Dems: GOP budget will slash 1 million jobs

Senate Democrats derided House Republicans Wednesday saying their proposed budget cuts will slash 1 million jobs.

Senate Democratic Leaders Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Patty Murray told reporters that House Republicans’ plans to tackle the budget are the equivalent of taking a “meat axe approach” to a process that requires a “sharp but precise scalpel” instead.

“Republicans view the budget like a piñata,” said Durbin “They believe that if you put on the blindfold and swing away no matter what you hit, it’s wasteful. That is a mindless view when it comes to the budget.”

Earlier in the day, the Congressional Budget Office announced that the deficit will reach $1.5 trillion this year. The three Democrats acknowledged that this was an astounding number, but said this number still does not merit the treatment of the across-the-board cuts proposed by House Republicans.

“These new deficit figures are still unacceptable,” said Schumer. “We must attack the problem in a bipartisan way, but we need to be balanced in our approach just like the president suggested last night.”

Flanked by bright-colored signs highlighting job losses that could come with such deep cuts, Democrats cited 4,000 FBI agents, 3,000 food safety inspectors and 6,000 nuclear safety workers that would lose their jobs. They said two-thirds of the jobs that would potentially be lost as a result of House Republicans’ budget would be from the private sector.

They argued that the greatest opportunities to tackle this will come March 4, when the continuing resolution on the federal budget expires and congress will be forced to pass a measure to finish funding for the current year.