For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 07, 2001
AFSCME Calls Bush Tax Plan "Monumental Mistake"
President Signs Massive Tax Giveaway to the Rich as CBO Predicts Dwindling Budget Surplus
Washington, DC —The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, condemned the Bush administration and Congress today for approving a huge and irresponsible tax cut mainly for the wealthiest Americans in spite of growing signs of economic and fiscal troubles ahead.
President Bush signed into law a 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut whose actual cost to the country is pegged by mainstream economists at more than $6 trillion over the first two decades it is in place - assuming the current economic situation does not worsen, as many predict it will. Meanwhile, new Congressional Budget Office figures released last week show that the FY 2002 surplus reserve fund estimate has already shrunk from $12 billion to $1 billion.
As a result, deficit spending and drastic cuts in vital government programs are expected, and Congress will be forced to dip into the Medicare and Social Security trust funds just to keep pace with inflation, even as 76 million baby boomers near retirement age.
"Say goodbye to funding America's most urgent priorities, and welcome back to big deficits," said President Gerald W. McEntee. "How could President Bush and the Congress make such a monumental mistake?"
President Bush and the previous Republican majority rammed the tax cut through Congress in only four months, leaving little time for debate. In doing so, they ignored the priorities expressed by a majority of Americans in poll after poll: strengthening Medicare and Social Security, providing a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare for all who need it, paying down the debt, and enacting a responsible tax cut that is fair to average working families.
Mr. McEntee promised that AFSCME and other members of Fair Taxes for All, a nationwide coalition of over 500 organizations that formed to oppose the Bush tax proposal, would put extra pressure on those members of Congress who supported the final bill — both Republicans and Democrats — to rethink their votes.
"We will not forget which of our representatives abandoned average families. They will continue to hear our voices as the surplus disappears and the nation faces the terrible consequences of this reckless tax cut," Mr. McEntee warned.
