Just last week Speaker of the House Paul Ryan made headlines by "apologizing" for referring to poor Americans as "takers," but that doesn't mean he's ready to give up the budget platform he's been pushing for the last six years.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) took a closer look at the budget supported by House Republican leadership and recently approved by the House Budget Committee and what they found probably won't surprise any of you.
The vast majority of spending cuts in their budget would come from people at the bottom of the economic totem pole.
Specifically, the plan, which the House Budget Committee approved on March 16, would cut programs for low- and moderate-income people by about $3.7 trillion over the next decade. In 2026, it would cut such programs overall by 42 percent — causing tens of millions of people to lose health coverage and millions to lose basic food or other support.
In addition, the plan would secure 62 percent of its budget cuts from low-income programs even though they account for just 28 percent of total non-defense program spending (and just 24 percent of total program spending, including defense).
Moreover, the CBPP also points out that Ryan's latest budget would not actually reduce the deficit at all because the accompanying tax cuts would wipe out any savings derived from cutting programs for the working poor. The blueprint includes $1 trillion per year in tax cuts.
To put it another way, the federal government would be no more solvent under Ryan's budget than it is today but it would be dramatically reshaped to take away form the poor and give to the rich. It's not exactly breaking news, but Paul Ryan the Great Deficit Warrior is a fraud.
Speaker Ryan's apology for referring to poor American as "takers" is timely considering that Ryan and the people he represents are the real Takers.
The CBPP has a detailed breakdown of the budget if you're interested.