Our budget challenge requires serious leadership, and can’t be driven by dangerous ideology.
But U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan's plan would take a slash and burn approach to the federal budget — ending Medicare as we know it, threatening the economic security of the millions of vulnerable Americans, and forcing the middle class to bear more than their share of the burden of balancing the budget.
My grandparents raised me from when I was two months old, and they sacrificed so much to give me opportunities I might otherwise have been denied. They even continued to work demanding jobs for me, instead of enjoying the retirement they’d earned with a lifetime of hard work.
But when my grandmother grew older and more frail, she relied on Medicare to provide affordable care. Without Medicare, not only would her own economic security have been compromised, but so would my own.I would have gladly gone into debt to take care for Nana — but because of Medicare, I didn’t have to.
That’s why jeopardizing the future of Medicare is too large a sacrifice for the next generation of American seniors and the middle class.
And that’s why the Ryan Budget is so dangerous.
Slashing the key investments – in student loans, in clean energy technology, in medical and scientific research – is not the answer. And balancing the budget on the backs of seniors in the future, and on the middle class now and moving forward, isn’t a responsible solution. It isn’t leadership. And it’s up to us to stop this dangerous plan from becoming law.
This is a plan to transform the budget in a radical right-wing image. And already, each one of my Republican opponents has endorsed this plan. In Washington, the extremists are excitedly beating the drums for ending Medicare as we know it and turning it into a voucher program -- too much is at stake.
If a reckless plan like the Ryan budget had been in place when I was young, I don’t know how my grandparents would have been able to raise me -- or where I’d be today. And if the Ryan budget passes now, millions of American families will pay the price – today, and into the future.
We cannot let that happen. I’ll always work with both parties on serious efforts to reduce our deficit. And I know that with some commonsense solutions – like repealing subsidies for Big Oil, passing the Buffett Rule for tax fairness so millionaires pay the same tax rate as middle class families, and bringing our troops home from Afghanistan now – we can begin to get our debt under control.
I’ll never let radical ideology substitute for a real plan -- particularly one as dangerous and unfair as the Ryan budget.
It is helpful to immerse oneself in material before issuing a response. Otherwise it might indicate to others that you didn't understand the article and that could lessen your credibility.
You honestly consider a $1T raid on the SS fund as being a sufficient means to clean up a deficit spending problem? The only real way to clean up a deficit spending problem is by making sure you don't spend more than you take in - it's actually quite a simple concept. The only two Presidents in modern history to actually reduce federal spending from year to year was Reagan in FY1987 (-1.4%) and George H.W. Bush in FY1993 (-.5%). Clinton had all increases from FY1994-FY2001.
She also voted against Obama's plan. So questioning exactly were she stands is valid.
In that case, why would you want to remove the single-payer, non-insurance health plan for seniors and replace it with a variety of private insurance companies? That won't keep costs down, it will just hurt the people who need the care. "You lefties define wealthy?" Anybody earning over one million$ per year. I worked at several jobs that the government didn't fund, and I made nowhere near that amount.
Obama's latest budget in year 3 did not get even 1 vote from either Republicans OR Democrats. So you vote for no budget? Then you and Obama stand alone with NO support from either side of the aisle in Congress.
Isolating a sentence I wrote to reinforce a point made by another and responding to it out of context does not exactly improve your credibility.
In November, we get the opportunity to send Obama packing, and Obama's unpatriotic views of the role of the Supreme Court and Obama's unpatriotic and incredibly distorted view of the judicial branch of our Government.
The Ryan budget is a joke. I'll give you all tax cuts, and I'll make it "revenue neutral" by closing deductions. I just won't tell you about which deductions I plan to close, nor provide any specifics on what I will cut to get discretionary spending to the utterly absurd level of 3% of GDP...
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/apr/06/mitt-romney/romney-says-obama-failed-pass-budget/
I've asked before for something to back up your 'they get automatic cost of insurance increases' claims. I have looked and could not find anything that indicates that they get automatic pay adjustments to cover insurance cost increases. Perhaps you should read the link that Justme posted above--it seems to clear up a lot of the false attacks that have been launched against Ryan's proposal...
