Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) voted against the FY 2012 budget put forth by the Republican Majority, calling it a repeat of the failed attempt in 2003 by President Bush, and the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans in 1995, to destroy Medicaid and Medicare.  He said the proposal contains massive cuts to the social safety net while substantially lowering corporate taxes.   To view Rep. Engel’s speech on the House floor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxh_vOZtiU

“To quote former President Ronald Reagan, ‘There you go again.’  The House Republican Majority is just dusting off the same playbook they have been using for decades.  If they had their way, they would turn back the clock and repeal the 20^th Century.  Our country has too many important issues facing it to waste our time with the Tea Party’s wish list to Santa Claus.  They are using our real budget deficit problem to attack and destroy Medicare and Medicaid.  They shift the burden of balancing the budget from the wealthiest Americans to lower- and middle-income families.  They want to make Medicare into a voucher system and cut taxes for Big Oil and companies who outsource.  However, they have no qualms that seniors would be forced to pay more for medical care, as companies like BP enjoy tax breaks,” said Rep. Engel.

The Republican budget contains $1.8 trillion in cuts from mandatory spending unrelated to health care and Social Security.  There are scant specifics, but these cuts are likely to come from unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs that benefit working families and low-income households.  The budget claims to produce an unemployment rate of 4% by 2015 and to lead to lofty numbers in GDP and wages.  The Republicans claim their budget will cut $4 trillion over the next ten years, with over a quarter coming from their repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reports that repeal would actually add $230 billion to the deficit. 

“I have a hard time believing the fantasy that this budget perpetuates.  What’s next, they’ll propose legislation declaring the world flat?   If they were serious about saving $4 trillion, they would allow the Bush tax cuts to expire,” added Rep. Engel.

Adoption of the budget is unlikely, as the Senate is expected to reject it.  Should it manage to be adopted, it would result in

·         Almost $600 million in highway infrastructure investment lost for New York      State, and over 20,000 jobs lost. 

·         The massive cuts being made to the Pell Grants program would affect over 20,000 students in the Bronx, Rockland and Westchester Counties alone. 

·         College aid is cut for nearly 10 million American students, with the maximum Pell grant slashed almost in half.  

·         Seniors would pay $12,500 for health care in 2022 under the GOP plan, more than twice what they pay under traditional Medicare. 

·         Meanwhile, $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes remain, as investments in clean energy technologies of the future vanish. 

·         It also makes permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest top two percent of the country.

“The Republican budget privatizes Medicare and turns it into a voucher system, thus denying those currently in the workforce, who are paying into Medicare, the chance to actually benefit from the program.  It dismantles Medicaid, turning it into a system of block grants, leading up to the point in the future where the cost of the program will dwarf the amount of grants provided to states. The goal here is to end Medicaid as we know it by setting it up to fail.  Medicaid benefits the poor and the disabled, two groups who should not carry the load of balancing the budget. 

“They made it clear where their priorities are – it is with billionaires and multinational corporations.  It is not where it should be – with seniors, our children, our working families.  They are also reneging on their number one 2010 campaign promise to put Americans back to work.  After 100 days in the Majority, we have not voted on a single bill to create jobs.  Instead, we are fighting for the same agenda Newt Gingrich tried to cram through almost two decades ago.  The American people deserve better than that,” added Rep. Engel.

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