Paul Ryan's "new" budget isn't just more of the same failed policy that the American people rejected decisively in the fall—it's "the worst of the Ryan budgets," "callous," and "ill-conceived." Share this if you're not interested in the Ryan-Republican top-down approach to our economy.
After experiencing a devastating loss on November 6, you’d think that Republicans would have learned one of the lessons of the election: put aside ideology and work with Democrats on balanced solutions to the challenges America faces. But as we’ve seen over the past few months, Republicans continue to push the extreme positions that the American people rejected last November and are refusing to meet President Obama and Democrats halfway to find a balanced approach to our nation’s fiscal issues. We’ve seen this most clearly during the sequester debate: While Americans want the sequester to end and replace it with a smarter, balanced approach that asks the wealthy to pay a little more, Republicans are sticking to a cuts-only approach that slashes the very investments our nation needs to make to create jobs and get our economy humming again. Rather than taking stock after losing yet another national election on the very issues that are dominating the current debate over fiscal issues and trying to find common ground, Republicans are doubling down on their failed approach—and voters are noticing.
Today’s Washington Post–ABC News Poll tells exactly that story. Americans’ disapproval of congressional Republicans is a stunning 72 percent—their highest disapproval in more than a year, not coincidentally coming one week after the GOP-forced sequester began. Why is this? Because Republicans refuse to compromise to get anything done. They refused to work with the President to find a solution that would have averted the sequester, and now the public is rejecting the indiscriminate across-the-board cuts Republicans chose over closing even one loophole that benefits the wealthiest. In fact, support for the Republican approach is dropping like a rock. In a WaPo-ABC poll prior to the sequester, 61 percent of Americans supported the cuts. Today, only 39 percent of Americans in the WaPo-ABC poll approve of them.
And it gets worse for the GOP. Today’s poll shows that Americans are worried about the effects of the GOP sequester on the economy—only 28 percent want the cuts to continue, and by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe the cuts will hurt our economy and our military readiness. It’s perhaps not surprising then that today’s poll found that nearly half of all Americans—47 percent—blame Republicans for the sequester itself.
And Americans don’t just blame Republicans for the sequester. They also reject their approach to replacing it and their fiscal priorities generally. A whopping 71 percent of Americans disapprove of Republicans’ proposals to cut Medicaid, and six in 10 oppose raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67.
Despite all this, Republicans have embraced the sequester and a cuts-only approach to addressing our fiscal challenges. Republicans have alternatively praised the sequester or attempted to downplay its effects: One Tennessee Republican representative, Marsha Blackburn, said she and her constituents were “relieved” the sequester took place while Senator Rand Paul has said that the sequester, which could cost the country 800,000 jobs or more, is a “pittance.” Today’s poll shows Republicans are losing the argument on the sequester no matter which of those two messages, or any other, they trot out.
Today’s WaPo-ABC poll is not a case of Republicans and the President splitting the difference on public opinion and girding for future battles on roughly equal footing. At a disapproval rating of 72 percent, congressional Republicans and their approach to the issues is being rejected by Americans from all walks of life—including by moderate (81 percent) and independent voters (74 percent). And, adding insult to self-inflicted injury, 53 percent of Republicans in the poll disapprove of the job performance of Republicans in Congress.
My mama had some good advice for me growing up: "Son, if you’re stuck in a hole, stop digging." Republicans should put down the shovel and talk to mama.
It might feel like the next election is miles ahead, but the reality is we're already laying the groundwork for the 2014 and 2016 elections. Our chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, says that it's up to all of us build that foundation. Check out the email she just sent to Democrats across the country, then chip in $5 or whatever you can to make sure we can accomplish everything we've set out to do: from winning elections to legislative battles.
Friend --
I know that I've come to you many times asking for your help.
I also know that these appeals can get a little tiresome -- and that things may seem less urgent now that we're not on the cusp of a presidential election.
But believe me, the money we raise today is critically important. We're laying the groundwork today for the 2014 midterms and the 2016 presidential election, and for the many battles between now and then. What we do now to educate voters might be the difference between whether or not we win those battles.
Donate $5 or more today to lay a strong foundation for the future.
We've got ambitious goals for the coming months and years. We have legislative battles to win on reforming immigration, reducing gun violence, and protecting the middle class. And we want to take back the House in 2014 and keep control of the Senate.
But without the resources we need ahead of these fights, there's no chance that we'll be able to accomplish everything we have set out to do.
It's up to all of us to step up and do everything we can to build our foundation now. Donate $5 or more today to help us fight:
http://my.democrats.org/Lay-the-Foundation
Thanks,
Debbie
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Chair
Democratic National Committee
In 1965, 600 Americans set out on foot toward Montgomery, Alabama, marching for a fairer America where all eligible citizens could register to vote and cast a ballot without fear or intimidation—and have their votes counted.
But when they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the marchers were met by state troopers, who ordered the "unlawful assembly" to disperse. As they knelt to pray, the peaceful protesters were brutally attacked by 150 troopers with billy clubs and tear gas. Fifty-eight people, including a 25-year-old John Lewis, were sent to the hospital with injuries. March 7, 1965, became known as Bloody Sunday.
