Jerry Moran: “What we've elected to do is to balance priorities, and the most important are the priorities within the budget process.…”

“What we've elected to do is to balance priorities, and the most important are the priorities within the budget process. The Republican budget proposal introduced today is a collection of misplaced priorities because it cuts hundreds of thousands of jobs, it weakens our economy, and it punishes poor people. That's not what we are about. Today, the wealthiest Americans in this country have 40 percent of our Nation's wealth and are making more than a quarter of our national income. But this budget will cut their top tax rate by 15 percent. In other words, if you're making a million dollars, you're going to get a tax break of up to $150,000. If you're making a billion dollars a year, which more than two dozen of the hedge fund managers in this country do make, you will get a $150 million tax break per year. That's not what we should be about. Let's look at the misplaced priorities in the continuing resolution in front of us. The amount saved by cutting education, health care, environmental regulation, child care, cancer, and Alzheimer's research and all of the other cuts in domestic, nondefense, discretionary spending, is equal to the cost of continuing the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Those are not the priorities of America; that shouldn't be the priority of this Congress. We can do better. We must do better. ____________________”