· December 21, 2012

Ohio Action Coalition News Release: U.S. House: “Protect the Rich, Forget the Rest”

U.S. HOUSE: “PROTECT THE RICH, FORGET THE REST”

Ohio Action Coalition Says Republicans Show True Colors

Millions of Ohio Families Will Pay the Price

For Immediate Release: December 21, 2012 Columbus – The Ohio Action Coalition, a grass roots movement that is urging Congress to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the richest 2% of Americans, said today that Republicans in the U.S. House “showed their true colors” by rejecting a proposal by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that would have raised taxes only on those earning more than $1 million per year. Boehner was forced to cancel a formal vote on his so-called “Plan B” when it became clear his fellow Republican members of Congress would not support it. Said Coalition Director Joanne Pickrell: “It was bad enough when Republicans refused to support raising taxes on those earning over $250,000 per year; now they’ve made it clear they won’t raise taxes even on those earning over $1 million a year. Let’s be clear. There are 311 million Americans – and only a few hundred thousand of them earn over $1 million. So, Republicans are holding 99.7% of the country hostage to millionaires and billionaires. They intend to stop anyone from getting a tax cut unless millionaires and billionaires get a bonus tax cut on top of the one everyone else will get on the first $250,000 they earn. This is ‘class warfare’ —Republican-style.” Added Coalition Communications Director Dale Butland: “Yesterday, House Republicans showed how little they care about middle and low income Ohioans. If the nation goes over the ‘fiscal cliff’ on January 1, regular Ohioans will quickly feel enormous pain. In the first week of January, they will find less money in their paychecks. In the second week, about 2 million jobless Americans – including tens of thousands of Ohioans – will stop receiving unemployment insurance checks. By the middle of the month, Ohio doctors who accept Medicare will see their reimbursement rates slashed by 30%. “And things will only get worse every week thereafter. Taxes will go up – and every program regular people depend on gets decimated. But House Republicans couldn’t care less. For them, all that matters is protecting the rich. As the conservative Washington Post columnist Trudy Rubin put it: ‘this sort of display suggests Republicans are not capable of governing. What was an argument (by President Obama) —‘they are unreasonable! They only care for the rich! —is now a political reality.'”

-30-