Larson to vote no on GOP "Death by a Thousand Slashes"

"We stand ready to work with our Republican colleagues to cut spending; but we have to do it without sacrificing jobs, our kids' education and our safety"

WASHINGTON D.C. – Democratic Caucus Chairman John B. Larson (CT) released the following statement announcing that he will be voting against the short term spending bill on the House Floor today:

"The American public wants leaders who can work together to find solutions to the big problems facing our nation. But it has become clear that the Republicans in Congress aren't interested in working with Democrats to find a way to responsibly reduce the deficit while creating jobs for American families. The far right has hijacked the party of Lincoln, and we can no longer afford this death by a thousand slashes.

"Watching the events that unfolded in Wisconsin, there is an analogy here that is very disturbing. Both in Wisconsin and here with the federal budget, the extreme conservatives running the GOP have used the deficit as their rational. But we saw last week that their real goal in Wisconsin was to end collective bargaining, and we'll see soon that their goal with the federal budget is to get rid of Social Security, voucherize Medicare, and close down the Department of Education.

"Republicans must stand up to the extremists in their party who would rather shut down the government than compromise on their reckless demands which would throw 700,000 more Americans out of work and weaken the middle class.

"On behalf of the Democratic Caucus let me add that we stand ready to work with our Republican colleagues to cut spending; but we have to do it without sacrificing jobs, our kids' education and our safety. Our Caucus stands firm on Social Security, Medicare, and the education needed to drive innovation in this economy to out innovate, out educate, and out grow our competition. We know that the best way to reduce the deficit is to put Americans back to work; and that's what we want to do."