Schiff Statement on Ryan Budget Proposal
Washington, DC — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released the following statement on the FY 2012 budget proposal released by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan:
"The bipartisan Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission laid out a menu of painful but serious proposals to deal with our growing budgetary and fiscal crises.
"As a Blue Dog Democrat who has long championed the need to balance our budget and pay down our debt, I am encouraged that the necessity of putting the nation's fiscal house in order now commands such attention, and the prospect for dealing with our deficit and debt problem is greater than ever.
"I cannot, however, embrace the solutions recently offered by House Budget Chairman Ryan, which would continue an unsustainable policy of upper-income tax cuts, while turning Medicare into a voucher program. These proposals are not new and do not meet a test of basic fairness. Instead, they reflect a policy that is in evidence in the current debate over the continuing resolution to fund the government, which would hold harmless multibillion dollar tax subsidies of the oil industry, while cutting home heating oil assistance to the poor.
"There are many ways to balance the budget -- but the one I favor will require a shared sacrifice for all Americans.
"Moreover, Ryan's budget falls victim to some of the same fiscal gimmicks that have plagued other budgets in the past, relying on "savings" of dubious merit and which, according to CBO projections, are never likely to materialize.
"Notwithstanding the flaws in the particulars of Ryan's budget, I welcome his entrance into the debate and hope we can now begin the hard work of finding common ground and saving our nation from a future mortgaged to its past."
-30-