Sen. Harkin continues rebuke of Romney-Ryan budget plan

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) returned to the Senate floor Tuesday to continue his assault on vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan’s spending plan.

He also said he would keep speaking on the floor until the Senate adjourns so that he can tell people what is in Ryan and his running mate Mitt Romney’s “blueprint” for America. 

“Romney and Ryan have put their stamp of approval on that blueprint and the American people need to know what’s in their budget and we are going to tell them from now until we adjourn,” Harking said Tuesday.

On Monday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chairman criticized Ryan’s plan to deeply cut to Medicare, Medicaid and healthcare. On Tuesday Harkin focused on education.

“The Romney-Ryan budget would have devastating effects on education,” Harkin said. He continued to explain how thousands of teachers would be laid off by 2014 alone and how education funding on all levels would be slashed.

“These cuts aren’t just ill-considered they really smack of class welfare,” Harkin said. “It’s Robin Hood in reverse, it robs to poor to feed the rich.”

The Romney-Ryan plan would provide tax cuts for the wealthy, and Democrats say that will come at the expense of programs that benefit the middle class and poor.

Harkin said he’s next going to talk about “what’s going to happen to working families” under the Romney-Ryan plan and that others would discuss how their plan negatively affects infrastructure. 

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