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republican study committee
GOP 'Doubling Down on a Failed Agenda' With New Reconciliation Framework, Says Key Dem
"Americans will pay a steep price if Republicans move forward with this disastrous agenda," said Sen. Ron Wyden.
Jan 13, 2026
The House Republican Study Committee on Tuesday released a blueprint for a new budget reconciliation package with the purported goal of making "life more affordable for working families."
However, according to an analysis by Washington Post economic policy reporter Jacob Bogage, two of the three most expensive items in the GOP budget blueprint would be the elimination of the federal estate tax, which would provide a massive windfall to the richest US households, and indexing capital gains to inflation, which even the conservative American Enterprise Institute contends "would further distort taxpayer decisions and increase the ability to shelter income from taxation."
Other items in the GOP blueprint include refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with oil seized from Venezuela, blocking federal funds for abortion providers, and a new "excise tax on colleges that allow trans women in sports."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, wasted no time ripping the proposal from the largest right-wing House caucus to pieces.
"After passing the largest health care cut in American history, Republicans are doubling down on a failed agenda that benefits billionaires and giant corporations while ripping away food, healthcare and other basic necessities,” Wyden said. “This legislation will eliminate protections for Americans with preexisting conditions, place more red tape between families and their healthcare, and seize ideological trophies instead of focusing on making life more affordable. Americans will pay a steep price if Republicans move forward with this disastrous agenda.”
Richard Phillips, pensions and tax policy director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), marveled at the GOP loading up a bill supposedly focused on working families with massive giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.
"As part of it's new affordability agenda for the American people the Republican Study Committee reveals its plan to give the wealthiest 0.2% of estates a $281 billion tax break?" he wrote in a post on X.
Chuck Marr, vice president of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, similarly called the GOP blueprint "tone deaf."
"Nothing says attack the affordability crisis working-class people face than Rs calling for eliminating the estate tax for the wealthiest heirs in the country—just months after giving them a $30 million tax free exemption," he wrote.
The GOP's second attempt at a budget reconciliation package comes months after it passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a reconciliation package that gave more tax breaks to the rich, but cut Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, while also slashing spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by nearly $200 billion over the same period.
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House Dems Expose How GOP Social Security Cuts 'Would Hurt Families'
"This Republican budget is an attack on seniors, veterans, and the middle class," said the House Budget Committee's top Democrat.
Apr 03, 2024
U.S. House Budget Committee Democrats on Wednesday released a tool to help Americans understand how a newly unveiled Republican plan to cut Social Security "would hurt families across America."
The panel's Democrats targeted the Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes around 80% of the chamber's GOP members and last month released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2025 that, according to Social Security Works president Nancy Altman, shows "the Republican Party is the party of cutting Social Security and Medicare, while giving tax handouts to billionaires."
Congressman Brendan Boyle, (D-Pa.), the House Budget Committee's ranking member, said at the time that Republicans had "now gone further than ever with their attacks" on the key programs, noting that their "extreme budget explicitly calls for cutting Social Security benefits for millions of Americans, ending Medicare as we know it, and making trillions in devastating cuts that would raise the cost of living for working families."
"Instead of saving Social Security and Medicare by making billionaires pay their fair share, House Republicans would rather break the sacred promise that every American should be able to retire with dignity. This Republican budget is an attack on seniors, veterans, and the middle class," he added.
Boyle also pledged that President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats "will fight to ensure it never becomes reality."
Nationally, the committee's Democrats warn on the webpage that hosts their new tool, the RSC plan would force "Americans to work longer for less" and "cut Social Security benefits for 257 million people, or 3 in 4 Americans."
The tool enables Americans to see how Republicans' proposal would impact each congressional district. For example, raising the retirement age for Americans 59 and younger would cut Social Security benefits for 620,000, or 80% of people in Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District, which Boyle represents. Statewide, it would affect 9.6 million—or 74% of residents.
RSC Chair Kevin Hern represents Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District. The plan would impact 630,000, or 79% of people there, according to the tool. Across the state, 3.1 million—77%—would face cuts.
The tool says that in Louisiana's 4th Congressional District, represented by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, 590,000, or 76% of people, would see cuts. The state total would be 3.6 million—also 77%.
