Bill Text: MI SR0156 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: A resolution to denounce the House Republican Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Resolution and to memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to oppose any proposal that would eliminate Medicare as it has traditionally existed, make substantial tax cuts to already-struggling social safety net programs, or increase the tax burden on the middle class.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-28 - Referred To Committee On Appropriations [SR0156 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-SR0156-Introduced.html
Senators Johnson, Ananich and Warren offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 156.
A resolution to denounce the House Republican Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Resolution and to memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to oppose any proposal that would eliminate Medicare as it has traditionally existed, make substantial tax cuts to already struggling social safety net programs, or increase the tax burden on the middle class.
Whereas, The House Republican Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Resolution (House Concurrent Resolution 96), introduced by Congressman Paul Ryan, would balance the federal budget by cutting $5 trillion in non-defense spending. More than two thirds of those cuts would eliminate or reduce programs that currently help low and middle-class Americans afford expenses such as healthcare, education, and food; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget eliminates comprehensive health care provided by the popular Medicare system and replaces it with an experimental voucher program that would force the next generation of seniors to choose between the medical treatment that they need and the medical treatment that they can afford; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget contains $2.7 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and to subsidies that help low- and moderate-income people buy private insurance, which would leave an estimated 40 million Americans uninsured by 2024; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget cuts Pell Grants for low and moderate-income students by up to $125 billion by freezing the maximum grant (currently just $5,645 per year) for ten years, limiting eligibility, and repealing all mandatory funding; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $137 billion over the next decade, forcing 3.8 million people off the food assistance program in 2014, and then converts SNAP to a block grant in 2019 and imposes even deeper cuts; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget includes an additional $500 billion in unspecified cuts to other programs such as school lunches and other child nutrition programs, as well as Supplemental Security Income, which helps very poor people who are elderly or have serious disabilities; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget eliminates or reduces several tax deductions that middle class Americans currently rely on, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), while reducing the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent; and
Whereas, The Ryan budget redistributes wealth upward to the affluent, who typically enjoy better health, leaving the poorest Americans with fewer benefits and larger health care expenses; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That we denounce the House Republican Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Resolution; and be it further
Resolved, that we memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to oppose any proposal that would eliminate Medicare as it has traditionally existed, make substantial tax cuts to already struggling social safety net programs, or increase the tax burden on the middle class; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.
