WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans moved forward with budget resolutions for the new fiscal year Wednesday that would include tax cuts, but Democrats quickly lashed out at what they called an attack on the middle class.
The House voted to move the bill to a final vote without allowing any amendments.
Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., described the plan as a “national budget for us that can be transformation for every citizen in every corner of this country.”
In addition to setting budget levels for fiscal 2018, the proposal would establish a reserve funds that could be used to pay for one of four areas — air traffic control, infrastructure, tax reform or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“This budget, basically, is a cruel budget that targets those who are poor and those who are in the middle, class,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass. He said Republicans should allow amendments to be offered.
“We can still do the budget, but we can do the Thompson bill as well,” he said, referring to a bill to impose stricter gun laws proposed by Rep. Mike Thompson of California.
“Let’s do something,” McGovern said. “Doing nothing is no longer sufficient.”
In the Senate Budget Committee, the chairman, Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, said Congress should “focus on America’s economy through tax policies that put more money in the hands of hard-working Americans.”
The Senate Republicans’ budget blueprint focused on reforming the tax code, a plan that Enzi said included “restrained spending, reduced tax burdens and a growing economy.”
But Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the Republican plan would do “incalculable harm to tens of millions of working class and middle class families.”
“It constitutes nothing less than a massive transfer of wealth, from working class, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor, all the way up to the top 1 percent,” he said.
Sanders and other Democrats said that the plan included a $1 trillion cut in Medicaid as well as a $473 billion cut in Medicare.
The blueprint also features $150 trillion in tax cuts over the next ten years, something Republicans say will encourage investment and productivity across the country. The committee will meet again on Thursday to consider alterations, or markups, to the budget.
“All that we ask is that President (Donald) Trump keep his campaign promise of benefiting the middle class, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “Let’s move away from this partisan process and do the job that we are here to do.”