Schumer argued that Ryan’s 2012 budget proposal for reducing the deficit – which the Republican Party unveiled last week – placed a disproportionately heavy burden on the middle-class, and said the president’s plan would instead emphasize a “shared sacrifice” among the American people.
“The Ryan budget focuses on the middle class,” Schumer argued. “You need to share sacrifice. And we believe that, for instance, defense cuts should be greater than Ryan proposed. There’s waste there like everywhere else.
“Even more importantly, there has to be revenues. If you’re going to reduce the deficit, how do you allow the oil companies to get huge subsidies based on a time when oil was $17 a barrel, not $100? How do you give tax breaks for multimillionaires and companies that send jobs overseas, and yet decimate middle class programs?
“It’s got to be fair and across the board,” Schumer insisted.