Trillions in Ten

On Friday, a Republican budget plan with estimated effects nearing six trillion dollars was passed in the house. The proposed plan would reshape Medicare and Medicaid while cutting corporate and personal tax rates for the top earners of the country. This simply means, charging elderly and poor more for medical services while allowing those with millions to save even more money on taxes. Harry Reid, Democrat and majority leader in the senate, claimed that the senate would never allow this plan to pass. Only time can tell once it reaches the senate and luckily there are many ways the measure can be stopped. It seems strange to me that Republicans, highly voted for by the elderly, would bring forth a proposal in which plans to cost their constituents more money, which they took note of. While being a party long known for wanting lower taxes and spending for everyone, the proposal would lower taxes, just for the already rich, a long standing tradition in the Republican party. The house voted 235 to 193 for the proposal, with all except 4 Republicans for, all Democrats against. With this move towards costing the elderly money, the Republicans must whole-heartedly believe in this bill or must be really good actors pushing for a tax cut. Part of their stated reason is that they feel they must be concerned about the future, not just the next election. The other view of it from house Republicans is they believe that these programs need to be restructured so they can be around for the future, which when looked at financially will cost those using the programs more money. The tax cuts for the rich seem like a slap in the face to those dependant on the medical care of Medicare and Medicaid. The reasoning behind the tax cuts is that it is believed to help spur U.S. economic growth which sound ridiculous to me and comes from fiscal conservatives. Much of this is in response to a Obama proposing raising the taxes of the wealthy and changes to social programs which was signed into law on Friday.  
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/16/us/politics/16congress.html?_r=1&ref=politics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13101527