Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed a Republican budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 by a vote of 235 to 193.  Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement:

“The passage of this legislation is the culmination of continued assault on our aspiring middle class, middle class, senior citizens, working poor and most vulnerable populations by the Republican Majority,” stated Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke.  “It is sad the majority continues to ignore the calls of the people to focus on job creation.”

    The Republican Budget Proposal;

        • cuts education for children and raises college costs for nearly 10 million students;        
        • gives tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas;        
        • slashes health support for seniors in nursing homes;
        • ends Medicare and raises health care costs for seniors; 
        • destroys 1.7 million jobs by 2014 – 900,000 next year alone; and much more.

“The fact that this bill literally takes money from the pockets of our middle class and gives it to the wealthiest in this nation is just highway robbery.  Not only does it cut taxes for the wealthiest a further 10 percent, adding $1 trillion to the deficit, but it goes further to include tens of billions of dollars in tax subsidies to Big Oil.  This clearly speaks to the skewed priorities of the Republican party,” added Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. 
 
“I am encouraged that this week President Barack Obama made it clear that he will continue to protect the  important social safety net programs that so many rely on , end the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, and holistically address our nation’s deficit.  As we continue to finalize the FY 2012 Budget, know that I will continue to fight to empower the least of these in our nation so that we can fully recover from this economic downturn,” concluded Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke.

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