Richard Gephardt: “this Republican budget reminds me of a movie I saw a few years ago called ``Groundhog Day.'' In the movie, Bill Murray…”

“this Republican budget reminds me of a movie I saw a few years ago called ``Groundhog Day.'' In the movie, Bill Murray, who is the star, keeps reliving the same day over and over again. Everything happens to him the same way. This budget, which has been advertised as a real change, when you examine it, when you open the package that has been repackaged, is really the same thing. It is said to be a moderate budget. It is not a moderate budget. It is warmed over tax cuts for the wealthy, rehashed cuts in Medicare, in Medicaid, reconstituted cuts in education and the environment. For 17 months, the President, the Democrats have been waiting for the Republicans to come to the sensible center so that we could get a budget done. The Republicans have been offered a balanced budget plan made up entirely of cuts that the Republicans support, but it is never good enough. We cannot seem to get the compromise, the consensus that we need to get this done. This budget still raises taxes. Now listen to this. I said it in the last budget debate: This budget raises taxes on working people who are at the bottom, trying to get in the middle class, while it cuts dramatically taxes on capital gains, most of which goes to the wealthiest Americans. How can anyone argue that this is fair, that this is sensible, that this is pragmatic, that this is what we ought to be doing in this country? It still cuts Medicare and Medicaid way too much.”