BOR: - Lloyd Doggett

Jan Soifer Elected Travis County Democratic Chair

Michael Hurta — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:00 GMT

Andy Brown, running for County Judge, is no longer the Travis County Democratic Party Chair. Yesterday, the Party's County Executive Committee, made up of the county's Democratic precinct chairs, met to appoint a replacement.

This meeting saw high turnout, as over 70 precinct chairs were present to choose their new leader. Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Senator Kirk Watson were present, too.

Both Doggett and Watson expressed their gratitude for outgoing chair Andy Brown's hard and diligent work. For that work, that CEC would pass a unanimous resolution praising Andy Brown for his service to the party.

Doggett and Watson also expressed their support for Jan Soifer. Soifer was the only candidate nominated to fill the role in an interim basis -- there will be a full election in the March primary -- and she was elected by acclimation.

Soifer is currently a Democratic precinct chair. She's a practicing attorney who has been long involved in Democratic politics in Austin. Like Andy Brown, who lost an election to a different political office before running for Chair, Soifer's involvement includes a run for District Judge in 2004. Her experience will undoubtedly help her in the chair's most frequent and important function - raising money for the Travis County Democratic Party. The transition is already off to a good start in that manner, as Kirk Watson handed over a $15,000 party right before Soifer was elected.

Soifer started immediately, as she chaired the rest of this May's CEC meeting. In remarks to the precinct chairs, she enumerated several immediate goals: continue the party's solid fundraising immediately, recruit more precinct chairs (~~over half~~ many of the county's precincts are without Democratic chairs), and finally hire a full-time Executive Director to replace former ED Laura Hernandez.

Soifer is the first female chair of the Travis County Democratic Party in over three decades, and she plans to run in the 2014 primary to finish the term.

9:37 pm 5/20 Correction: The original posting said that over half of the county's precincts were without Democratic precinct hairs. That is not correct. Depending on semantics, one might be able to say that almost half were without chairs -- but the CEC approved about 15 new chairs on Sunday.
Clarification: While Andy Brown ran for HD48 in 2006, he dropped out and endorsed Donna Howard, but too late to take his name off of the primary ballot.

37 Votes Later, Republican Opposition to the Affordable Care Act is Wearing Thin

Emily Cadik — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives made their 37th attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Despite the fact that 12 percent of Americans think the Affordable Care Act has been repealed and 23 percent don't know, the measure was entirely symbolic to show that Republicans are fighting the law's implementation every step of the way. It's also symbolic of the Republican strategy to reject anything supported by Democrats without offering a better solution.

Underscoring this point, in remarks on the House floor,Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said, "Together, we could provide more cost-effective care and do something more about spiraling healthcare costs. But really, the only true Republican alternative to Obamacare is Nothingcare."

The same goes for Governor Perry's resistance to expanding Medicaid in Texas. Perry and his allies continue to reject the federal dollars that would allow us to insure potentially 2 million more Texans, but have not offered a proposal that would make anywhere near as much of a dent in Texas' highest uninsured rate in the nation.

Read more after the jump.
One of the main arguments we hear against expanding Medicaid in Texas is that Medicaid costs are too high, thus placing an undue burden on taxpayers. (Never mind that the federal government will be footing over 90 percent of the bill of a Medicaid expansion, and without it we're leaving 100 billion on the table.) But it turns out what's largely responsible for growth in Medicaid costs in Texas is simply that there are more people in poverty, and thus more Texans enrolling in the program.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Texas has become an increasingly poor state. Between 2000 and 2010, census data show that the Texas population grew by 4.3 million people - a 21 percent increase.
During that same period, however, the total number of Texans living in poverty grew by 1.4 million - a 45 percent increase, more than double the rate of overall population growth. And the number of children living in poverty grew by 75 percent, nearly quadruple the overall rate of growth. This large increase in the number of poor people led to a 79 percent increase in Medicaid enrollment from 2000 to 2010.
The increase in enrollment, not the increase in costs per enrollee, is by far the largest driver of rising Medicaid costs. While health care inflation is a major concern for employers and families nationwide, it is not the major factor in Texas' rising Medicaid costs.

