House Democrats are unloading on Republicans after they disrespected President Obama by refusing to hold a hearing on his budget.
In a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), the Democratic members of the committee wrote:
We are appalled at your decision refusing to hold a hearing where the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) presents the President’s fiscal year 2017 budget. This choice is more than just a rejection of the House Budget Committee’s longstanding, bipartisan tradition; it is disrespectful to the Committee members, the public and the President.
You deem the President’s budget unworthy of review – sight unseen – because past Administration budgets have rejected the Tea Party agenda. Indeed, the President’s budgets embody starkly different priorities than recent Republican budgets that disinvest in America, privatize Medicare, hurt the middle class, slash social safety net programs like Medicaid, threaten retirement security, protect special interest tax loopholes for the ultra-wealthy, and use gimmicky accounting tricks to falsely claim balance.
Every year since 1975, the Budget Committee has held a hearing on the President’s budget with a high-level witness representing OMB. That hearing provides Members of Congress their first opportunity to examine the breadth of the President’s request. While other committees may hold later hearings that focus on specific aspects of the Administration’s request, the Budget Committee is the only one that also looks at its overall budgetary impact.
In fact, at the start of the 114th Congress the Majority of the Committee approved an oversight plan that states its intention to hold hearings with both the OMB Director and the Treasury Secretary on the President’s fiscal year 2017 budget. That oversight plan also states that “In the process of developing the annual concurrent budget resolution, the Committee will hold hearings and receive testimony from Members of Congress, Cabinet-level and other Federal officials, State and local officials, and expert witnesses to review the budget and economic outlook, the President’s budget submissions and other budget proposals.”
We urge you to rethink your choice, and to ensure that the Committee lives up to its responsibilities to our members, this Congress and the American people.
There is no other explanation for the cowardly Republican decision not to hold a hearing on President Obama’s budget. Holding a hearing on the President’s budget is a courtesy that goes back decades. The only reason not to hold a hearing on Obama’s budget is to disrespect the president.
Republicans have spent the entire Obama presidency engaging in acts of disrespect against this president, and the office that he has been twice elected to by a majority of the voters. By refusing to give his budget, a hearing House Republicans have moved beyond disrespect of the man, and into disrespect of the office of the presidency.
It looks like House Republicans are so afraid of the President’s budget, that they don’t want the public to know what is in it. Hiding facts while disrespecting the presidency is the modern Republican way. House Republicans have revealed themselves to be cowards who are attached to a failed belief system.
Instead of a debate of ideas, Republicans are only interested in partisan gestures of disrespect. Every American should join Democrats in being appalled by the cowardly behavior of House Republicans.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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