'Better Off' Budget Attacks Status Quo with Bold Progressive Vision

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https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/13-4


Declaring that it's possible to reduce inequality, create jobs, make crucial investments, and actually shrink the deficit at the same time, CPC budget exemplifies quality of progressive solutions. Getting them enacted, however, is another story entirely. (CPC)

With the release of what the Congressional Progressive Caucus is calling its 'Better Off Budget' on Wednesday, the most left-leaning members of Congress once again prove that good ideas do exist on Capitol Hill even if political realities threaten to make sure they go nowhere fast.

Despite being the largest single caucus on the Democratic side of the aisle, the CPC proposal will not see a winning vote in the GOP-controlled House, but that isn't keeping progressive lawmakers and outside observers from declaring it a blueprint for a more sane U.S. budget and a challenge to both the forthcoming Republican version and a more visionary alternative to the one presented by President Obama last week.

Declaring that it's possible to reduce inequality, create jobs, make crucial investments, and actually shrink the deficit at the same time, CPC co-chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) presented the new budget as a direct challenge to the austerity mindset that has dominated Washington, DC since the current economic crisis began in late 2008. By paralyzing job growth and ignoring the clear and present need for public investments and a renewed set of priorities, Grijalva and Ellison argue that the budget paradigm in Congress has allowed for the steady deterioration of the working class even as the wealthiest in society are doing better than ever.

“During our economy’s best decades, Congress invested in the American workforce and every family was better off for it," the pair said in a joint statement. "But recent years have been dominated by growing inequality and a Republican majority in Congress obsessed with slashing the budget, making it harder for working Americans to find decent jobs and save for the future. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Better Off Budget reverses the damage their austerity agenda has inflicted on hard-working families and restores our economy to its full potential by creating 8.8 million jobs by 2017."