Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
Representing the 2nd Congressional District of Wisconsin
Fiscal Year 2013 Budget
Supporting a Values-Based Budget that Creates Jobs and Cuts the Deficit
On March 29, 2012, I voted for a budget plan focused on job creation, economic growth, and a balanced approach to deficit reduction. The Democratic Budget was offered as an alternative to the Ryan Budget which would end the guarantee of Medicare and undermine job creation initiatives.
Our nation’s budget is a statement of our priorities and values. My test for a budget proposal is whether it is good for middle class Wisconsin families. The Ryan Budget fails that test. In these challenging economic times, our highest priority must be job creation and economic growth. I support a balanced approach to meet our nation’s fiscal challenges. We must preserve the Medicare guarantee, provide tax relief for working families, and make the investments necessary to keep our country moving forward.
The Ryan Budget ends the guarantee of Medicare and replaces it with a plan that would provide vouchers for the purchase of insurance that would not keep pace with rising medical costs. It would also make deep cuts to non-defense spending. His plan calls for cuts of $879 billion, but does not specify where those cuts would be made. If made across the board, it would require deep cuts in student loans and slash investments in scientific and medical research.
The Ryan plan also includes the elimination of unspecified tax deductions which could extend to many deductions relied upon by middle class families, including those for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. By not specifying these cuts, the Ryan Budget hides its true impact on Wisconsin’s middle class families. Yet, it would extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest and provide an additional tax break to those earning the most.
The Democratic Budget alternative included investments in infrastructure, tax credits for job creation, and initiatives to promote the hiring of teachers, first responders, and veterans that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. It would have invested in expanding life-saving medical research, strengthening innovative manufacturing, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The Democratic Budget would have instituted the “Buffett Rule” to require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes. Small businesses would also have gained increased access to Small Business Administration loans under the Democratic plan.
It also would have prevented an increase in the interest rate for some student loans. The Ryan Budget will allow the Stafford Loan interest rate to double, from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012. I had offered an amendment to the Ryan Budget to keep the loan rate as it is, but my amendment was blocked.
Side-By-Side of Ryan Budget and Democratic Budget
Ryan Budget | Democratic Budget | |
Medicare | Ends Medicare guarantee, raises seniors’ health costs, for everyone under 55. Also immediately raises seniors’ health costs by repealing provisions closing Rx drug donut hole and repealing new free preventive care benefit under Medicare | Preserves Medicare for everyone. Also maintains provisions that reduce seniors’ health costs, including closing Rx drug donut hole and the new free preventive care benefit under Medicare |
Taxes | Provides around $394,000 a year in tax cuts for those earning over $1 million per year (TPC & CBPP) This includes $129,000 from extending the Bush Tax cuts for the wealthy, and another $265,000 from lowering the tax rate for individuals at the top from 35% to 25%. Replaces the current tax brackets with just two brackets: 10% and 25% with no details on how Republicans would pay for these tax cuts, which could cost over $4 trillion Protects tax breaks and boosts incentives for corporations shipping American jobs overseas and preserves tax breaks for Big Oil | Makes permanent 2001/2003 middle-class tax cuts Allows tax breaks for the wealthy to lapse, and includes the “Buffett Rule,” which calls for the wealthiest to pay for a higher share of their income in taxes Repeals tax cuts for Big Oil, rolls back tax cuts for corporations that are costing American jobs, and closes other loopholes |
Medicaid | Jeopardizes long-term care coverage for millions of seniors -- slashing Medicaid by $810 billion over next 10 years. Two-thirds of Medicaid spending covers seniors and individuals with disabilities | Protects Medicaid and the millions of seniors in nursing homes who rely on Medicaid for long-term care coverage |
Education | Cuts college aid for more than 9 million students—cutting Pell Grant awards, and eliminating grants for 400,000 students in 2013 alone– and allows the interest rate on loans for nearly 7.5 million students to double in July Slashes education (largely K-12) by $115 billion over ten years, cutting extra reading and math help for low-income children. Also cuts 200,000 children and their families from Head Start in just one year | Preserves historic gains in college aid, increasing the current maximum Pell Grant to $5,635 and extending lower student loan interest rates for millions and the tax credit for higher education Rejects GOP cuts, follows President’s budget in strengthening K-12 education with a 4 percent increase |
Make It In America | Destroys more than 4 million jobs over the next two years, slashing education and investments in roads, bridges, railway and transit, and American innovation Makes significant cuts to transportation investments in roads, bridges, rail lines, transit systems, and airports. Next year, transportation spending would be down by nearly 50 percent, which could delay or stop projects already underway Investments in science, medical research, and technology would be cut by more than $100 billion over the next decade, including cutting the number of new NIH grants by over 16,000 over a decade, potentially slowing research to fight Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and AIDS Protects the $4 billion in tax breaks oil companies receive every year -- even as the top five oil companies made over $1 trillion in profits over the last decade. Reduces investments in clean energy – like wind and solar that can make us less vulnerable to price spikes in the future -- by 19 percent over the next decade | Includes President’s American Jobs Act – investments in infrastructure, tax credits for job creation, and efforts to promote the hiring of teachers, first responders, and veterans -- that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs Rebuilds America, restoring GOP cuts in transportation, including the President’s robust surface transportation proposal, with an infrastructure bank for public-private partnerships to finance rebuilding America and creating jobs Includes President’s investments to expand NIH life-saving medical research, strengthen innovative manufacturing, and bolster science and engineering workforce development Continues our commitment to U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency to continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil |
Deficit | This unbalanced plan, which ends the Medicare guarantee to pay for tax cuts for big oil and millionaires, slashes spending by $5.3 trillion – 62% on the backs of the poor -- and claims to cut deficit by $3.3 trillion from the President’s budget | Stabilizes the deficit at less than 3 percent of GDP by 2015; makes the tough choices and adheres to the discretionary spending limits in the debt limit deal |
Resources
Summary of the Democratic Budget
Top Reasons to Oppose the Ryan Budget
Myth v. Reality on the Ryan Budget
PRESS: Baldwin Backs Responsible Alternative Budget
PRESS: Baldwin Effort to Keep Student Loan Interest Rate Low Blocked
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