[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1671-S1672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE RYAN BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Earlier this year, with November election losses fresh in 
their minds, top Republicans promised a kinder, gentler Republican 
Party, a Republican Party that cared about ``every American . . . 
achieving their dreams.'' Republicans bandied about words such as 
``fairness'' and ``opportunity.'' They made overtures toward women and 
Hispanics. They promised cooperation and an end to brinkmanship. House 
Majority Leader Cantor even spoke of ``an agenda based on a shared 
vision of creating the conditions for health, happiness, prosperity for 
more Americans and their families.''
  Rebranding, we thought, was underway. Then a few weeks passed and the 
Republican emphasis on fairness and equity made a direct U-turn back to 
where they started. Today the House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan 
will unveil an extreme budget that is anything but balanced. This 
budget reflects the same skewed priorities the Republican Party has 
championed for years, the same skewed priorities Americans rejected in 
November. The Ryan budget will call for more tax breaks for the 
wealthy, an end of Medicare as we know it, and Draconian cuts to 
education and other programs to help America's economy grow and 
prosper.
  We have heard it many times and I will repeat it. Yogi Berra famously 
said, ``It's deja vu all over again,'' and it really is. We have seen 
this before, deja vu all over again. The Ryan budget will shower more 
tax breaks on millionaires and continue to tilt the playing field to 
the advantage of big corporate interests and raise taxes for the middle 
class.
  I know Congressman Ryan is held out to be this guru who understands 
things so well. What he understands is gimmickry and that is what he 
has done so well. He has pulled the wool over the eyes of those people 
in the House and they continue following him, but his

[[Page S1672]]

budget is anything but balanced, anything but fair. Members of the 
House should look at what they are being led into--or out of.

  This plan, just like last year, refused to close a single tax 
loophole in order to reduce the deficit. Yet it guts investments in 
education, health care, public safety, scientific research, and job-
creating clean energy technology. The Ryan budget would end the 
Medicare guarantee and force seniors into a voucher program. It would 
ax preventive health care such as cancer screenings and charge seniors 
more for prescriptions and further reduce the funding for food 
inspectors, police, and first responders generally. As if protecting 
the wealthy special interests is not bad enough, the Republican budget 
also devastates the economy, costing jobs and slowing economic growth.
  Not only is this a wrong approach, it is the same old approach. To 
make matters worse, the Paul Ryan Budget No. 3--he has done it two 
other times--used the same fuzzy math and gimmickry as his previous two 
budgets, relies on accounting that is creative at best and fraudulent 
at worst to inflate its claims of deficit reduction. We believe it is 
critical to stabilize the deficit, but it will take more than 
accounting gimmicks to achieve real deficit reduction.
  At a time when corporations are making record profits, the stock 
market is soaring, and wealthy Americans' income continues to rise, the 
deficit reduction should not have to be at the expense of middle-class 
families, senior citizens, and the poor. Americans have demanded a fair 
approach to deficit reduction for all Americans--Democrats, 
Independents, and Republicans. They want a fair approach to deficit 
reduction that makes sensible cuts and asks profitable corporations and 
the wealthiest among us to share the burden--balanced.
  We have been listening. That is why this week Budget Committee Chair 
Patty Murray will introduce a budget that reflects those balanced 
priorities. Her plan, the Democratic plan, will cut wasteful spending 
and reduce the deficit, close tax loopholes that benefit the rich, and 
invest where the economy needs to grow, to go really hard, to continue 
to build, to grow. It will create a strong middle class.
  Congressman Ryan and his Republican colleagues in Congress have taken 
a different approach, an approach that makes it plain they missed the 
message in the November elections. Their budget once again will put 
moneyed special interests ahead of middle-class families, and no amount 
of rebranding will hide that.

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