Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) issued the following statement regarding today’s vote on the House Republican budget:

“To get our economy back on track and help Washington’s families and businesses, we need to find responsible, bipartisan solutions to our nation’s fiscal issues. Unfortunately, the Republican budget passed by the House today was neither responsible nor bipartisan.

“It’s very disappointing that the majority chose to pass a budget today that protects tax breaks for the wealthy and balances the budget on the backs of seniors, students and middle-class families.

“To create jobs and grow our economy, we must make smart investments in education, research, clean energy and transportation infrastructure. Sadly, the Republican budget is a step backwards with dramatic and painful cuts that will make college less affordable and result in fewer people having access to the American Dream.

“Instead of providing relief to middle-class families, this budget raises their taxes while giving a tax break to the top 1 percent. This budget will lead to greater income inequality in America.

“Finally, what this budget does to our seniors and low-income families is unconscionable. It ends the Medicare guarantee and will lead to higher premiums and prescription drug costs for millions of seniors and future retirees. The bill also effectively ends the federal nutrition assistance program as we know it, removing the certainty of a vital safety-net for those needing it the most. Instead of blindly cutting programs that help the most vulnerable, we should find innovative solutions that provide us a great return on investment. My $200 million job-training pilot program for those in need of nutrition assistance is a prime example of how investing a little money in a targeted way can save the government money in the long run by giving people the tools they need to become self-sufficient.

“The bipartisan support for that program is proof positive that we can do better than today’s slash-and-burn approach. Instead of this reckless, partisan budget, we should be working on innovative solutions to build an economy that works for everyone. This means crafting a budget that makes job-creating investments, spurs innovation, expands economic opportunity and responsibly reduces our deficit.”

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