In fact, Medicaid costs in Texas are relatively low compared to the rate of rising health care costs outside of the program:

The cost per enrollee for Texas Medicaid has risen minimally over the decade, despite rising health care costs outside of the program. The annual cost per enrollee in Texas Medicaid grew by 18 percent from 2002 to 2008, less than the cumulative inflation rate of 19.7 percent and a fraction of the 52 percent rate of growth in per capita national health expenditures. The annual cost per enrollee in Texas in 2009 was $4,884, less than all but 10 states, and 12 percent below the national average.

So despite the fact that more people are enrolling in Medicaid because poverty in Texas has increased under Perry's leadership, Perry continues to reject a program that would keep more Texans from falling further into debt and poverty. They keep saying 'no,' but have nothing to show for it.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett: "The Only True Republican Alternative to Obamacare is Nothingcare"

Katherine Haenschen — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:02:27 GMT

Today, as Republicans in Congress tried to come between Americans and their doctors with their 37th feckless attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, staunch progressive and champion of healthcare Congressman Lloyd Doggett stood up and offered his strong defense of the bill.

In his remarks, Doggett took it to the GOP for being the party of "No," and emphasized how Republicans like Governor Rick Perry are still standing in the way of millions of Americans receiving access to affordable, quality care through the refusal to expand Medicaid.

Watch Doggett's remarks below:

Read the full transcript of his statement below the jump.
Transcript of Congressman Lloyd Doggett's remarks:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Patients' Rights Repeal Act. Like a broken record repeating the same old scratchy, sad verse, these Republicans cannot stop repeating their record of indifference to the healthcare crisis. They have given up on "repeal and replace" because all they ever cared about was the repeal part. As the party of No, this year, they have not advanced a single health care proposal as an alternative.
I only wish that the Affordable Health Care Act were as good as they think it is bad. But to the millions who have received refunds from insurance company monopolies for overcharging, to the millions who are no longer denied coverage by the fine print in an insurance policy they didn't write, to the seniors who are getting some help on their prescription drugs and preventive care, to the millions more who will be able to finally apply in October for coverage they do not have now, for the small businesses who will receive assistance in supplying their employees with the coverage they have been unable to afford in the past, you know this Obamacare? It works pretty well.
Together, we could make it better. We could make it more accessible for more individuals, like the many people in Texas who will be denied by Governor Perry's decision to refuse 100% of the costs of Medicaid protection. Together, we could provide more cost-effective care and do something more about spiraling healthcare costs. But really, the only true Republican alternative to Obamacare is Nothingcare.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett Introduces Three Excellent Bills to End Corporate Tax Evasion

Ben Sherman — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:00:00 GMT

As Americans file their taxes today, Central Texas' own U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett is introducing three bills to end corporate tax evasion alongside a Government Accountability Office report showing their massive growth. While questioning Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Thursday, Doggett noted that corporations have successfully lobbied the Obama Administration and Congress to deny the United States millions in owed corporate taxes:

Of the many Americans who are right now getting their taxes ready to file, I doubt there are very many that think they will be able to pay a mere nickel on the dollar. But there are many of America's largest corporations that continue lobbying the Administration, and this Congress to let them pay a nickel on the dollar in taxes on a significant portion of their earnings.