The RSC plan for the next fiscal year—which begins in October—followed the release of budget proposals from Biden and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), who is leading the fight for a fiscal commission that critics call a "death panel" designed to force through Social Security and Medicare cuts.
Biden, who is seeking reelection this year and expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump, has vowed to "protect and strengthen" the programs. Social Security Works' Altman has praised the president's proposal and warned that "Social Security is on the ballot this November."
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House Democrat Calls GOP Budget a 'Blueprint for a Dystopian Hellscape'
Rep. Don Beyer warns the plan "would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
Mar 27, 2024
As Republicans on Wednesday set their sights on a key seat opening up in the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber's senior Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee put out a blistering takedown of a top GOP budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) took aim at the 180-page "Fiscal Sanity to Save America" plan released last week by the Republican Study Committee (RSC)—which includes about 80% of GOP House members—following proposals from Democratic President Joe Biden and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
"The Republican Study Committee budget is a blueprint for a dystopian hellscape," he warned. "The vision offered by this group, which counts 4 in 5 House Republicans as members, would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
RSC proposals to "dramatically weaken healthcare," Beyer noted, include turning Medicare into a voucher plan and rolling back Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions that cut costs for seniors; repealing tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions; and transforming Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program into block grants to states.
As Common Dreams has reported, in addition to seeking cuts to Medicare and Social Security—while claiming to do nothing of the sort—the RSC has also launched a full-fledged assault on reproductive healthcare and rights, promoting 42 bills that would ban abortions after 15 weeks or even earlier, require unnecessary ultrasounds and 24-hour waiting periods, prohibit the use of fetal stem cells for research, and threaten access to in vitro fertilization, among other restrictions.
In addition to attacking reproductive freedom and key programs for seniors and low-income families, Beyer highlighted, the RSC wants to "weaken public health, public safety, and environmental protections," while "cutting taxes for the wealthy, by a lot."
The RSC advocates ending green tax credits from the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as slashing money for Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The committee also calls for permanently lowering taxes for the ultrarich, indexing capital gains taxes to inflation, repealing the estate tax, rolling back the IRA's corporate alternative minimum tax, and eliminating funding intended to help the Internal Revenue Service catch wealthy tax cheats.
"Democrats believe there is a better way to get our fiscal house in order without betraying our values," said Beyer. "That starts with making smart investments in our people and our future while demanding that the rich and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. The contrast between the Democratic approach and this Republican budget could not possibly be clearer."
Biden's budget blueprint—released as he prepares for an electoral rematch against former Republican President Donald Trump, who infamously cut taxes for rich people and corporations—proposes a 25% minimum tax for individuals with wealth of more than $100 million, along with ending capital income tax breaks and closing other loopholes.
Polling results released Tuesday by Morning Consult show that a majority of voters across party lines in key swing states support raising taxes on people who make more than $400,000 per year.
Biden and the divided Congress this past weekend narrowly avoided a government shutdown by passing a long-delayed spending package. Fiscal year 2025 is set to begin in October, setting up another election-year fight over funding.
In what's been
dubbed the "Great Resignation," a growing number of House Republicans have announced that they are not seeking reelection or even exited their seats early—shrinking the party's already slim majority in the lower chamber.
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Budget Proposal Shows GOP 'Is the Party of Cutting Social Security and Medicare'
"Trump has tried to walk back his support for Social Security and Medicare cuts," said the head of Social Security Works. "This budget is one of many reasons why no one should believe him."
Mar 20, 2024
Defenders of Social Security and Medicare on Wednesday swiftly criticized the biggest caucus of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for putting out a budget proposal for fiscal year 2025 that takes aim at the crucial programs.
The 180-page "Fiscal Sanity to Save America" plan from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) follows the release of proposals from Democratic President Joe Biden and U.S. House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)—who is leading the fight to create a fiscal commission for the programs that critics call a "death panel" designed to force through cuts.
The RSC document features full sections on "Saving Medicare" and "Preventing Biden's Cuts to Social Security," which both push back on the president's recent comments calling out Republican attacks on the programs that serve seniors.
The caucus plan promotes premium support for Medicare Advantage plans administered by private health insurance providers as well as changes to payments made to teaching hospitals. For Social Security, the proposal calls for tying retirement age to rising life expectancy and cutting benefits for younger workers over certain income levels, including phasing out auxiliary benefits.