Not only is Paul Ryan's budget "dangerous" but he, himself, is extremely dangerous to the State and to the Nation. A few of the Simple reasons that he is dangerous: well-educated, articulate, photogenic, an advocate of self-centeredness, a believer in the philosophy of Ayn Rand, a plutocrat out only for himself and the uber-wealthy. He is waging a class warfare against virtually all others in the United States. While I understand that Northshore residents, "Nancy's and Neils" favor, or believe that they should favor, the Republicans, stop following lemming-like the Republican designation. It is not the real and true Republican Party. As for Mr. Ryan: Please do not be taken in by his manners. The content of his and the TP Republicans should be abhorrent to all. Trickle-down never really existed. Ryan is the 21st century's Corialanus. As a lifelong Republican, I shudder when individuals such as Ryan leave Americans no good choice but to vote for Obama. This is not a Republican party to whom we should pay homage. "Most thought-provoking in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking."
Seriously Tammy, you can literally confiscate all the wealth from all the Warren Buffets of the world and it runs the US government for less than a day. You can tax oil companies until they produce nothing and Medicare is still broke. The intellectual bankruptcy of the democratic party is astounding; where is the Tammy Baldwin plan to control spending? Obama's latest budget was rejected 414-0 in the house and the democratic controlled senate hasn't passed a budget in nearly 3 years but clueless Tammy is ready to work with both parties? God help us all.
I think you are incorrect. Yes, the president does not pass budgets, but you should note that Sanders commented that Obama/Reid/Pelosi were the ones responsible for failing to pass a budget, not just Obama. The president is supposed to submit his budget to congress for their approval. Obama's budget was rejected 414-0 recently in the House.
"Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate has gone nearly three years without a budget, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan says"
Enlightened self-interest is certainly not greed although the 20th century went to the trouble of testing the alternative with the Soviet Union and Red China. The for profit free enterprise system has liberated more people from poverty, disease and ignorance than all the socialist utopias in the world combined. Setting aside the Freudian and praxeological navel gazing where is the fine line between providing your family with the necessities of life and this loathsome state of hyper-greed? Are two cars, indoor plumbing, and electricity 24 hours a day, central heat plus air-conditioning OK or does that cross the line into wanton disregard for others? Who gets to decide these things and what makes you think they would be any less self-centered than yourself?
Adam appears to have beaten me to the punch. My questions revolve around his answer, however. Can you please provide a successful historical example for the society you outline above? Can you explain to me how an economy exists when success (and therefore innovation) are demonized in an effort to make every man his brothers equal? The altruistic utopia that sends a tingle up your leg is impossible to reach. Your failure to grasp the simple fact that intellectual enlightenment no more brings this world closer to perfect harmony then any other social system, is your downfall. The assumption that knowledge and understanding what is hidden will save this country is the same illogical logic that is about to bring her to her knees. Until the liberals and other wizards of smart realize that the desire for more and better is the engine that drives human development, you will for ever flounder in stagnant socialist thought.
Here's a tip -- don't act all aghast about 'cuts' to Medicare and then expect seniors to be cool with something that's going to affect them even worse.
The comments, most of which are off point, deflecting from the issue of ethics, would seem to prove only that "the most thought-provoking matter in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking." Yes, I still, and will, to my dying day encourage everyone to read Heidegger daily. The issues of thinking, language and its power to create and build, and the danger of technology: there is no thinker more in tune with our challenges. Among the adages to contemplate today: "Language is the house of Being. In its home man dwells. Those who think and those who create with words are the guardians of this house." or, perhaps this will resonate more fully: "Questioning is the piety of thought." Ryan is dangerous to the whole nation; but, then you are the elite few, I suppose. Paul Ryan's budget is class warfare; or, to quote my teacher: "The Ryan budget is a devastatingly unmitigated attack upon democratic stability and fiscal common sense." And, look into, question, his philosophical alignment with Ayn Rand and his protectionist stance for the ultra wealthy: both are destructive to the nature of our democratic republic: the gauntlet has been thrown down: pick it up, check for what lies concealed.'night.