Doggett continued, noting that American companies lead the world in escaping taxes and that the fiscal cliff "deal" made earlier this year only makes the problem worse by granting corporations more loopholes and giving them major tax cuts:

Over a three-year period, 30 Fortune 500 companies devoted more of their monies to lobbying this Congress than they did in paying taxes to the Treasury. Some have a negative tax rate. Many of our largest corporations are paying effective rates that are single digits...We know the history, this very year, is that in the fiscal cliff negotiations and the law that was finally approved, corporate America didn't contribute a dime. In fact, some corporations got major tax cuts out of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

Doggett will introduce three bills today to address this problem. From the Doggett press release:

The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act aims to close several different loopholes by deterring the use of tax havens for tax evasion and strengthening the enforcement of our tax laws. The bill would also require SEC-registered corporations to report annually on the number of employees, sales, financing, tax obligations, and tax payments on a country-by-country basis, shedding more light on the extent of use of tax havens. This bill also provides for additional penalties for failing to disclose offshore holdings and for promoting abusive tax shelters.
The International Tax Competitiveness Act addresses a large and growing area of tax abuse: the practice of developing a trademark, patent, or copyright in the U.S. and then transferring that intellectual property abroad to avoid taxes on the vast income it generates. This bill would treat income from the U.S. intellectual property as U.S. income and tax it accordingly.
The Fairness in International Taxation Act would end the current practice of treaty shopping to avoid U.S. taxes. The United States has tax treaties with a number of trading partners that reduce the amount of taxes that a U.S. based entity owes on interest and royalties paid to a foreign parent. Since many of these foreign parent companies are set up in tax havens, these companies now bypass U.S. taxes by routing the payment through a tax-treaty country that then just transfers the funds to the tax-haven parent. This bill would end that legal fiction and say that you only get the tax-treaty discount if the parent company is actually located in a tax-treaty country.

Read more below the jump.
Corporate tax evasion was a major issue during the 2012 election. President Obama promised to end corporate tax loopholes, and voters learned that Mitt Romney evaded millions in personal taxes and taxes on Bain Capital.

The millions we allow corporations to avoid paying in taxes hurts all Americans. It takes money from our schools, our safety regulators, our roads, our mail, and all the other essential functions of our government. Rep. Doggett is representing us excellently by putting forward these bills. They deserve your vocal support.

Rep. Doggett's press release:

Doggett Releasing GAO Report, Corporate Tax Reform Package on Tax Day, Monday, April 15 as Corporations "Continue Lobbying to Pay a Nickel on the Dollar in Taxes"
Washington- On Monday, April 15-Tax Day-U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, will release a new non-partisan General Accountability Office (GAO) report showing the marked growth of corporate tax expenditures. He will also file a package of three pieces of legislation to reduce corporate tax loopholes.
"Of the many Americans who are right now getting their taxes ready to file, I doubt there are very many that think they will be able to pay a mere nickel on the dollar. But there are many of America's largest corporations that continue lobbying the Administration, and this Congress to let them pay a nickel on the dollar in taxes on a significant portion of their earnings," U.S. Rep. Doggett said [Thursday] in a Ways and Means Committee hearing while questioning U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. A number of corporations have called for a "repatriation tax holiday," like that they enjoyed in 2004, to apply a mere 5.25% tax on any profits they claim to have earned abroad.
To see Rep. Doggett's full discussion with Secretary Lew, click here. A portion of Rep. Doggett's questioning follows below:
"Over a three-year period, 30 Fortune 500 companies devoted more of their monies to lobbying this Congress than they did in paying taxes to the Treasury. Some have a negative tax rate. Many of our largest corporations are paying effective rates that are single digits.
"You are aware, and I believe the Treasury is involved in the comments recently of the top finance ministers in Germany, in France, and in the United Kingdom, calling for cooperation among the G20 countries to deal with this problem of corporate tax avoidance. We want to be competitive, we want every American company to be competitive, but not just to be competitive in terms of corporate tax avoidance, where we seem to be the world's leader at the moment.
"I have several pieces of legislation attempting to implement some of these budget provisions and to go a bit further than what I view as rather modest revisions. The concern I have, Mr. Secretary, is that while I think some adjustment in the statutory rate is appropriate to reduce it, that you devote every cent of that reform right back to the corporations. We know the history, this very year, is that in the fiscal cliff negotiations and the law that was finally approved, corporate America didn't contribute a dime. In fact, some corporations got major tax cuts out of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Isn't it reasonable to expect corporate America, having paid such low effective rates, to contribute a little to closing the budget gap and to the cost of our national security?"
The legislation Rep. Doggett will introduce on Monday is:
Ø The Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act aims to close several different loopholes by deterring the use of tax havens for tax evasion and strengthening the enforcement of our tax laws. The bill would also require SEC-registered corporations to report annually on the number of employees, sales, financing, tax obligations, and tax payments on a country-by-country basis, shedding more light on the extent of use of tax havens. This bill also provides for additional penalties for failing to disclose offshore holdings and for promoting abusive tax shelters.
Ø The International Tax Competitiveness Act addresses a large and growing area of tax abuse: the practice of developing a trademark, patent, or copyright in the U.S. and then transferring that intellectual property abroad to avoid taxes on the vast income it generates. This bill would treat income from the U.S. intellectual property as U.S. income and tax it accordingly.
Ø The Fairness in International Taxation Act would end the current practice of treaty shopping to avoid U.S. taxes. The United States has tax treaties with a number of trading partners that reduce the amount of taxes that a U.S. based entity owes on interest and royalties paid to a foreign parent. Since many of these foreign parent companies are set up in tax havens, these companies now bypass U.S. taxes by routing the payment through a tax-treaty country that then just transfers the funds to the tax-haven parent. This bill would end that legal fiction and say that you only get the tax-treaty discount if the parent company is actually located in a tax-treaty country.

