The votes was 235-193 — four Republicans voted no and every Democrat in the chamber rejected the Ryan plan, which seeks to cut $6 trillion in spending over the next decade.
Even though Ryan’s fiscal 2012 budget easily passed the House, it doesn’t stand a chance in the Senate, and Democrats are already making it a political issue. President Barack Obama used Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget as a foil publicly earlier this week and in a closed campaign appearance in Chicago Thursday evening. The budget is a nonbinding resolution, and with a divided Congress, Ryan’s blueprint amounts to more of a political exercise.
Indeed, the GOP says this budget is a way to get the nation’s deficit under control, while they claim Obama is ignoring the problem of a dire fiscal situation.
Boehner, talking to reporters Friday morning, said Congress “owe(s) it to the American people, we owe it to our kids and grandkids to begin to cut spending, begin to transform these programs so that we can save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
“It’s a serious step in the right direction and I’m really hopeful the president will take his job as seriously as we’re taking ours,” Boehner said.
Republican Reps. Denny Rehberg (Mont.), Walter Jones (NC), Ron Paul (Texas) and David McKinley (W.Va) voted against the bill, joing 193 Democrats.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) didn’t vote.
The vote was hardly a surprise, but does illustrate unity among Republicans that proved elusive in earlier weeks. It also will open the GOP up to attacks from the left, claiming that they are trying to end poplar – but economically shaky – entitlement programs.
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6 Responses
I agree with this plan .Way too many people are recieving benefits when they dont need it. Its the honest people who work on the books that are suffering. Pesach shopping was so difficult for me but almost every other person on line was paying with a benefits card. Lets not kid ourselves with how many of them truly fall into the income guidlines and really need it. Hashem should help us all live with emes
Ron Paul????
Children playing in a sandbox, while the Citizens of the United States suffer.
Except that most Americans (including but not limited to the frum community) are in a “gimme” (give me mine) mode.
The Republicans don’t realize that most Americans want very high services from the government (tuition subsidies, secton eight, WIC, CHIP, subsidized transit – not to mention a strong natonal defense to keep nutty Muslims away). The Democrats are oblivious to the idea of paying for the services (not that the Republicans favor raising taxes high enough to cover the budget). The only consensus is that everyone wants their taxes to go down, and their services to increase. And while this is going on, the Federal Reserve is printing close to a trillion dollars to subsidize the banks, and doing wholesale currency manipulation to keep the government solvent.
Anyone ready for when ATMs will have to give out bags so you can carry money – or wheelbarrows to carry cash to the store?
An analysis of the four Republicans who voted “no”:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0411/Explaining_the_four_nos_on_the_Ryan_plan.html
McKinley is the interesting one; he is arguably to the left of the Democrat he defeated last November and West Virginia has a Democratic governor and legislature who can make his district disappear.
The other 235 Republicans will be facing attack ads for voting to end Medicare for the rest of their careers.
Must end the gimme country if there is to be a furture in America. What made the USA great was people did not want a hand out but a hand up. Our parents and grandparent got ahead since they work and worked hard. People just want the government to give; but somebody has to pay; even if you tax the rich they will move to other countries and than what