Woolsey Touts "People's Budget", Says Bringing Home Troops Is "Moral Imperative" and "Fiscal Common Sense"

Statement

Rep. Lynn Woolsey released the following statement as the Congressional Progressive Caucus offered its budget alternative, The People's Budget:

"The Republican budget plan, their Roadmap to Ruin, is breathtaking in its recklessness. It's one of the worst proposals I can recall seeing during 18 years in Congress.

"We need other choices, like the People's Budget that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is offering today. It's called the People's Budget because it invests in people and listens to people…because its values are American values.

"The People's Budget shows that you can tame the deficit without shredding the safety net, without destroying Medicare, without giving the back of the hand treatment to the middle class. We think working families deserve more prosperity, not more austerity.

"We eliminate the deficit by 2021 by restoring some sanity to our tax system; by bringing down health care costs with a public option; and by ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Under the People's Budget, we finally bring the troops home. We provide for a safe, orderly, responsible redeployment of troops and contractors out of Iraq and Afghanistan, saving more than $1.5 trillion above current law spending levels over 10 years.

"It's not only a moral imperative, it's fiscal common sense. This military occupation of Afghanistan is draining the Treasury to the tune of nearly $7 billion every single month…and for what?

"The Taliban hasn't been defeated. Democracy hasn't taken root. We've undermined rather than advanced our national security interests. This war hasn't accomplished a single thing it was supposed to. It's disastrous foreign policy, and it's a bum deal for taxpayers.

"So if we're looking for places to cut spending, let's start with the government program that destroys American lives…and NOT the programs -- like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and Pell Grants -- that save and enrich American lives.

"We believe a budget is a reflection of the nation's values. And the American people's values include shared sacrifice and investment in our future. Cutting education and health care to pay for a 10-year unwinnable war and so the wealthy can make out like bandits -- these are not American values.

"I am proud to stand with my colleagues today in support of this sound plan, and I urge all members of the people's House to embrace the People's Budget."

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