off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
House and Senate Budget Plans Share 10 Flaws
| By
CBPP
As members of the House and Senate tasked with resolving differences between the Senate and House budget plans prepare to meet today, they’ll discuss plans that are largely aligned — and similarly flawed. As we explain in a new paper, the House and Senate plans have in common a number of serious flaws that likely will also apply to any final agreement.
Both plans share these serious flaws:
- Deficit reduction entirely through massive spending cuts, without any new revenues.
- Disproportionate cuts in programs for low- and moderate-income Americans (see chart).
- More Americans uninsured and underinsured, and more living in poverty.
- No sequestration relief for domestic priorities in 2016, and a gimmick to boost defense spending.
- More cuts in essential domestic investments after 2016.
- Deep cuts in transportation infrastructure.
- Federal spending shrinking to strikingly low levels as a share of the economy.
- Omitted funding to combat fraud and abuse.
- Tax cuts but no explanation of how to finance them.
- Misguided focus on balancing the budget by 2025.
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