Date: 2025-04-03 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028022 | |||||||||
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THE HOUSE
GOP POLICY PROPOSAL TheHill: Democrats accuse GOP of reverse Robin Hood ‘scheme’ Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) leaves the Capitol following the last vote of the week on Dec. 12, 2024. Original article: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5141167-democrats-blast-republican-budget-plan/ Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | |||||||||
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Democrats accuse GOP of reverse Robin Hood ‘scheme’
Written by by Mike Lillis
02/12/25 1:59 PM ET
House Democrats wasted no time on Wednesday bashing the Republicans’ newly unveiled budget proposal, accusing GOP leaders of attempting a reverse Robin Hood “scheme” that will transfer trillions of dollars from the working classes to the wealthy.
“Life is getting more expensive under this administration,” said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.). “What’s the response of this administration and House Republicans? To push forward a $4.5 trillion scheme to gut Medicaid — end it as we know it — and ultimately reward billionaires and corporations.
“It is a betrayal of the middle class.”
The accusations flew shortly after GOP leaders introduced their budget plan designed to advance a massive package of Trump’s legislative priorities, including a crackdown on immigration, an expansion of fossil fuel production and an extension of the Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts, some of which expire at the end of the year.
The proposal provides only a vague outline of the Republicans’ legislative plans, which they intend to move through a budget process, known as reconciliation, that allows the majority to bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. But the contours provide for a massive tax-cut extension, partially offset by huge cuts in federal programs.
The blueprint allows for $4.5 trillion in new deficit spending as a result of the tax-cut extensions. And it directs the various House committees to find at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs under their jurisdiction, although it also includes a stated “goal” of $2 trillion in program cuts, which could affect the tax provisions if that target is not met.
Additionally, the plan also features a $4 trillion increase in the nation’s debt ceiling.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the Budget Committee will consider the resolution on Thursday.
“This will unlock the process and get us moving,” he said, “so we’re excited about it.”
Democrats warn that cuts of the size Republicans have envisioned will inevitably harm low- and middle-class Americans at a time when the cost of certain consumer goods is already high.
Democrats are sounding alarms about the practical effects of the GOP plan in hopes that those warnings resonate with voters of all stripes outside the Beltway. To do it, they’re pointing to specific programs likely to fall on the GOP’s chopping block.
“The Republican majority is proposing $2 trillion in spending cuts that includes significant decreases to Medicaid, to the [Affordable Care Act], food assistance, student loans, and sustainable energy programs — cuts that will make it harder on working families to afford college, to access health care and to put food on the table,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.).
Democrats are also forecasting that, despite the trillions of dollars in proposed cuts, the GOP’s plans will inevitably pile trillions of dollars more onto the national debt.
“This is the same crew that, when Democrats were in charge, cried crocodile tears about deficits and debt. But then once they’re in office, they blow up the debt far more than any Democratic president or Democratic Congress has,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (Pa.), senior Democrat on the Budget Committee.
“And why? Is it to help the middle class? Is it to help working Americans in my neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia?” he added. “No. It’s to give massive tax cuts to millionaires and to elite corporations.”
Democrats are also angry with actions taken by Trump, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which is facing legal fights over its efforts to dismantle agencies, buy out federal workers from their jobs and gain access to sensitive government payment systems.
The work is being carried out in the name of saving taxpayer money, but has raised a number of questions, including about Musk’s conflicts of interest given the government contracts his companies enjoy.
“They are not looking to uncover waste. They are not looking to uncover fraud. And they’re not looking to save you money,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) told reporters in the Capitol.
“What they are doing is shifting the money,” she continued. “They want to cut jobs, they’re trying to eliminate much of the federal workforce. They are trying to cut programs and they are trying to eliminate agencies so that they can use that money to further enrich Elon Musk.”
Tags Elon Musk Joe Neguse Mike Johnson Veronica Escobar
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