“The House Republican budget is a dishonest sham, hurts the middle class, and paves a golden path for continued brinkmanship and government shutdowns in the future.
“In 2016, the budget uses backdoor gimmickry to pump up defense spending $36 billion beyond the President’s request as relief from sequestration, yet magically not add to the deficit. It could not be any more transparent an attempt to satisfy dueling factions among House Republicans, regardless of how dishonest the means.
“In 2017 and beyond, it would slash non-defense discretionary investments by $759 billion below already-insufficient Budget Control Act caps. As a moral matter, these cuts would wreak havoc on schools, roads and bridges, law enforcement, job training, community development, and much more. As a practical matter, it would be impossible to pass Appropriations bills under such austere levels. We know because we have tried. In 2013, this exact strategy predictably crashed and resulted in a 17-day government shutdown.
“I urge House Republicans to abandon this dishonest and irresponsible course, and instead work with Democrats on a framework that ends sequestration for both defense and nondefense investments and makes future government shutdowns less likely - not more."
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
