Protecting the Mega Rich and Bleeding the Middle Class – With the recent Republican-sponsored launch of the Tea Party Caucus on Capitol Hill garnering the support of Republican leaders like National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Pete Sessions and Republican Caucus Chair Mike Pence, the Republican Party agenda has become clear. Republican leaders and Tea Party-supported Republican candidates can now rally around the “Republican Tea Party Contract on America” as the blueprint for how they would govern.
Here is what the Republicans promise to do:
1. Put insurance companies back in charge of your health, repeal tax credits for small businesses, allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on preexisting conditions and to drop coverage when a person gets too sick and make prescription drugs for seniors less affordable.
2. Turn the guaranteed retirement benefits of Social Security earned by America’s seniors over to Wall Street CEOs by putting Social Security at risk in the stock market or phase out Social Security altogether and end a program millions of American seniors rely on for their survival.
3. Phase out and end Medicare as it presently exists for future generations of seniors — ending Medicare’s guaranteed healthcare benefits for more than 40 million American seniors — and replace it with a voucher system which will result in higher premiums and fewer services for seniors.
4. At a cost of nearly $700 billion, extend the Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and big oil, which are set to expire and which have and will continue to explode the federal budget deficit.
5. Roll back the toughest consumer protections ever enacted under Wall Street Reform, allow banks to continue to grow too big to fail, and ensure that predatory lenders continue to utilize their most abusive practices.
6. Cap liabilities for those responsible for environmental disasters like the Gulf oil spill and let companies like BP decide which victims deserve compensation for the disaster and what the timeline for relief should be.
7. Put the big banks back in charge of student loans and put an end to federal assistance for public schools.
8. End America’s investments in a clean-energy future and disband the organization responsible for oversight of nuclear materials.
9. Gut the laws that protect our kids from air pollution and that keep our drinking water safe — and disband the watchdog that holds polluters accountable.
10. Take away your right to pick your U.S. Senator by repealing the 17th Amendment.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey