"The Number Zero, Brought to You by the Party of N-O"

The DNC just released a pretty brutal -- not to mention funny -- video mocking the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives for releasing a budget with no numbers in it.

The Obama Budget - Real Change

via: MoveOn.Org:

Want to see what change looks like? Real change?

Well, here it is. Last week, President Obama unveiled his budget—his blueprint for America—and it's ambitious, amazing, and unapologetically progressive. As Paul Krugman said, it will set America on a "fundamentally new course."¹

President Obama called his budget "a threat to the status quo," and trust me, the status quo noticed. Oil companies, big banks and insurance companies are already mobilizing to stop it.²

Unfortunately, most folks don't realize how far-reaching and progressive the plan is—that's where we all come in.

Here are 10 really incredible things about Obama's plan. Check them out and then send them on to your friends and family so that millions of people will have the information they need to fight to make this vision a reality.

10 things you should know about Obama's plan (but probably don't)

The plan:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.³
   
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.⁴
   
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.⁵
   
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.⁶
   
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.⁷
   
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. ⁸
   
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.⁹
   
   
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.¹⁰
   
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.¹¹
   
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them.¹²

Sources:

1. "Climate of Change," The New York Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?em

2. "Obama Calls His Budget Sweeping, Needed Change," The New York Times, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51201&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=2

3. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=3

4. "Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan," Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51203&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=4

5. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=5

6. "The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan," The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html

7. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

8. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=6

9. "Student Loans," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

10. "Obama unveils budget blueprint," CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/

11. "Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI," Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51205&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=7

12. "Obama's budget," Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51206&id=15687-3519438-WgjWucx&t=8

President's Budget Cuts Children's Health Coverage

Contrary to his 2004 promises, George Bush now intends to cut health coverage for those children who are most in need of it. Additionally, he will cut Medicaid benefits. Again, for those who are most in need of them!

These "scarifices" will be made to increase the size of the military-industrial complex as well as making permanent the "temporary tax cuts" from his first term. You remember. . .the ones that mostly benefited the wealthiest 2% of Americans. . .because he had that huge Clinton-Gore surplus to play with, and favors to return. . .and foreign oil to grab in unjust wars. But I digress. Back to the topic at hand:

WASHINGTON - February 5 - “America’s children must also have a healthy start in life. In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government’s health insurance programs. We will not allow a lack of attention, or information, to stand between these children and the health care they need.” (President George W. Bush, Republican National Convention, September 2, 2004)

The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the President’s budget proposal that would cut children’s health coverage:

“The President’s budget proposal would cut health coverage for children in low- and moderate-income families. Instead of expanding health coverage to America’s 9 million uninsured children, the President proposes to reduce coverage in two ways.

“First, the President’s proposed funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is inadequate to retain enrollment for the children who currently participate in the program. Not only will states be unable to enroll more children, but they will be forced to terminate coverage for hundreds of thousands of children, thereby consigning them to the ranks of the uninsured.

“Second, the President’s proposal is designed to reduce SCHIP eligibility in 18 states* where eligibility exceeds 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($34,340 in annual income for a family of three). It would jeopardize health coverage for many additional children.

“It is short-sighted to limit assistance to children in families with less than $35,000 in income, especially since the cost of family insurance premiums now averages $12,000, more than one-third of their incomes.

“The President’s proposal contravenes his explicit promise at the 2004 Republican convention. It also stymies efforts by Republican and Democratic governors to expand health coverage to the 9 million children who are uninsured today.

“A consensus is developing among politically and ideologically diverse organizations and policymakers that all children should have health coverage. Not only is the President clearly out of step, but he is heading in the wrong direction.

“At the same time that the President is cutting children’s health coverage, he also plans to make large reductions in Medicaid. As a result, the President’s proposal will put health coverage increasingly out of reach for millions of America’s families.

“We call on Congress to reject the President’s health budget proposals and work to achieve more affordable coverage for all, starting with America’s children.”

*California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Three other jurisdictions, the District of Columbia, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, which are also planning to raise SCHIP eligibility, could be adversely affected as well.

ITMFA!

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