In 2013, more than 15,000 citizens re-creating the march were joined by the Vice President of the United States, who crossed the bridge arm-in-arm with Congressman Lewis and many others who led the fight for voting rights. We've made a tremendous amount of progress in 48 years. But even in 2013, the fight continues.
Right now, the Supreme Court is considering challenges to the Voting Rights Act, whose 1965 passage was spurred by the resolve of the marchers at Selma. The Voting Rights Act struck down Jim Crow laws and measures intended to disenfranchise African American voters. In the years since, this historic, still-vitally necessary piece of legislation has been reauthorized four times with tremendous bipartisan support. The provision in question says that any changes in voting laws or procedures in the 16 states and jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination must be pre-cleared with the federal government—but even in 2013, it's necessary to ensure everyone who wants to cast a ballot can.
Just last year, Republican governors, state legislatures, and conservative activists passed laws making it more difficult to vote—laws that would have a significantly disproportionate impact on minorities, the very populations whose access to the ballot has been protected by the Voting Rights Act for nearly half a century. Republicans tried a variety of tactics: slashing the amount of time available for early voting, enacting photo ID laws, and voter purges. Democrats and voting rights activists challenged many of these restrictions in court, and the courts blocked many of the worst measures.
But what stood out the most in 2012 was the persistence of everyday citizens who were determined to cast their ballots. From the 300,000 Ohioans whose signatures fought back against attempts to change election rules to the 102-year-old voter in Florida who was told she'd have to wait in line for six hours to cast a ballot, the American people refused to let others trample on our rights—the rights that marchers, 48 years ago today, fought so hard for.
As President Obama said just weeks ago in his second inaugural address, "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths—that all of us are created equal—is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.
"It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began."
For more information on voting rights, check out the Voting Rights Institute and sign up for updates.
Republicans continue to refuse to work with President Obama and Democrats to reach a balanced approach to reducing the deficit and averting the sequester. Their insistence on putting politics first has put our nation's military preparedness on the line and jeopardized the livelihood of the 800,000 Defense Department employees who now face furloughs—the consequences of which are already being felt across the country. Here's a snapshot:
As many as 27,000 civilian military employees will be furloughed in Alabama, which will cause an estimated loss of more than $1.9 billion to the state.
The Air Force faces furloughs for 180,000 civilian workers, resulting in the loss of 31.5 million man hours of productivity.
Major General James McConville said in a speech at Kentucky's Fort Campbell: "I wondered if people really understood what the effects of sequestration and a pending furlough would do to our civilian workforce and the families of this division as we went off to war. I wondered if they knew that our great mission support element…will be limited to a 32-hour work week and incur a 20 percent pay cut. I wondered if they were aware that our teachers are government service employees and that the kids of our deployed soldiers will only be able to go to school four days a week."
At El Paso's Fort Bliss, most of the 11,000 civilian employees on base will be hit with a 20 percent pay cut starting April 21 until the end of September.
A $30 million construction project intended to fix South Bend's National Guard Armory has been put on hold because of the GOP sequester.
Navy frigates will stop conducting drug patrols in the Caribbean and end their participation in a joint operation that stopped 160 tons of cocaine rom reaching U.S. streets—all because of the GOP sequester.
Tell Republicans to put our country first. Add your name now.
When they chose not to come to the table and stop the sequester, Republicans in Congress declared tax breaks for rich were more important than jobs or education, health care or defense. Check out—and share—http://www.gopsequester.com/ to see how the the GOP sequester is hurting communities across the country.
Republicans made a stark choice when they refused to work with President Obama and Democrats to avert the sequester: They declared that tax loopholes for the wealthy are more important than protecting middle-class families.
As a result, school districts, teachers, and families across the country are bracing for dramatic, damaging—and unnecessary—cuts to their education programs. Stories like these are popping up across the country. Here's a snapshot of what the GOP sequester means for education:
In Arizona, the Window Rock School District in the Navajo nation is proposing to close three of its seven schools as a direct result of the GOP sequester. Those schools are among the 1,600 public schools on Native American reservations and military bases that are reeling from the cuts to their budgets.
University of Nevada–Las Vegas students expect to lose a percentage of their financial aid and see the availability of campus jobs dwindle because of the GOP sequester. Statewide, more than 100 work-study students could lose their jobs.
The University of Missouri expects a $17 million loss in funding. That puts student financial aid at risk. 1,166 Missouri students could lose federal work-study benefits, and nearly 2,000 students could lose federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.
48,000 young children would lose their access to Head Start—more than 30 percent of whom are Latino.
School officials in Gainesville, Florida, predict cuts in funding for school nutrition, special education, reading skills, migrant education, and programs for low-income and at-risk children.
Georgia is expected to lose $28.6 million in federal funding for primary and secondary education. This loss of funding puts 390 teacher and teacher's aide jobs at risk.
The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the GOP sequester will force 50,000 job losses across medical schools and health care facilities nationwide.
Southern Oregon Head Start expects their current school year to be shortened as a result of the GOP sequester. Next year, 50 children could lose their spots at this preschool program.
Fed up? Tell Republicans that our children's educations are more important than politics. Add your name now.
The Republican Party got their sequester. Here’s what the rest of us get: across-the-board, automatic cuts that will do real damage to our economy.