Rep. Steve Womack,
as chair of the House Budget Committee, took the lead yesterday in introducing a Republican budget plan aimed at fixing growing deficits. “A Brighter Future,” the GOP is spinning it.

He didn’t mention that rising deficits were made worse by the tax cut for the rich he supported. Nor did he mention the pain his budget will cause millions of Americans.

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Here’s an assessment of Womack’s bright future by Common Dreams.

With the nation’s attention rightly fixated on President Donald Trump’s horrific treatment of immigrant children, House Republicans on Tuesday quietly unveiled their 2019 budget proposal that calls for $537 billion in cuts to Medicare, $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, and four billion in cuts to Social Security over the next decade in an effort to pay for their deficit-exploding tax cuts for the wealthy.

“It’s morally bankrupt, patently absurd, and grossly un-American,” the advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires said of the GOP’s budget proposal, which calls for $5.4 trillion in spending cuts from major domestic programs.

Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), argued in a statement that the Republican proposal demonstrates clearly shows the “House majority’s fiscal priorities haven’t changed.

“It’s easy to become numb to the harshness of these budgets and to brush aside their policy implications based on the assumption (likely correct) that few, if any, of these policies will be enacted this year,” Greenstein said. “But this budget reflects where many congressional leaders—and the president—would like to take the country if they get the opportunity to enact these measures in the years ahead. Rather than help more families have a shot at the American dream, it asks the most from those who have the least, and it would leave our nation less prepared for the economic and other challenges that lie ahead.”

Progressives have been warning for months about the GOP’s plan to axe crucial safety net programs following the passage of its deeply unpopular $1.5 trillion tax bill, which has sparked a boom of corporate stock buybacks while doing little to nothing for most American workers.

“Each GOP budget is more fraudulent than the last,” Seth Hanlon, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote on Tuesday. “We know what they stand for: tax cuts paid for with healthcare cuts.”

In addition to proposing devastating safety net cuts, the House GOP budget also calls for partial privatization of Medicare and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a move that would throw tens of millions off their health insurance.

And speaking of the Trump tax cut for the rich, here’s a six-month report card from Americans for Tax Fairness’ Frank Clemente. Straight Fs.Also,

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Although President Trump promised the average worker would see a $4,000 pay raise due to the tax cuts, only 4% of workers so far are getting a bonus or wage hike.

Only 402 of the nation’s six million employers have announced any plans to share their tax cuts with employees through bonuses or wage hikes. The total is estimated at $7 billion so far. But that pales in comparison to the $77 billion in tax cuts that just 156 corporations are getting this year.

Corporations are giving huge windfalls to their CEOs and wealthy shareholders in the form of stock buybacks, as they own most stock. Corporations have announced $484 billion in stock buybacks since the tax law was passed. That’s 69 times more than the $7 billion corporations have promised workers through one-time bonuses and wage hikes.

Despite the promise that the tax cuts would increase wages, the government reported last week that in the last year average hourly wages for four out of five workers in the private sector have gone down after inflation.

Also, Trump’s Democratic opponent, Josh Mahony, blasted Womack:

“Congressman Womack recently voted for a tax cut that adds $1 trillion to our national debt, and then when he released the GOP House Budget he decided the best way to reduce the debt he created was by cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” said Mahony. “To pay for this tax cut for the wealthy, they are cutting programs that are essential to the other 99% of Americans. Steve Womack blew up the deficit and now he’s trying to fix it by sticking it to the people who can afford it the least.”

“House Republicans released a budget proposal Tuesday which would massively cut funding to Medicaid and Medicare, two things that President Trump vowed not to touch,” said Mahony. “Because of the new tax law Republicans are scrambling to balance the budget, but Womack and his DC cronies are attempting to balance it on the back of Arkansans who have earned their benefits through a lifetime of work. This is a slap in the face to these Arkansans and Steve Womack and his cronies should be ashamed.”

The House Republican budget, titled “A Brighter American Future,” has been criticized as an effort to privatize the Medicare. The budget proposes to cut Medicare by $537 billion over the next decade. It would also transform Medicaid by limiting per capita payments or allowing states to turn it into a block-grant program, which is the same approach House Republicans took when attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The plan also calls for adding work requirements for food stamp and welfare recipients and proposes cuts from education and infrastructure.

Mahony stated that, “Congressman Womack has forgotten the very people he represents. Cuts to these programs will seriously affect Arkansas families. With cuts to education, healthcare, and Social Security, this bill shows the true priorities of Republicans and it’s not to hard-working Arkansans.”