Today, I voted against the Ryan Republican Budget, a brazen attempt to wreak havoc on the quality of life and the future of Californians and families across this nation, all for the sake of protecting loopholes for the wealthy and corporations shipping jobs overseas. The American people are tired of House Republicans’ backward values and broken priorities. This budget is nothing less than a recipe for recession that betrays our seniors, devastates the education and well-being of our children, and destroys jobs. If implemented, entrepreneurs would see our trade promotion programs cut by more than half a billion dollars, leaving American small business owners without the resources they need to be competitive in the global marketplace. This “out of touch” budget slashes food stamps by $137 million, callously pulling the rug from up under over 200,000 low-income women and children who desperately rely on this critical program for assistance. Over 145,000 people in my own community in Los Angeles rely on the food stamps to eat. More than half of them are children. The Ryan budget also eliminates the Affordable Care Act and significantly undermines the economic and health security of seniors by fundamentally ending the Medicare program as we know it. With one in three women struggling on the brink of poverty, this budget would effectively push them over the edge. This budget is wrong for the American people, and wrong for our nation. We should be doing more not less for the American people. In stark contrast, the Democrats, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus have brought forth an alternative budget proposal that closes the opportunity gap, invests in our children’s education, creates jobs and responsibly reduces the deficit. As co-chair of the PORTS Caucus, I am pleased that the Democratic Budget proposal included a common sense reform for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which will finally utilize the resources our ports collect to make much needed improvements at our nation’s ports, increase exports and create jobs.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 18:47:24 +0000