Mr. Ryan's Neighborhood

Roger Bybee, writing in In These Times, finds that Paul Ryan's Roadmap to Ruin would be devastating for his own Congressional district, which has been hard hit by plant closings:

So how does Ryan’s bill promise to turn around the crises facing his district? For the 1st District’s nearly 33,000 jobless workers, Ryan claims to be an advocate of “life-long learning” to help people adapt to the jobs of the future. But his “Path to Prosperity” would cut funding for job-training programs around the country.

“The cuts he is proposing would have a devastating effect on the hardest-hit workers in Wisconsin, with cities like Racine and Beloit way above the national average in unemployment,” says Robert Borremans, executive director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. “The cuts would mean that displaced workers would be shut out of new opportunities.”

Ryan is also pushing for cuts to Pell Grants for education, which the CBPP considers one of the most effective ways to help low-income students enter the middle class. Funding for Head Start, the program for poor pre-school children, would be reduced by the equivalent of 218,000 pupils under his plan.

Lack of healthcare is also a problem in the district, as employers have reduced coverage for many full-time workers, and most part-time workers are not eligible. But rather than supporting government programs to provide healthcare to all who need it, the “Path to Prosperity” would de-fund and repeal the healthcare reform law signed by President Obama in 2010. And in spite of the growing hunger problem reported by food pantries in his district, Ryan would reduce spending on emergency food programs by more than $125 billion over 10 years, the CBPP reports.

For future retirees, Ryan proposes replacing Medicare, which essentially guarantees almost all care needed by senior citizens, with a voucher to buy insurance. By 2030, seniors would have to pay two-thirds of their healthcare costs compared with 25 percent under the current system.

The congressman does, however, offer assistance to corporations by lowering their maximum 35-percent tax rate to 25 percent, while continuing the massive Bush tax cuts to the rich.

Read it here.