Cummings Issues Statement on House Republican Budget

Mar 20, 2012
Press Release

Washington, DC – Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to the House GOP budget plan released today:

“The House Republican budget plan is misguided, utterly unfair, and should be rejected outright.

“I am very disappointed that the House GOP has once again unveiled a budget that directly attacks the federal workforce by extending pay freezes, increasing retirement contributions, and arbitrarily slashing the overall size of the federal workforce. Federal workers are currently contributing $75 billion towards deficit reduction even though they did not cause our nation’s budget problems, yet Congress has yet to ask the wealthiest Americans to contribute even one additional penny toward these goals. The Republican proposal would take an additional $368 billion out of the pockets of millions of these middle-class workers over the next ten years.

“The House GOP plan also takes the wrong approach on Medicare, which has been a pillar of retirement security for America’s seniors for over fifty years. Just like last year’s Republican budget plan, this year’s proposal would end the Medicare guarantee for our nation’s seniors and replace it with a voucher.  Although the window dressing is different, the bottom line is the same:  The GOP budget would shift an increasing share of the costs of Medicare onto America’s seniors and undermine traditional Medicare.” 

112th Congress