Tweets of the Week: Medicaid Expansion Takes #TXLege By Storm

Katherine Haenschen — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:59:29 GMT

The Capitol was home to dueling Medicaid Expansion events yesterday. Warming up the crowd were folks from Texas Organizing Project and Progress Texas, advocating for the Medicaid Expansion. The expansion would help 1.5 million Texans who currently lack health insurance gain access to affordable, quality healthcare, with the federal government picking up the cost.

Check out some top tweets from the series of events in our Storify below the jump!

Rep. Doggett on TANF: Focus Should Be On Ending Poverty Not Denying Assistance To Needy

Joe Deshotel — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Congress is considering extending the program of block grants to States for the temporary assistance for needy families (TANF). Congressman Doggett (D-Austin) expressed his disappointment that more is not being done to create a long term bipartisan solution to poverty. Instead of reducing welfare rolls by denying assistance and reinforcing "old welfare Cadillac stereotypes", the Congressman believes we should provide real opportunity for people to lift themselves up the socioeconomic ladder. He noted only 1% of poor adults in America are participating in a TANF work program, and that a larger portion of our population is now living near the poverty line than when welfare reform was implemented in the 90s.

"If you evaluate the TANF program and how it has operated over the last decade and a half based upon the number of poor people who have been denied assistance it has been a tremendous success. But if you evaluate it based upon the number of poor people, who have been able to utilize it to secure a good, long term job, at a livable wage, its success is, at best, spotty."

Full transcript below the jump...
March 13th, 2013

Mr. Speaker, I believe in the value of work. I voted for the 1996 welfare law because I supported moving people from welfare to work. Our laws should foster job creation. In this important effort, today's bill is not so much malevolent as irrelevant to those poor people.

Because of the way the TANF program is currently structured, only about one percent of the working-age adults across America who are poor are participating in TANF work activities.

To most living at the bottom of the economic ladder, this bill and this program are largely irrelevant. Whether or not waivers are granted will make no difference in the lives of the overwhelming number, who are struggling to find a good job and climb out of poverty.

And today, a higher proportion of our population lives near the bottom of that economic ladder than when welfare reform was enacted. In 2011, the poverty rate was 15% or 46.2 million Americans. The census bureau estimates about 350,000 of these individuals are in the San Antonio area.

