Rep. Lee Battles Against Ryan Budget
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2013
Contact: Katherine Jolly (510) 763-0370
Washington, D.C.— During a day-long mark up of the Ryan bill, as a member of the Budget Committee, Congresswoman Lee offered an amendment to eliminate the Overseas and Contingency Operations (OCO) account in order to provide transparency and accountability to war spending and to bring it back into the base Pentagon budget. The amendment failed on a party line vote. She also spoke today at the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ press conference announcing the Back to Work Budget and released the following statement:
“As a member of the Budget Committee, let me tell you what a disaster the Ryan budget is. Their budget would shred the social safety net, would shatter our economic recovery, and would push millions of struggling families over the edge.
“Their budget caters to the wealthiest and the special interests. It ends Medicare as we know it and protects tax breaks for Big Oil. Those are the choices that the Republican Party continues to stand by: tax breaks for the wealthy, increasing unnecessary Pentagon spending, and shipping American jobs off shore.
“At a time when we need job creation the most, the Republican budget would kill 750,000 jobs in 2013 alone. To reduce the deficit, we need to create jobs, not cut them. This budget punishes the poor and vulnerable and rewards the wealthy.
“It’s clear what we need to do is reject this ruinous Republican budget. What we need instead is the Progressive Caucus’ Back to Work Budget. I’m proud to serve on our CPC Budget Task Force and to have helped craft this common sense budget. The Back to Work Budget creates 7 million jobs in the first year alone. It will reduce the deficit by $4.4 trillion by closing tax loopholes and making sure the wealthy pay their fare share.
“The Republican Budget threatens America’s future, the Back to Work Budget invests in American’s future. This budget responsibly ends operations in Afghanistan, brings our troops home, and audits the Pentagon. The waste, fraud, and abuse in the Pentagon’s budget must come to an end, and the first step is a full audit, and the Back to Work Budget does just that.
“Finally, this Back to Work Budget protects the social safety net, protects seniors and our nation’s most vulnerable, and keeps our economy on track for a full recovery.
“The choices could not be clearer. We must reject this Ryan budget and quickly move to pass the Progressive Caucus’ Back to Work Budget.”
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Follow Barbara Lee on Facebook and Twitter @RepBarbaraLee. To learn more, visit lee.house.gov
Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip as well as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), where she serves as the Co-Chair of the CPC Peace and Security Task Force.