DNC Memo

From: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz

To: Interested Parties

Date: October 11, 2011

Re: What to Expect from Tonight’s Republican Debate

Tonight’s debate will show the sharp contrast between President Obama’s plan to create more jobs right now and the Republican candidates’ plans, which don’t create jobs now and instead provide more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires without providing any immediate relief to middle-class Americans, as well as rolling back common-sense consumer protections that would benefit corporations at the expense of people.

The Republican candidates continue to promote the same failed economic policies that led to the recession: letting Wall Street write their own rules; tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations; and repealing Wall Street Reform, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to protect middle-class American consumers from predatory lending. Even more, they have all voiced support for the Republican budget that would end Medicare as we know it while giving NEW tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and the special interests.

SUPPORTING THE TEA PARTY ECONOMIC PLAN

Despite their rhetoric, the Republican candidates have handcuffed themselves to the same failed economic policies of the Republicans who held Washington hostage over the course of the summer. By supporting the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan, they have all pledged their support to protecting corporate subsidies and tax loopholes instead of protecting investments in critical programs that would create the jobs of the future, like education, research and development of clean energy.

The balanced budget amendment, if fully implemented today, would cost our economy 9.5 million jobs. Moreover, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it would inevitably lead to drastic benefit cuts to Medicare and Social Security. As a member of Congress from Florida who represents a significant senior population, perhaps most troubling is what this draconian budget approach would mean for seniors, with its steep cuts and unworkable balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

There is no Republican plan that would create jobs now. 

While the Republican candidates claim to want to protect the middle class and create jobs, their plans just don’t pass the straight face test. In the last six debates, not one of the top three candidates has offered a plan to create jobs now. Instead, they argued for more handouts to special interests and the wealthiest at the expense of seniors and the middle class. Here’s a rundown of what we know about the top three candidates and their ideas:

MITT ROMNEY’S 59-POINT PLAN POINTS TOWARD THE RICH AND AWAY FROM THE MIDDLE CLASS

Just this week, Mitt Romney said, "Look, I'm not running for the rich people. Rich people can take care of themselves, alright. They're doing just fine. I'm running for middle-class Americans.” But he fails to mention that his plan proposes to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for the wealthiest Americans; lower the corporate tax rate; and eliminate the estate tax—while providing no plan to help create jobs now or provide immediate relief to middle-class Americans now.

HERMAN CAIN’S 9-9-9 PLAN SHIFTS TAX BURDENS TO THE MIDDLE CLASS

The Wall Street Journal called Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan “the most radical reform imaginable” and one that would “hit hard the young, middle-income families.” The Tax Policy Center estimated that Cain’s plan to eliminate the capital gains tax would allow 23,000 millionaires to pay ZERO income taxes. The Center for American Progress estimates that his plan would be “the biggest tax shift from the wealthy to the middle class in the history of taxation, ever, anywhere, and would bankrupt the country.”

RICK PERRY’S TEXAS BUDGET IS BAD FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

While Rick Perry hasn’t yet offered a comprehensive economic plan, if his Texas budget is any indication of what he would do to the U.S. budget, the middle class is sure to suffer. Perry’s budget cuts could result in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs, including up to 49,000 teachers. His $4 billion education cut was unprecedented in Texas—the first cut to education funding since 1949. Perry also left a $4.8 billion Medicaid funding gap—in a state that has one of the worst health care systems in the country.

CONCLUSION

The GOP Presidential candidates and their Republican counterparts in Washington believe we can cut our way to prosperity, even if it means wiping out investments in education and research and development, ending Medicare as we know it, and slashing Social Security for future generations.

While Republicans fight to repeal the progress we’ve made to create a level playing field and make sure everyone—from Wall Street to Main Street—plays by the same rules, the President is working hard to rebuild America’s middle class.

After six debates, Americans are getting to know the Republican candidates. And as their run to the right continues, there’s no doubt that Americans will have a clear choice 13 months from now between the President and a Republican candidate who has a vastly different record and vision for the country.