Amidst this rising poverty, we have the lowest level of poor children receiving direct cash assistance from TANF in almost 50 years. In my home state of Texas, only about one of every 20 poor children receive any such TANF aid. And when they do get help, it's not very much.

Short term extensions like today's bill and its predecessors offer convenient political opportunities to reinforce old welfare Cadillac stereotypes and blame the poor for being poor. A previous extension focused on prohibiting any withdrawals of cash assistance at strip clubs, liquor stores, and casinos.

While I certainly didn't object to that restriction, it did not even attempt to address the core issue of how to get more Americans out of poverty. Nor does today's bill.

Poverty should be viewed as a major national problem to be resolved, together, not a weapon to be used for scoring political points. It's the poverty of cooperation on solving the bigger problems, a poverty of balance that is resulting in so many children and their parents seeing so little progress.

If you evaluate how TANF has operated over the last decade and a half based upon the number of poor people to whom it denies any assistance, it has been a great success. But if you evaluate it based upon the number of poor people, who have been able to utilize it to secure a good, long term job, at a livable wage, its success is, at best, spotty.

I think that the responsibility for those failures is shared by many: states who did not do their part, an Administration that did not come forward with its own plan, and Republicans here in Congress who have continued to build on old false stereotypes as this TANF reauthorization has been considered.

The only focus of our latest short-term extension has been on attempting to limit the Administration and giving the states added flexibility.

In my opinion, in some areas, they have too much flexibility already and basically use TANF as a slush fund to fund some of the social services that they should be providing themselves, and were in some cases providing themselves, to assist those who were poor to move into the workforce and to develop better skills.

I believe that today's attempt to restrict state authority to strengthen welfare to work initiatives totally contradicts what is happening this very moment with a blockheaded Republican budget that would block grant unbridled authority to the states to weaken health care.

As to whether States need additional flexibility with regards to TANF, there's some good argument that they should, but what we really should be doing is a broad reauthorization of this program, looking at whether it fulfills its original purpose and whether we can make it work better for the taxpayer and for those that it is designed to provide temporary assistance to.

I think all of us want to see fewer people receive assistance because they found a good job, but this is no indication that these folks that are not receiving assistance found a good job, and no one should consider it a success when fewer and fewer very poor children and families have access to a program meant to serve them.

Instead of focusing on waivers and simply waving good-bye to the many people in America who are economically disadvantaged and want a better opportunity, who want some hope to get out of poverty, let's try to do more to assist those people in more productive, long-term programs.

Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of work to do to improve TANF and I wish that had been the focus of this legislation, and the focus of more attention from the Administration.

We should measure the success of TANF on getting recipients into jobs, rather than simply measuring how many have been denied assistance.

The TANF program needs to be part of the puzzle in addressing poverty in our country, instead of the broken link that it has become. Our focus should be on helping people find work, rather than trying to perpetuate myths about welfare queens.

We need to conduct a thorough and careful review of more than just the work requirements to help make TANF satisfy its original objective.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett Responds to the State of the Union Address

Katherine Haenschen — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 03:23:21 GMT

Congressman Lloyd Doggett had this to say about tonight's State of the Union address:

A snippet:

"From Pre-K to post-grad, our investments in education are about individual opportunity and having a stronger, more competitive workforce. And certainly I agree with the President on immigration reform. We can benefit substantially in Texas economically from this immigrant workforce. We need to not only pass the DREAM Act, of which I've long been a sponsor, but to see that these families are not ripped asunder."

Watch the whole video to hear Congressman Doggett's full-throated support for progressive policies desperately needed in Texas and across America.

Round-Up of Press Statements Praising Photo Voter ID Decision

Shelby Alexander — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 19:02:08 GMT

For the second time this week, the federal court has ruled against Attorney General Greg Abbott, this time striking down the Republican photo voter ID law. We've compiled a round of press statements from Texas' Democratic elected officials praising the court's ruling against the state's voter ID law. What a week!

