Wyden Calls for Budget That Helps All Americans Get Ahead
Top Democrat: Budget Must Add Sturdy Rungs to Economic Ladder, Not Slash Holes in Safety Net
Bottom Line of ACA Repeal, Cuts to Nursing Homes Care in Medicaid is Health Care Reserved Only for Health and Wealthy
Finance Ranking Member Says Infrastructure Investment, Resources to Fight and Prevent Fires, Agricultural Research, Middle-Class Tax Cuts, Higher Education Are Key
WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., delivered the following statement today on the Senate floor regarding the budget debate:
The Senate will spend much of this week debating the contours and details of the federal budget. My colleagues and I will offer a lot of amendments and cast a lot of votes. Those watching will hear speeches peppered with numbers and statistics. I’d like to start the process out by setting the particulars aside and focusing on what this debate means for Oregonians and for people across the country.
The big economic challenge of this era is expanding opportunity. It’s strengthening the middle class and adding sturdy rungs to America’s economic ladder so that everybody’s got a better chance to climb upward. Seven years after a crippling economic collapse, unemployment is down. Home foreclosures are down. Gas prices are down. Wages are beginning to grow. Manufacturing is picking up steam. The American economy is performing better now than at any time in recent memory.
But there are millions of Americans who still feel stuck. They hear positive economic news and wonder when things will get easier for them and their families. I hear it firsthand in every community meeting I hold in Oregon.
There are young parents overwhelmed by the cost of child care. There are students blown away by the sticker price of a college education. There are workers nearing retirement age who’ve hardly been able to save.
The budget debate the Senate will have this week goes to the heart of those issues. And in my view, the budget that Congress sets should take on those challenges directly. It should help people in need and give more Americans a chance to get ahead in life.
This week, Republicans in Congress are putting forward a different kind of budget plan. The Republican budget plan would slash holes in the safety net and worsen inequality. It would make deep, painful cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on to get by.
How will cutting Pell Grants and education tax credits help a disadvantaged student from La Grande, Oregon, get in the door to college? How will slashing food stamps help the single mother in Ashland keep food on the table? How will crippling Medicaid help a struggling family in Roseburg stay healthy and out of the emergency room? How will repealing the Affordable Care Act help a cancer survivor in Corvallis who’s finally been able to get health insurance for the first time in years?
Here’s my bottom line. America’s middle class declines with every rung pulled from the ladder of opportunity. So let’s agree to help more Americans climb upward with a budget that’s designed to give all Americans the chance to get ahead.
First, let’s invest in America’s infrastructure. You can’t have big-league economic growth with little-league infrastructure. The roads and highways in Oregon and across the country are pocked by ruts and potholes, making it harder to travel and do business. Dozens of people have been killed or injured in bridge collapses. And without adequate roads, bridges and transit, drivers spend far too much time sitting in traffic, choking on exhaust.
Our ability to compete internationally and draw jobs and investment to the U.S. depends on the condition of our roads, ports, airports, and railways. Investing in infrastructure will create thousands of jobs in America right away and support millions over the long-term. It’s a no-brainer.
Next, Congress should strengthen programs that protect rural communities and brighten their economic futures. For example, homes in Oregon and across the west are being threatened by fires that are growing bigger, hotter, and more damaging every year. Chairman Enzi’s budget took good steps to improve the way the government budgets for fires. But with a growing threat, more resources are needed to fight and prevent fires.
Funding for agricultural research is another way to give rural communities a shot in the arm. Every dollar that goes into ag research will be far outstripped by the value created in crops and crop lands. That investment will give a whole lot of hard-working people in rural Oregon and across the country a better chance to get ahead.
Next, let’s make important low-income and middle-class tax cuts permanent. There is a big tax hike looming in 2018 unless Congress prevents it. Millions of families in Oregon and nationwide depend on the expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and American Opportunity Tax Credit that are set to expire.
The longer families sit in the dark wondering what their tax obligations will be, the harder it is for them to budget and plan ahead. It is legislative malpractice to leave these low-income and middle-class tax cuts teetering on a cliff while others are permanently enshrined in law.
Furthermore, taking that uncertainty off the table will make comprehensive tax reform easier to accomplish. My colleagues and I on the Finance Committee are working hard to bring our broken tax code into the 21st century. My own work on tax reform goes back ten years when I started developing a bipartisan plan with former Senator Gregg and later Senator Coats.
I believe the tax code should be simpler and fairer, and it should give everybody a chance to climb the economic ladder. Making these critical low-income and middle-class tax cuts permanent is a big step in that direction.
Next, let’s make a college education more affordable and help more students get to graduation day. The skyrocketing price of tuition keeps far too many students from enrolling in college, and it keeps many others from completing it. In effect, the price of college can reinforce inequality. Millions of students are buried to their eyeballs in debt before they ever put on the cap and gown.
It’s time to come at this challenge from every angle. For one, it’s important to make student debt more manageable so that graduates don’t spend decades weighed down by loan payments. It’s also absolutely essential to help students take on less debt from the start. That will get more students in the door to college and free graduates from a lifetime of debt. That’s why, in my view, cutting Pell Grants is the wrong answer.
And the byzantine web of tax incentives for higher education needs to be cleaned up. It should not take dozens of calculations and hours of time for students to navigate the system. It should be simpler and easier, so that more students see a meaningful benefit. Some student loan debt may be unavoidable, but leaving students with less debt is possible.
Next, Congress cannot slash our health programs to the bone. The Republican cuts to Medicaid are a guaranteed way to make life harder for struggling families. Think about the seniors who rely on Medicaid to cover the costs of nursing home care. Medicaid is what keeps them from falling into absolute destitution. In another era, impoverished seniors might have been thrown into almshouses or poor farms. Today, Medicaid is a lifeline for tens of millions. But the Republican budget proposal would cripple Medicaid and endanger its future.
The last point I want to make is on the effects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, make no mistake about it, America goes back to the dark days when health care was reserved for the healthy and wealthy, because there will no longer be protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Now that’s fine if you’re healthy and that’s fine if you’re wealthy, but that’s not most Americans. There are plenty of ways Congress could improve the Affordable Care Act in a bipartisan fashion, but that’s not what this Republican budget does. I hope we don’t go back to the days in America when healthcare was for the healthy and wealthy alone, which is the bottom-line consequence of repealing the health law.
With so many Americans struggling to climb the economic ladder, a budget plan that slashes Medicaid, increases middle-class taxes, makes college less accessible, and falls short on job-creating investments is the wrong path to follow.
I’d prefer a budget that strengthens our economic future by making smart investments. I’d prefer a budget that helps Americans in need. I’d prefer a budget that adds sturdy rungs to America’s economic ladder so that more people are able to climb upward. As the Senate debates the budget this week, I urge my colleagues to support that kind of plan.
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