The document also claims that the caucus budget "would promote trust fund solvency by increasing payroll tax revenues through pro-growth tax reform, pro-growth energy policy that lifts wages, work requirements that move Americans from welfare to work, and regulatory reforms that increase economic growth."
In a lengthy Wednesday statement blasting the RSC budget, Social Security Works president Nancy Altman pointed out that last week, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee to face Biden in the November election, "told CNBC that 'there's a lot you can do' to cut Social Security."
"Everyone who cares about the future of these vital earned benefits should vote accordingly in November."
"Now, congressional Republicans are confirming the party's support for cuts—to the tune of $1.5 trillion. They are also laying out some of those cuts," Altman said. "This budget would raise the retirement age, in line with prominent Republican influencer Ben Shapiro's recent comments that 'retirement itself is a stupid idea.' It would make annual cost-of-living increases stingier, so that benefits erode over time. It would slash middle-class benefits."
"Perhaps most insultingly, given the Republicans' claim to be the party of 'family values,' this budget would eliminate Social Security spousal benefits, as well as children's benefits, for middle-class families. That would punish women who take time out of the workforce to care for children and other loved ones," she continued. "This coming from a party that wants to take away women's reproductive rights!"
The caucus, chaired by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), included 285 bills and initiatives from 192 members in its budget plan—among them are various proposals threatening abortion care, birth control, and in vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide.
"The RSC budget would also take away Medicare's new power to negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs, putting more money into the pockets of the GOP's Big Pharma donors," Altman warned. "And it accelerates the privatization of Medicare, handing it over to private insurance companies who have a long history of ripping off the government and delaying and denying care to those who need it."
"In recent days, Trump has tried to walk back his support for Social Security and Medicare cuts," she noted. "This budget is one of many reasons why no one should believe him. The Republican Party is the party of cutting Social Security and Medicare, while giving tax handouts to billionaires."
"The Democratic Party is the party of expanding Social Security and Medicare, paid for by requiring the ultrawealthy to contribute their fair share," Altman added. "Everyone who cares about the future of these vital earned benefits should vote accordingly in November."
Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler also targeted the Republican presidential candidate while slamming the RSC plan, saying that "Donald Trump's MAGA allies in Congress made it clear today: A vote for Trump is a vote to make the MAGA 2025 agenda of cutting Social Security, ripping away access to IVF, and banning abortion nationwide a hellish reality."
"While Trump and his allies push forward their extreme agenda, the American people are watching," Tyler added, suggesting that the RSC proposal will help motivate voters to give Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris four more years in the White House.
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'Not on My Watch': Dems Vow To Oppose GOP Attack on Free School Meals
"What's up with the GOP's fetish for preventing hungry kids from getting fed?" asked Sen. John Fetterman.
Jun 16, 2023
Progressive U.S. lawmakers said Thursday that they'll do everything in their power to stop the Republican Party from achieving its stated goal of eliminating a school lunch program that serves low-income communities, which was included in a proposed budget unveiled by the party this week.
Along with making former President Donald Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and imposing work requirements for recipients of social services up to age 64, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) made clear in its proposed budget on Wednesday that reducing the number of children who receive government-funded meals at school is a policy priority in the coming year.
The document states that the RSC—which counts three-quarters of House Republicans among its members—aims to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) from the federal school lunch program, citing the fact that the provision "allows certain schools to provide free school lunches regardless of the individual eligibility of each student."
The CEP is available to schools in low-income communities and allows schools to provide free school meals to their entire student population instead of excluding children based on their household income.
The budget makes clear that to the Republican Party, "every wealthy child accidentally fed is a policy failure," said Adam Cisroe Pearson, director of the St. Louis Department of Human Services.
"Not on my watch," said Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) of the Republicans' plans for the CEP.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) pledged that as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, he will fight to get the "basic need" of universal school meals met.
After Republicans allowed the pandemic-era universal school meal program to expire, more than two dozen states including Maine, California, and Minnesota moved to offer meals at school to all children, regardless of income. Under federal law, only children whose families have incomes at or below 130% of the poverty line—those making about $36,000 per year or less—are eligible for free school meals.
Studies have shown that offering school meals to all students has positive effects on attendance and academic performance across the student population, and that providing universal meals reduces stigma and makes it more likely that the children who need nutritional assistance the most will participate.
