Congressman Adam Smith released the following statement after Representative Paul Ryan released his budget proposal for FY2015:

“As we continue to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we need a budget that expands economic opportunity.  This requires a focus on increased job training and improvements to education, while also supporting hardworking Americans who have been pushed out of the economy by restoring unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, and expanding the earned income tax credit.  Additionally, the budget must invest in innovation, infrastructure, and advancing comprehensive immigration reform to create jobs and strengthen the middle class.  
 
“The Republican budget introduced yesterday not only fails to accomplish these goals, it goes in the opposite direction.  The proposal would be devastating to seniors, the middle class, and the poor, while giving even more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans who have already benefitted massively over the last decade from the Bush tax cuts. The Ryan budget radically dismantles Medicare by turning the system into a voucher program. It also cuts funding for programs like SNAP and Head Start, while slashing critical investments in innovation, education, and worker training programs that have been essential in helping families get back to work in a slowly recovering economy.  And it makes these cuts without asking the wealthier to pay a penny more.
 
“While Ryan’s budget does increase the Defense Budget in future years, it does so at the expense of the investments we need here at home. It is impossible to maintain a strong national defense if we do not maintain our economic prowess. By slashing important programs that invest in our future, this Republican proposal short-changes our economy, the American people and our national defense.”