The Congressional Budget Act requires Congress to enact a budget resolution by today, April 15. However, while the Republican Congress introduced one of most brutal budgets ever and even passed it out of the Budget Committee, Republicans failed to meet their obligation to bring it to the House Floor for a vote today.  The surprising turn of events for the “majority” party highlights the dysfunction and turmoil in the Republican-led Congress where their already-savage budget proposal proved not radical enough to move for final passage. House Democrats remain committed to fighting for working Americans and bringing forth a budget consistent with the bipartisan, bicameral agreement already reached last fall. 

The House GOP budget blueprint would end the Medicare guarantee for seniors and eviscerate fundamental investments in education, medical research and infrastructure, but the Republican House rejected that plan as insufficiently severe to meet the test of the Tea Party. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a veteran of the House Budget Committee who has stood up to Speaker Ryan’s yearly draconian budgets, called on House Republicans to act in the best interest of the American people and not the extreme wing of their party.   

“Once again, Republicans in control of Congress have complicated America’s future by failing to pass a budget,” said U.S. Rep. Castor. “This Republican chaos in Congress is detrimental to us here at home. This budget failure complicates our military missions at MacDill, the future of medical research at USF and Moffitt Cancer Center, and America's transportation and infrastructure needs, like the expansion and repairs so badly needed in the Tampa Bay area. Important jobs that help lift America are being undercut by the economic uncertainty created by the Republican Congress. I urge my colleagues to tackle the tough budget issues, abide by their agreements, cut responsibly where we need to, invest as necessary and allow the business of the American people to move forward.”

Speaker Ryan – the former Chairman of the House Budget Committee – repeatedly promised to pass a budget, and was party to the bipartisan agreement last fall that finally moved beyond the draconian sequester levels insisted upon by many Republicans.  Here’s the budget that was too weak to satisfy Republicans in Congress:

• Ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors;
• Makes $6.5 trillion in cuts – the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the House Budget Committee;
• Devastates investments in good-paying jobs like those at Moffitt and USF by slashing funds for NIH;
• Chokes investment in American infrastructure by decimating transportation funding and thereby destroying the good paying construction jobs that accompany those investments.

“I will keep fighting to shield support for medical research and other investments in Tampa Bay that create high-paying jobs and grows our economy. I oppose rolling back on progress made after restoring some funding from the harmful Republican sequester last Congress that disrupted the security of working families.”