"As with many universal-oriented programs, it is more practically efficient and, as a bonus, lifts all boats," wrote Prem Thakker at The New Republic regarding the CEP. "This is what Republicans are looking to eliminate."
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House GOP Panel Releases Budget That Would 'Destroy Social Security as We Know It'
"The largest group of House Republicans just released a budget that calls for massive tax cuts for the super-rich and raising the Social Security retirement age, a benefit cut for millions of Americans."
Jun 15, 2023
A panel comprised of three-quarters of the House Republican caucus released a budget proposal on Wednesday that would raise the Social Security retirement age—cutting benefits across the board—while further privatizing Medicare and slashing taxes for the rich, a plan that Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups said is a clear statement of the GOP's warped priorities ahead of a critical spending fight this fall.
The proposal outlined by the 175-member Republican Study Committee (RSC), led by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), would gradually raise Social Security's full retirement age—the age at which people are eligible for full Social Security benefits—to 69, up from the current level of 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, said the RSC budget would "destroy Social Security as we know it," using a "modest shortfall" that's more than a decade away to justify reducing benefits for millions.
"These changes would transform Social Security from an earned insurance benefit, which replaces wages lost in the event of old age, disability, or death, into a subsistence-level welfare benefit," said Altman, who noted that the RSC "rules out any options for raising revenue, such as requiring billionaires to contribute even a penny more."
Currently, just the first $160,200 of wage earnings are subject to Social Security's payroll tax, allowing the rich to stop contributing to the program early each year.
The GOP's refusal to force the wealthy to put more of their income into the program "leaves benefit cuts as the only 'solution,'" said Altman.
"In other words, they want to cut benefits now to avoid cutting them later, which isn't a solution at all. Indeed, the budget will increase the number of workers who will have no ability to retire while maintaining their standard of living," she added. "The RSC plan would make it especially hard for Americans so disabled that they can no longer work to claim their earned Social Security, and far easier for the government to take those benefits away."
Far from raising taxes on the rich, the RSC budget calls for massive tax cuts by proposing a permanent extension of the individual tax provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that such a move would add $2.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
"The largest group of House Republicans just released a budget that calls for massive tax cuts for the super-rich and raising the Social Security retirement age, a benefit cut for millions of Americans," Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a member of the House's chief tax-writing committee, wrote on Twitter.
The RSC budget also targets Medicare with a "premium support model" that would subsidize private insurance plans, effectively transforming Medicare into a voucher program—an idea previously advanced by former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Altman pointed out that the plan contains a "particularly cruel provision" that "would force disability beneficiaries to wait five long years (instead of the current two, which is already too long) before becoming eligible for Medicare benefits."
"Outrageously, this change would deprive some of the most medically vulnerable people in America of healthcare," said Altman. "This provision alone would inevitably lead to more medical bankruptcies and increased homelessness."
The GOP proposal also demands work requirements for "all federal benefit programs" and sides with the pharmaceutical industry in calling for a repeal of Inflation Reduction Act provisions aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.
"The ink is barely dry on the Bipartisan Budget Agreement and House Republicans are already reneging on the deal and undercutting their own speaker," Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement, referring to the recently approved debt ceiling measure that sets topline spending levels.
"What's worse, Republicans are attempting to renege on our sacred promise to American workers and seniors by renewing their attacks on Social Security and Medicare," said Boyle. "It is astounding that the overwhelming majority of House Republicans support this backwards and extreme budget, but, after they manufactured a default crisis to try to force cruel cuts, I guess we shouldn't be shocked."
"Budget Committee Democrats will make sure every American family knows that House Republicans want to force Americans to work longer for less, raise families' costs, weaken our nation, and shrink our economy—all while wasting billions of dollars on more favors to special interests and handouts to the ultra-wealthy," Boyle added.
While House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is not a member of the RSC, he has also signaled plans to pursue cuts to Social Security in the coming months by setting up a bipartisan "commission" that would propose changes to the program.
"Republicans know how politically toxic their plans to gut Social Security and Medicare are, so they are begging Democrats to share the blame," Altman said Wednesday. "Not a single Democrat should take the bait. Instead, they should fight to protect and expand Social Security and Medicare, and pay for it by requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share. Then, let the American people decide which plan they prefer."
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