Statement on Federal Budget Proposals
Statement
The budget proposals from both parties in Washington fail to address the real issue: jobs for Americans. Putting Americans back to work is the way we will reduce the deficit and balance the budget.
I oppose privatizing Medicare and forcing seniors to buy insurance with vouchers. This would throw millions of senior citizens into poverty or worse, and it fails to lower health care costs.
Instead of cutting Medicare and Social Security, we can save money by cutting foreign aid and foreign military commitments, from Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, to Germany, Japan and Italy. We must end corporate welfare and tax giveaways that allow companies like GE to pay no taxes at all.
We have given government an unlimited expense account -- and it has exceeded it. Giving Washington more money is not the solution. That's why I oppose raising taxes.
We need to put Americans back to work instead of pushing more trade deals like NAFTA that send our jobs overseas.
Putting Americans back to work is the best way to reduce the deficit. Right now, about 56% of Americans over the age of 16 are working. If the percentage of working Americans increases to 64%, the budget deficit disappears. To put it another way, working Americans and profitable businesses pay taxes and pay into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. The jobs offshored to China do not pay U.S. taxes.
But instead of focusing on jobs for Americans, the leaders of both parties are pushing for more failed trade deals that send American jobs overseas.
In the next 90 days, Congress will vote on a Korea trade agreement that would outsource thousands of American jobs and open the door to more imports from communist China. The party leaders are also pushing a NAFTA-style deal with Colombia that will cost us more jobs.
I will oppose these trade deals and will fight for American jobs. I ask Jane Corwin, Kathy Hochul and Ian Murphy to join me in making an iron-clad commitment to fight against these unfair trade deals.
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