Ted Deutch Double Talks On Senior Food And Taxes
The last thing the U.S. House of Representatives did before heading off to an extended weekend was to approve H.R. 2112, legislation that takes away funds to help senior citizens, children and pregnant women. That sounds like a horrible thing to do, doesn’t it?
Florida Congressman Ted Deutch argued that it wasn’t necessary. He did the calculations, and determined that, if only “Bush tax cuts for millionaires” were eliminated for just one day, there wouldn’t be any trouble paying for the food assistance programs. Deutch lectured:
“There is no better indication of the majority’s misplaced priorities than when you examine their cuts to meals for low-income seniors and the cuts to our Nation’s emergency food banks. My Republican colleagues love to say that these painful cuts are necessary to reduce the deficit. Don’t believe it for a second. If we repeal the Bush tax cuts for millionaires for 1 day, just for 1 day, we could preserve every penny of the $100 million in cuts to senior food, aid senior hungry and soup kitchens.”
What Congressman Deutch didn’t mention is that what he calls the “Bush tax cuts for millionaires” are now the Obama tax cuts for millionaires. We might also call them the Ted Deutch tax cuts for millionaires.
Back in December, Ted Deutch voted in favor of legislation to extend the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Barack Obama signed the legislation.
Deutch is right that it’s unjust for millionaires and billionaires to get big tax breaks while programs to feed senior citizens are cut. However, Deutch would have been more honest if, instead of simply blaming Republicans for this injustice, he acknowledged his own role in creating that economic injustice.
