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A Budget for the Middle Class
By Bernie Sanders
MotherJones
Tuesday 30 January 2007
On the eve of President Bush's 2007 budget
proposal, freshman Senator and Senate Budget Committee member Bernie Sanders
(I-VT) demands a financial plan for America that rolls back tax cuts for the
wealthy and stands up for the middle class and working poor.
Early next month, the president has an historic opportunity to submit a federal
budget to a Democratically-controlled Congress that will expand the middle class,
reduce the enormous gap between the rich and the poor, and lower the poverty
rate. But don't hold your breath. The president's pledge to make
all of his tax cuts permanent, including hundreds of billions to the wealthiest
people in our country, while balancing the budget within five years, is not
an encouraging sign of things to come.
While there is still time to change course, it appears that the president's
budget proposal will be closer than ever to meeting Grover Norquist's
goal of cutting government "down to the size where we can drown it in the
bathtub."
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that when the Republicans controlled
Congress, Vice President Dick Cheney infamously declared that "deficits
don't matter."
Or, when then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, upped the ante by telling a
group of bankers that "Nothing is more important in the face of war than
cutting taxes."
In large part by ramming through massive tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires,
and wealthy corporations, President Bush and the Republican Congress were responsible
for racking-up the three largest deficits in U.S. history and accumulating a
record-breaking $8.6 trillion national debt.
And now, with the Democrats in control of Congress, the president has suddenly
gotten deficit-reduction religion while continuing his failed trickle-down economic
policies. If the president succeeds, his plan will inevitably lead to massive
cutbacks in Medicare, Medicaid, education, veterans' benefits, and the environment.
I do not believe that is the vision of America that voters had in mind when
they put Democrats in charge of Congress last November.
At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to keep their heads above
water economically the last thing we need to do is to make the president's tax
cuts for the wealthy permanent. What is needed in Washington is the political
courage to roll-back the president's tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent
and stand-up for the middle class and working poor.
The president still believes that the economy is booming as a result of his
tax breaks. But the president fails to note that since he has been in office,
5.4 million middle class Americans have slipped into poverty, 6.8 million Americans
have lost their health insurance, median income for working-age families has
declined for five consecutive years, and 3 million manufacturing workers have
lost their jobs. At the same time, the costs of education, prescription drugs,
energy, and housing have risen dramatically.
Meanwhile, the wealthy have never had it so good. The richest 13,000 households
earn nearly as much income as the bottom 20 million and the top one percent
own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.
In terms of our federal budget priorities there is one key question which must
be asked. Which side are we on: the rich and the powerful or the middle class
and working families?
As a member of the Senate Budget Committee the choice is pretty clear to me.
I will not be voting for more tax breaks for the outgoing CEO of Home Depot
who recently received a $210 million golden parachute. Rather, I will be voting
to substantially increase financial aid for low and middle class families so
that every American, regardless of income, can receive a college education.
I will not support a tax cut for the former CEO of Pfizer who received a $200
million compensation package. Instead, I will vote to substantially increase
funding for child care so that working families can find affordable and quality
care for their children.
I don't think that the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, who managed to get a $400
million retirement package, needs more tax relief. In my view, it is far more
important that we keep our promises to the veterans of this country who now
find themselves on waiting lists to get the health care they need.
If, as a nation, we are serious about addressing the long neglected needs of
the working people of this country and creating a more egalitarian society,
we have got to invest in education, health care, housing, infrastructure, environmental
protection and sustainable energy as well as many other areas. We also have
to reduce our national debt. Given that reality, Congress must develop the courage
to stand up to the big money interests and roll-back the tax breaks for the
wealthiest one percent, eliminate corporate welfare and demand that the wealthy
and powerful rejoin American society.
We should do no less.
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Bernie Sanders is the freshman senator from Vermont.
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