WASHINGTON – By a vote of 219-205 on Thursday, House Republicans approved a budget from Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, with massive cuts to health care and other services, the promised to balance the federal deficit within 10 years.
No legislation to enact the budget has been put forward in Congress. The vote was largely symbolic and shows the intentions of Republicans should they gain a majority in the Senate and take the White House in 2016.
Democrats also OK’d on a plan that relies on tax hikes to keep programs in place and would keep deficits as high as $600 billion a year.
Following the Republican vote, President Barack Obama released this message:
President Barack Obama
Today’s vote illustrates once again that the House Republicans’ view of the economy is a top-down approach that cuts taxes for millionaires and could raise taxes on middle class families with kids by an average of at least $2,000.If the budget the House Republicans voted for today was enacted and its deep cuts compared to what the President has proposed fell across the board, within a few years, more than 1.1 million people could lose access to job training and employment services, more than 600,000 students could lose Pell Grants that help pay for college, and approximately 170,000 children could lose access to early-childhood education. Critical investments in our roads and bridges and scientific research to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s also could see drastic cuts. And rather than expanding health coverage for all Americans and making it more affordable, the House Republican Budget would repeal the Affordable Care Act, raising health care costs on families and businesses and eliminating coverage for millions.
The President believes we need to grow the economy from the middle-out, not the top down, and expand opportunity for all hardworking Americans. Rather than once again putting forward a top-down approach, House Republicans should join the President and Democrats in taking steps that would strengthen the economy and create opportunity, like raising the minimum wage, extending emergency unemployment insurance, advancing paycheck fairness, and passing bipartisan immigration reform.
House Republicans described their budget in this statement:
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
The House Republican budget cuts spending by $5.1 trillion over the next ten years. It targets wasteful Washington spending and reforms the drivers of the debt.This budget stops spending money we don’t have. A balanced budget will foster a healthier economy and help create jobs. This will ensure the next generation inherits a stronger, more prosperous America.
Key Components of the House Republican Budget:
Protect the Nation
The first job of the federal government is to protect the country from threats at home and abroad. Whether defeating the terrorists who attacked this country on September 11, 2001, deterring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or battling insurgents who would harbor terrorist networks, the men and women of the United States’ military have performed superbly. This budget rejects the President’s cuts to national security. It provides the best equipment, training, and compensation for their continued success. It also keeps faith with the veterans who have served and protected the nation.
Expand Opportunity
Though not sufficient by themselves, federal policies can help foster a stronger economy. This budget seeks to equip Americans with the skills they need in a 21st-century economy and to create jobs through long-overdue tax reform. Both reforms work off the same principle: The American people know their needs better than bureaucrats thousands of miles away.
Strengthen the Safety Net
This budget applies the lessons of welfare reform to other federal-aid programs. It gives states more flexibility to tailor programs to their people’s needs. It gives those closest to the people better tools so they can root out waste, fraud, and abuse. Finally, it empowers recipients to get off the aid rolls and back on the payroll. By enlisting states in the fight against poverty, this budget builds a partnership between the federal government and our communities. Although this budget does not lay out a full welfare-reform plan, it takes steps toward reforming these programs to encourage work, to increase economic growth and jobs, and to preserve the safety net.
Secure Seniors’ Retirement
This budget protects and strengthens Medicare for current and future generations. It also requires the President and Congress to work together to develop a solution for Social Security. This budget recognizes that the federal government must keep its word to current and future seniors. And to do that, it must reform these programs.
Restore Fairness
The administration’s uncontrolled, wasteful spending in combination with an overzealous regulatory agenda has weakened an anemic economy and hurt job creation, especially for small businesses. To restore fairness and vitality to our economy, this budget ends cronyism; eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse; and returns the federal government to its proper sphere of activity.
