REP. ANDREWS FIGHTS THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET PLAN

The President has proposed deep budget cuts which will hurt the average American family while lowering taxes for the rich. This budget jeopardizes what we value most, from our children's education to our parent's health care. I will fight to uphold America's principles and oppose this plan.

This budget calls for a 5.5% cut in education funding, the largest in a decade. No Child Left Behind, the President's own initiative, will be under-funded by $15.4 billion. Head Start and Pell Grants will also be under-funded while programs to help the less fortunate, such as vocational education and college preparation, will be eliminated completely.

Medicare would lose $36 billion over five years and our seniors' health care would be compromised. The proposed cuts will also jeopardize our safety, reducing funding for firefighters and first responders as well as cutting programs to combat violence against women. Even our honored veterans, many of whom have just returned from war, are neglected by this plan.

Since 2000, this Administration has turned the Nation’s budget surpluses into record deficits. We must restore fiscal discipline by balancing the budget and eliminating these deficits. However, the answer is not to shortchange America’s families but rather to repeal tax cuts which only benefit the wealthiest 1% of the nation. In Congress I will fight this budget proposal and tax cuts which will not help to improve our Nation but will saddle future generations with the burden of an insurmountable debt. 

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