You can find statements below the jump from the following:

Congressman Lloyd Doggett
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
Senator Leticia Van de Putte
Senator José Rodríguez
Senator Wendy Davis
Senator Rodney Ellis
Representative Garnet Coleman

Congressman Lloyd Doggett

"Twice in one week, a unanimous three-judge federal court has rejected Governor Perry's schemes to violate the Voting Rights Act. His continued defense of the indefensible represents a shameless waste of millions of taxpayer dollars."

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

"A long, bitter, and bloody struggle was fought for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 so that all Americans could enjoy the right to vote, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. Americans died in that fight so that others could achieve what they had been forcefully deprived of for centuries--the ability to walk freely and without fear into the polling place and cast a voting ballot. An election with integrity is one that is open to every eligible voter. Restrictive voter ID requirements degrade the integrity of our elections by systematically excluding large numbers of eligible Americans."

Senator Leticia Van de Putte

"The D.C. court has wisely affirmed what we already knew: That the Voter ID law would serve as a barrier, keeping the most vulnerable Texans from exercising their legal right to vote. I hope the State of Texas will stop wasting taxpayer money on blocking legally registered voters from the polls, and instead put its resources toward both encouraging voter turnout and investigating real voter fraud, not chasing the 'voter impersonation' phantom."

Senator José Rodríguez

"Today's decision to block Texas' voter ID law will ensure that the voices of Hispanic voters across El Paso, West Texas, and our state, will not be ignored as a result of highly partisan attempts to deny them the right to vote. This is a clear message that the state ought to stop trying to pass unconstitutional laws that infringe on the rights of Texas minorities, especially the millions of Hispanics in our state. Once again state leaders were unable to prove that the Voter ID law would not adversely impact minority voters. As the Department of Justice correctly argued, Hispanic registered voters, in particular, are less likely to have photo identification or the ability to acquire photo identification because of obstacles, such as the lack of transportation. This is why I voted against passage of the law. This has gone on for too long already. With the court's rejection this week of the state's redistricting proposals, it is clear that continued assaults on our cherished right to vote are unconstitutional and a distraction from the vital governance issues we face."

Senator Wendy Davis

"Requiring photo identification could have, perhaps, been enacted fairly, but Governor Perry and state leaders insisted on forcing through a flawed law that would have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars without protecting a single vote. Texas leaders should be focusing on creating jobs instead of throwing money away on partisan politics."

Senator Rodney Ellis

"I thank the DC Federal Court for standing up for voting rights and against discrimination and disenfranchisement. Throughout this entire process, Texas consistently failed to produce information showing the law would not have a discriminatory impact on minority voters. The Voting Rights Act exists for this exact purpose: protecting the ability of all Americans to access the ballot box. There are more UFO and Bigfoot sightings than documented cases of voter impersonation. After years of testimony and debate, supporters of Texas' voter ID law still cannot prove their case that voter impersonation is even a minor problem in Texas. We, unfortunately, have plenty of evidence that it will disenfranchise legal student, elderly, African American and Hispanic voters. The esteemed justices, like the Department of Justice before them, saw that evidence and made the right decision."

Representative Garnet Coleman

"Today the court handed down another victory for the voters of Texas and upheld the heart of the Voting Rights Act. It's no surprise that Greg Abbott and his team were unable to make the case that the Voter ID Law would not have discriminatory or retrogressive results. This piece of legislation was crafted to do just that--disenfranchise minority voters and inhibit them from electing representatives of their choice. Not everyone has the ability to obtain or the luxury to afford an approved photo identification as prescribed by the Voter ID Law. People of color, the elderly, and college students would have been particularly harmed by the law. Shame on Greg Abbott for continuing to assault the voting rights of minority voters by advocating for a modern day poll tax. We are fortunate that the federal government continues to prevent Texas' attempts to use state law to suppress the votes of minorities, the elderly, and college students."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett Releases Statement on Romney's Ryan VP Pick

