Florida Democratic Party Calls Congressional GOP Budget More of the Same Policies That Got Florida I

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTYFor Immediate Release: April 1, 2009Tallahassee, FL – House Republicans today unveiled a budget outline, one day before the full House votes on the budget and more than a month after President Obama first proposed his plan. Florida Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff released the following statement in response to the GOP budget plan:”The House GOP budget would be just an April Fool’s day joke if it didn’t actually reflect the true priorities of House Republicans and what they would do if they had the votes in Congress to pass their own plan. Their budget relies on the failed economic policies that drove the U.S. economy into its deepest spiral in decades. “If Florida’s Republican Members of Congress had their way and the budget House Republicans outlined today were adopted, President Obama’s economic recovery program, which is already saving and creating jobs throughout Florida, would be gutted, Medicare as we know it would all but be all but eliminated, Social Security checks would be slashed and a proposed spending freeze on discretionary programs would cut essential services – from health care and support for veterans to education to job training – that Florida most depends on when the economy is in crisis. “Not surprisingly, while Republicans are proposing to cut essential initiatives in the areas of health care, education, energy, medical research and economic recovery, they are proposing to make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans and expand those tax breaks even further. It’s just these types of failed, trickle down economic policies that led to the current economic downturn and led Florida to vote for change last November. “Gutting the President’s economic recovery program and slashing spending and investments that are critical to help Florida survive these tough times and turn the economy around is a prescription for economic disaster – something the Republicans know a thing or two about. Thankfully, President Obama has proposed a budget that makes both the tough and right choices we need to turn our economy around and cut the deficit in half over the next four year. While the President continues to lead, the ‘Party of No’ has become the ‘Party of No New Ideas.” -###-