McConnell: Dem budget continues policies that 'pummel' middle class

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Democrats’ budget proposal continues policies that “pummel” the middle class.

“The budget we waited four years for is just a rehash of the extreme policies that continue to pummel, pummel the middle class,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “It’s time to grow the economy, not the government.”

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) budget has come under heavy fire from Republicans who say it overestimates the extent to which it would reduce the deficit while raising $1 trillion in new taxes. Democrats say their budget cuts the deficit by $1.85 trillion over 10 years through an equal amount of spending cuts and new revenue, but the GOP has said that because the accounting assumes the sequester will not happen, the amount if deficit reduction is closer to $700 billion.

McConnell said that the American people want a budget that balances, something Murray’s doesn’t do over 10 years.

“Democrats like to say budgets aren't just about dollars and cents, they're about values,” McConnell said. “Well, what their budget tells me is that they’ve completely lost touch with the hopes and concerns of their constituents, that they're serving the needs of government instead of the needs of those who elected them.”

Democrats include $100 billion of stimulus spending in their budget because they say government investment is still necessary to produce more economic growth. But Republicans say the budget should cut more spending rather than increase it.

The Senate will continue debate on the budget until Friday, unless time is yielded back. Then it will have a "vote-a-rama" on an unlimited number of related amendments.

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