries. [KKF, 11/05]

· Democrats will address health care affordability by fixing the Republican prescription drug program and making insurance more affordable for both employers and employees. And Democrats will fight for greater access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services for minority communities.

Democrats are fighting for retirement security, while the Republican plan to privatize Social Security puts Hispanics’ retirement security in jeopardy.

· More than three-quarters of older Hispanic American Social Security beneficiaries rely on the monthly benefits for at least half of their income and 41% rely on the benefits for all of their income. [NCPSSM, 10/04]

· The poverty rate among Hispanic seniors would nearly triple to 51% without Social Security. [CBPP, 6/05]

· The Republican plan to privatize Social Security would undermine workers’ retirement security by destroying the guarantee of a minimum benefit, cutting benefits for the middle class and adding trillions to the national debt.

· This could hurt the 1.2 million Hispanic Americans receiving Social Security benefits. [SSA, 12/05]

· Democrats will ensure a dignified retirement for all workers by stopping the privatization of Social Security, expanding retirement savings incentives and enacting real pension reform that preserves hard-earned benefits.

Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices and achieve energy independence, while Republicans are giving subsidies to profitable oil companies.

· Americans across the country are paying an average of $2.70 for a gallon of regular gasoline – nearly twice what they paid when Bush took office in January 2001. [AAA, 9/06]

· As a result of these high prices, a two-car American family will spend an additional $1,831 on gasoline this year. [House Government Reform Committee, Dem. Staff, 8/06]

· Instead of working to bring down rising fuel costs, Republicans in Congress continue to push for billions in subsidies for Big Oil companies even as these companies report record profits.

· Democrats will fight price-gouging and end Big Oil tax subsidies; invest in developing alternative energy resources from the American heartland; and achieve independence from foreign oil.

Democrats fight for fiscal responsibility, while GOP creates record budget deficits.

· In five years, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have taken a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and turned it into record debt.

· President Bush has borrowed a staggering $1 trillion from foreign nations – more than the previous 42 U.S. presidents combined.

· The net impact of Republicans’ irresponsible economic policies is a debt burden of $28,322 for a typical American middle-income family of four. [Citizens for Tax Justice, 6/06]

· Democrats have a plan to reduce the federal deficit and restore the fiscal discipline of the 1990s that helped spur record economic growth.

Democrats have a plan for real security, while Republicans have mismanaged the war in Iraq and failed to make security at home a priority.

· The Bush Administration’s mismanagement of the Iraq war has inflicted a heavy toll on our troops – including the 127,827 brave Hispanic American men and women who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001.

· This has put a tremendous strain on families of the 30,707 Hispanic National Guardsmen and Reservists who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan – many of whom have been called up multiple times. [Dept. of Defense, 5/31/06]

· Here at home, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly failed to adequately secure our ports and borders and properly equip first responders across the nation.

· Democrats will transform the failed Bush Administration policies in Iraq , the Middle East and around the world; require the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country; and press for the beginning of the phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2006.

· Democrats will implement all of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, ensuring police, firefighters and other first responders have the equipment and training they need.

· Democrats will pass a New GI Bill of Rights for the 21^st Century to honor the sacrifice of our nation’s 1.1 million Hispanic American veterans and ensure that they receive all the benefits they have earned and deserve. [Census, 1/06]