Democrats Save Jobs and Reduce the Budget, Republicans Pay Lip Service to Fiscal Discipline

Would you fly to Washington, D.C. to keep more than 160,000 teachers in schools; prevent layoffs for almost 160,000 police officers, firefighters, and nurses; AND save $1.4 billion?  That’s just what House Democrats did today.

In a rare special session, House Democrats returned from working in their districts to pass the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.  The Act will save 320,000 American jobs, prevent the disruption of our children’s education, strengthen emergency services, and create thousands of private-sector jobs.

One would think that this common-sense and fiscally responsible bill would pass with Republican support.  Yet, Republicans continued to side with special interests instead of with middle class Americans.  In a particularly hypocritical display of partisan politics, Republicans objected to the “cost” of this deficit-reducing measure, while they continue to push for an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that will cost Americans over $800 billion over the next ten years. 

Republicans may pay lip service to fiscal responsibility, but our bill is fully paid for and supports the President’s request for providing relief to our educators while maintaining our fiscal responsibility.  In fact, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) determined that the bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years.  The bill includes $17.7 billion in spending cuts and $9.8 billion by closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship American jobs overseas.