In Blistering New Report Bernie Sanders Exposes The Gimmicks And Fraud In The GOP Budget

Sen. Bernie Sanders has exposed the gimmicks, fraud, and tricks that Republicans are using in their budget via a blistering new ten page report from the Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

The Senate Democratic report exposed the real goals of the Republican budget:

Many of the Republicans’ cuts are left intentionally vague – clearly because they do not want to be associated with a budget that eviscerates programs that define who we are as a nation. In fact, some of the Budget Committee’s Republican members have told reporters in recent days that they want their plan to be deliberately vague, allowing them to avoid the criticism that was leveled on the Ryan budget when it was released last Congress. These members don’t want to own a budget that proposes tax reform that would dramatically shift wealth from the middle class to the ultra-rich. And they don’t want to be forced to defend a budget that strips health insurance from tens of millions of Americans, putting working families one illness away from financial collapse.

However, it is clear the Republican budget would do all that and more. The Republican budget released this week would:

• Eliminate health insurance for tens of millions of Americans;

• Transfer wealth from hard-working working- and middle-class taxpayers to millionaires and billionaires;

• Prevent millions of jobs from being created by ignoring needed public investment in physical infrastructure and in education;

• Eviscerate the social safety net;

• Maintain the mindless sequestration spending cuts; and

• Halt our nation’s progress in transitioning to a 21st century energy economy that protects the short- and long-term welfare of our families.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “Instead of being honest and upfront about their goals, the Republicans have used a number of budgetary gimmicks to cover-up the devastating impact that their budget will have on the lives of ordinary Americans,” Sanders said. “I find it particularly offensive that Republicans, who are demanding massive cuts in Medicaid, education, nutrition and health care in order to move toward a balanced budget, have no problem adding $38 billion to the deficit through the off-budget Overseas Contingency Operations fund. That is hypocrisy pure and simple.”

The report also listed four gimmicks that Republicans use to make their budget balance:

In order to claim that their budget will be balanced in 10 years, Republicans are using budget gimmicks such as:

• Using the Overseas Contingency Operations fund, which falls outside of the budget caps to significantly increase defense spending;

• Masking the true consequences of their policies under the guise of “unallocated” cuts and “government-wide” savings;

• Only achieving their goal of “balance” by using made-up “dynamic” numbers; and

• Dismantling health care reform, but keeping the savings and revenues that support it.

This report is another example of why Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) made Sen. Sanders the top ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee on the Democratic side. Sanders and the Democrats have deconstructed the Republican budget to reveal that it is a deeply flawed ideological document that incapable of meeting the Republicans’ fiscal objectives without fraud and gimmicks.

Republicans don’t want to tell the American people what their budget really does. They don’t want to own the cuts to popular programs. Republicans can’t defend cutting taxes for the wealthy while economic well-being of ordinary Americans.

The Republican budget is a sham, and Bernie Sanders is telling the world the truth that Republicans don’t want the American people to hear.