The Republicans unveiled their “Pledge to America” last week and, just as we thought, it contained no new ideas and was a return to the “exact same” failed agenda as President Bush. Their agenda to return to their previous policies makes it clear who they stand with—big corporations and special interests, instead of middle class families.
A Plan to Create Jobs, End Economic Uncertainty and Make America More Competitive is really an agenda to:
Outsource American jobs
- Republicans have voted five times against stopping the outsourcing of American jobs. And despite the fact that stopping outsourcing received the most votes on the “America Speaks Out” website, Republicans did not include it in their “Pledge.”
Hold Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage to Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
- Republicans are fighting for an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy, claiming they want to protect small businesses. Many of the 3% of “small businesses” in the highest bracket aren’t small at all – they’re big, Fortune 500 companies that exploit a loophole by changing their tax status to “individuals” to take advantage of the Bush tax cuts.
Oppose measures that help small business
- Republicans have consistently voted against measures that would help small businesses expand and create jobs, including the Small Business Tax Relief Act, Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act, and Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.
A Plan to Stop Out of Control Spending and Reduce the Size of Government is really an agenda to:
Explode the deficit
- Republicans have a record of out of control spending—well over half of the deficit attributed to President Obama was actually due to President Bush’s policies [1] in the first four months of Fiscal Year 2009.
- Republicans’ policy of extending tax cuts to the richest 2 percent of Americans will increase the deficit by nearly $4 trillion – a cost that is more than four times the cost of health care reform and the Recovery Act combined.
Privatize Social Security
- Republicans left out of the Pledge their unpopular idea to privatize Social Security, which would give big Wall Street banks control over Americans’ retirement security.
A Plan to Repeal and Replace the Government Takeover of Health Care is really an agenda to:
Put insurance companies back in charge of Americans' health care and end new protections
- Republicans continue to push for a repeal of health reform and a return to the status quo of skyrocketing health care costs and unfair insurance practices. If it were up to Republicans, insurance companies would be able to:
- Deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions
- Put arbitrary lifetime and annual limits on the coverage Americans have paid for
- Deny coverage for needed care without providing patients a chance to appeal to an independent third party
A Plan to Reform Congress and Restore Trust is really an agenda to:
Return to the Republicans’ Era of Corruption
- Republicans have a record of failing to protect the public interest. While in control of the House, they:
- Ran the “K Street Project” that attempted to influence employment decisions of lobbying firms in exchange for political access
- Allowed the practice of accepting gifts, travel on private jets, and meals from lobbyists to flourish
- Failed to require frequent and thorough disclosure of travel, including House pre-approval of all officially connected travel, and more rigorous disclosure of lobbyist activity and finances
- Quadrupled the number of earmarks, with no transparency to let people know for whom Members were making requests for
- Weakened the bipartisan Ethics Committee – even firing the Republican Chair after it admonished Tom DeLay
A Plan to Keep our Nation Secure at Home and Abroad is really an agenda to:
Take Our Eye off the Main Fight against Terrorism
- Republicans failed to put sufficient resources into Afghanistan and Pakistan, letting terrorists reorganize and flourish there.
Not Give Enough Support to Our Troops and Intelligence Community
- Republicans sent our troops into a mismanaged war in Iraq—putting too few boots on the ground from the beginning to secure and stabilize the effort, failing to equip those on the ground with adequate protective gear and equipment, and hiring unqualified political appointees to manage the effort.
- Republicans continue to vote against the measures that provide troops and our intelligence community the resources they need to do their job and keep us safe. Republicans have voted against the Defense Authorization Act, the Intelligence Authorization Act, and security-related appropriations bills.
While Republicans want to take us back to policies that led to a recession and massive deficits, Democratic policies are fighting for the middle class and moving our nation forward.
Click here to follow @LeaderHoyer on Twitter. [3]