Keep the change we voted for

Let’s stay on the road to economic recovery

Pundits predicted a Republican resurgence this fall – a result of voter dissatisfaction with the pace of change since the economic collapse they engineered hit in 2008.

Just as President Obama and congressional Democrats are pulling us out of the ditch, the GOP wants to drive us back down. UAW members worked overtime these last few months to prevent that from happening. We need to keep moving forward, and we know which party is going to get us where we need to go.

But should the Republicans regain a majority (shudder!) in Congress this fall, we’ll know what to expect. They’ve put it in writing in a 21-page plan called “Pledge to America.”

So what does the Party of No promise to do for you and your family should they capture the votes needed to put them back in the driver’s seat? They vow to:

• Make permanent the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Price tag: $4 trillion over 10 years ($1 trillion to the highest earners alone – those who pay a 15 percent tax rate now). The GOP plans to “pay” for this windfall for the wealthy by cutting federal spending to pre-stimulus levels. (Savings: $100 billion a year.) Most economists agree the stimulus money is the only thing keeping people employed. Now is not the time to drain the tank and put even more people out of work through spending cuts. And while they don’t come right out and say it, there lurking in the subtext is their longstanding goal to eliminate, or at least privatize, Social Security and other vital programs: “…a full accounting of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid … preventing the expansion of unfunded liabilities.” (Absent from their plan is a promise to end tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas – a glaring omission since visitors to their America Speaking Out website ranked it as their No. 1 priority.)

• Repeal and replace health care reform. It’s expensive, and they never liked the idea anyway. After all, they have health insurance for life, courtesy of you, the taxpayer, even if they only served a single two- or six-year term. They do promise to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, that is, if those people already have coverage. Here’s the actual line: “We will make it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition …” Equally troubling, they don’t mention benefit levels or insurance premiums, so under the Republican plan, your diabetic child who just aged off your health insurance might not be legally denied a policy, but will she be able to afford it? Will it cover the care she needs?

• Stop the Employee Free Choice Act. The Republicans pledge to you they will never, ever pass a bill that might actually balance the power between bosses and workers when it comes to forming a union at your workplace, and they will do nothing for job creation.

These are just some highlights of what you can expect if there is a Republican Congress come January. If all of this sounds familiar, that’s because it is – it’s the same agenda of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy and pain for the rest of us.

We’ve traveled down this road already, and it nearly took us over the cliff.

Let’s keep the change we voted for two years ago by re-electing Democrats who have already delivered so much of what they’ve promised: health care reform, increased funding for veterans programs, the children’s health insurance program (S-CHIP), the Fair Pay Act, the stimulus and TARP funds, worker-friendly NLRB appointments, Wall Street reform, cash-for-clunkers, student loan reform, extended unemployment insurance … the list goes on.

Let’s stay on the road President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have put us on: a road to economic recovery that is fair to working people.

Source: UAW National Community Action Program (CAP) Department