Katherine Haenschen — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:31:00 GMT

This morning, Mitt Romney picked Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, architect of the radical Republican Ryan budget, to be his VP. Quick to put out a statement on the pick was stalwart progressive Texas congressman Lloyd Doggett:

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), who has served with Rep. Paul Ryan throughout his tenure as Budget Chairman and on the House Ways and Means Committee issued the following statement this morning:
"Bright and articulate, Paul Ryan represents a younger version of Rick Perry policies without the rough edges and 'oops' moments. I like him; I just don't like his policies, which are not a return to our founding principles but only a reversal to the failed Bush-Cheney approach. I disagree that the only way to bring more balance to the federal budget is to make it more difficult for seniors to balance their personal budgets-that we cannot afford to commit more for educational opportunity but can afford to provide more tax cuts to the privileged few and the corporate tax dodgers."

Anyone who is surprised by the pick should remember that Romney and Ryan see eye-to-eye on budgetary and economic matters -- a notion that should send a shudder of fear through middle-class American families.

Congressman Paul Ryan's budget closely adheres to Romney's own oft-stated desire to give massive tax cuts to the richest Americans while passing the cost of civilized society on to the middle- and lower-classes. Romney and Ryan both support privatizing Medicare, replacing it with a voucher program that will cost the average senior citizen an extra $6,350 per year. Both want to charge seniors more for prescription drugs and preventative care. Both Romney and Ryan want to cut 200,000 kids out of Head Start each year, cut Pell Grants for 10,000,000 students (that's 10 million students), and cut funding for veterans' affairs by 19%. Both Romney and Ryan want to extend all of the Bush tax cuts, providing $5 trillion more in cuts for the wealthy, which would require raising taxes on middle-class families. And of course, both Romney and Ryan support rolling back Wall Street reforms that protect consumers and prevent future financial crises.

It's a match made in dystopian Republican heaven!

Lloyd Doggett Opposes House GOP's Tax Cuts for Millionaires

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:42:53 GMT

Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett got into the Olympic spirt on the House floor today in a speech opposing the GOP's proposed extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for those making over $250,000 a year. The GOP proposal would also allow other tax credits that help working families expire, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit that Rep. Doggett authored to make college more affordable for millions of families.

“Now is not the time to let Republicans raise taxes on thousands of Texas families to provide more tax breaks for the privileged few. If there were an Olympic medal for protecting those sitting atop the economic ladder, at the expense of those trying to get a foothold on the first couple of rungs, these Republicans would go gold without any competition.”
-Rep. Lloyd Doggett

The Congressman's full statement is transcribed below the fold.

“Now is not the time to let the Republicans raise taxes on thousands of Texas families in order to provide more tax breaks for a privileged few. Republicans would hike the taxes by almost $500 for a married Marine corporal with four years of service and two children living in Schertz. That is wrong. Nor is this the time for Republicans to tax opportunity. A single mom, working as a nurse, who is helping her daughter attend an Alamo College or Texas State or ACC, would be denied the $2,500 higher education tax credit that I authored. All of this, in the very same bill that would give a Republican who earns a million dollars a tax cut next year that is larger than that Marine or that nurse would earn for an entire year.

“If there were an Olympic medal for protecting those sitting atop the economic ladder, at the expense of those trying to get a foothold on the first couple of rungs, these Republicans would go gold without any competition.

“Nor has this ‘trickle down’ Republican approach grown our jobs and our economy. Extending tax breaks for those at the very top, it was done in 2010 over my objection. It hasn’t grown jobs in the past year any more than it helped to avoid the Bush-Cheney recession.

“As for this much ballyhooed Ernst and Young report, it was bought and paid for by the same millionaires that are going to get the tax break bigger than what the nurse or marine earns all of next year, along with a few large corporations who paid for the report. It is not credible. It is not just to see some Americans have to lose tax breaks in order to help the few gain even more.”