The Budget: It’s About Values

The Budget: It's About Values
This year's Republican budget is nothing more than more of the same. It still destroys jobs and puts our economic recovery at risk. It still protects the wealthiest at the expense of the middle class. It still undermines the health and economic security of the elderly and disabled. It still ends the Medicare guarantee and shifts costs to seniors.

The proposal, put forth by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, is an exercise in contradictions. They repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while counting on the law's savings to balance their budget. They claim to protect Medicare while devising a plan to end it for future generations. They promise opportunity for all Americans while hurting working families and protecting special interests. Put simply, the Republican budget pledges to balance our books without taking a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

Americans deserve better than the same old fuzzy math and budget gimmicks. Budgets are a statement of values. And Democrats, led by Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, will put forward a better approach that makes our values clear: a fair plan focused on creating jobs, growing the economy, strengthening the middle class, and responsibly reducing the deficit. That is the real way we can reignite the American Dream and build ladders of opportunity for anyone willing to work hard, take responsibility, and play by the rules.

Congresswoman Pelosi highlights the serious impact of across-the-board
spending cuts on public health and research at the University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Habemus Papem
With the election of His Holiness Pope Francis, the world's Catholics turn to a compassionate leader for the poor, a champion of the least fortunate, and a man of humility committed to love and understanding between faiths and nations. Pope Francis has made history as the first Jesuit priest to ascend the Chair of Saint Peter and the first Pope from the Americas; his selection is a sign of respect and admiration for the growing ranks of Catholics, indeed all people, across Latin America. As a San Franciscan, I am delighted with the name that the Pope has chosen, Francis. St. Francis of Assisi is the namesake of our new Pope. In our city, the song of St. Francis is our anthem: "Let us be instruments of God's peace. Where there is darkness, may we bring light; despair, may we bring hope; hatred, may we bring love to forgive so that we can be forgiven." Let us also commit to work for peace and understanding between ourselves and others and together we will build a brighter future for America and the world.

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