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Pocan: Republican Budget Makes You Work Harder For Less

March 18, 2015

Washington, D.C U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), a member of the House Budget Committee, today issued the following statement on the Republican Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Resolution:

"Budgets show our priorities, and what is clear is House Republicans want hard-working Americans to work harder for less. Since the financial crisis, real wages for American workers have barely grown at all. This budget does nothing to help working families get ahead or improve employment opportunities and paychecks. Instead, it is chock-full of tax giveaways to the wealthy and expands a tax code already tilted to benefit the top 1 percent. Our country deserves a budget which benefits every American, not just the wealthy few.

"This budget proposal makes it harder for middle-class families to pay for college and does not provide a single penny to address the $1.2 trillion student loan debt crisis. Republican cuts to education are essentially ensuring the future belongs to the privileged few by greasing the ladders of opportunity for children from middle-class families and making a college education less affordable. Repeated cuts to education will hurt our nation's economy over the long-term and our ability to compete in the global economy.

"Under the Republican plan, the promise of a secure retirement after a lifetime of hard work will be a thing of the past. Their plan once again ends the Medicare guarantee and makes deep cuts to the safety net for America's seniors. Seniors on Medicare will have to pay more for preventive health services and prescription drugs, in essence a tax hike on those who can afford it the least.

"These are not my values or the values of my constituents in South Central Wisconsin. I understand tough choices need to be made when coming up with a budget. But balancing budgets on the backs of seniors, students, and working families is a reckless and irresponsible choice. Congress should work together to develop a budget for the American people which creates good-paying jobs and expands economic opportunity for all."

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Issues:Budget