From Rep. Gerry Connolly:
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Dear Lowell, Last night, Congressman Paul Ryan officially accepted the Republican Party's nomination for Vice President. He addressed the crowd at the Republican National Convention and offered his vision for America. Republicans are presenting Ryan as a candidate with substance – a man who has ideas. Unfortunately, they are the wrong ideas for our country. I served with Paul Ryan on the House Budget Committee for two years and I know what 'substance' Ryan brings to the table. Paul Ryan is an amicable radical. His sunny disposition disguises the extreme far-right nature of his views. The Ryan Budget — embraced by the entire Republican Party — is an extreme agenda that will set America back. I voted against the Ryan Plan on the Budget Committee and on the House floor. Here are five reasons I voted against the Ryan Budget: 1. It explodes the deficit. The Ryan plan relies on optimistic assumptions that tax cuts will stimulate the economy. We were promised the same magical benefits of tax cuts with the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003, and what resulted was stagnant growth for a decade, and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 2. It slashes funding for Pell Grant scholarships that help pay for the education of millions of students. Ryan's budget plan makes it even harder for students to deal with the financial cost of college by cutting the funds that give them the opportunity to participate in the 21st-century economy. 3. It ends Medicare as we know it. The Ryan Budget would turn Medicare from guaranteed health coverage into a voucher program, where the voucher doesn't keep up with the rising cost of health care. Under Ryan's plan, senior citizens would pay an average of $6,500 more annually for health care than they do now. 4. It guts programs essential to our economic recovery, like infrastructure and transportation projects. Defunding vital programs like these will eliminate critical structural improvements that create jobs. The Ryan Budget would also cut important funding for grants to medical, scientific, and clean energy research. 5. It defunds Planned Parenthood. The Ryan Budget defunds Planned Parenthood, eliminating access to low-cost preventative health services and cancer screenings. Paul Ryan's Budget is a radical plan that would bring progress in America to a halt, while at the same time exploding the national debt. Newt Gingrich had it right when he called it right-wing social engineering. Its adoption would return America to the unregulated social darwinism of the 1890s. Despite this, Ryan has enjoyed near-unanimous support from Republicans at all levels, from Mitt Romney, to George Allen, to my opponent Chris Perkins. You can help spread the truth about the Ryan Plan. Click here to Forward to a Friend so others can know the truth about the Paul Ryan's Plan – a vision that's wrong for Virginia and wrong for America. Yours in Service,
Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Virginia's 11th District P.S. If you agree with me, I need your help to spread the message about Ryan's plan. Click here to Forward to a Friend and let people know about how dangerous Ryan's plan is for America. |
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