By Luke Vargas
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and colleagues from the House Progressive Caucus gathered Wednesday at the Capitol to announce the “Deal for All” campaign to set parameters for the ongoing sequestration budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans.
Ellison’s campaign builds off of July 18′s House Resolution 733 which stipulates that “any deal replacing the Budget Control Act of 2011 should contain serious revenue increase and no Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security cuts.”
Other provisions in the legislation call for “serious revenue increases,” added investment in infrastructure and education, and reductions in defense spending similar to those mandated by the Budget Control Act’s sequestration cuts.
Joining Ellison on stage at the House television gallery were eight fellow Democrats, including Charles Rangel (N.Y.), who sharply denounced the Congressional Republican stance on tax cuts.
Referring to middle class Americans, Rangel asked, “What is it that these Republicans are drinking that they truly believe that these are the people, that built this great country, that have to be held hostage, while they fulfill their commitment to less than 2% of the population?”
The effort to rally public support behind a House Democratic agenda comes at a time when the chamber’s Republican majority has held firm on its support of tax cuts for those earning over $250,000 a year, a policy point that Senate Democrats have refused to incorporate into their own tax legislation.
