Wyden, Merkley vote against Senate budget measure

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. voted against the Senate version of the 2018 budget resolution on Thursday and issued the following statement:

“I voted against this budget that allows Republicans to pay for tax cuts benefiting the wealthy at the expense of hardworking American families,” Wyden said.

“This bill paves the way for more attacks that could harm elderly Americans by slashing funding for the Meals on Wheels program, sell off our public lands, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and siphon critical funding away from our nation’s education system. This budget takes our country in the wrong direction and goes against the Oregon values I was elected to defend.”

Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after Senate Republicans passed their budget blueprint for 2018. The blueprint–which he said Republicans pushed forward so that they will be able to pass a tax plan on a party-line vote–slashes a trillion and a half dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, and would increase the deficit by a similar amount, all to pay for massive tax giveaways to the wealthiest 1%.

“This budget is obscene. In what world does it make sense to rob trillions from our health care and our national treasury, all to grant a massive windfall to the richest individuals in the world?

“If my colleagues are determined to spend a huge pile of our citizens’ funds, spending them to add zeroes to billionaires’ bank accounts is the wrong choice. How about investing in education? Instead, we could refinance the loans of every American with federally-held student debt to the same low rate enjoyed by big banks, and establish debt-free college at our public universities. How about investing in infrastructure? With trillions of dollars, we could completely overhaul our outdated roads, bridges, water systems, railways, and ports, and put broadband in rural towns across America–putting millions of Americans to work.

“At a time when inequality in America is skyrocketing, the last thing we need is a tax plan that gives a windfall to the powerful and privileged. It’s up to ‘We the People’ to fight back and defeat this destructive and immoral tax plan.”