I'm not sure what Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey thought she would be in for before agreeing to appear on Fox News this Tuesday afternoon, but I'm not surprised, sadly to see the way she ended up being treated by host Neil Cavuto. He was downright hostile to her and talked over her repeatedly as she attempted to explain why she agreed with President Obama and his renewed push for Congress to pass the so-called "Buffett rule," so that we don't have millionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.
Cavuto was of course parroting the right's meme that raising taxes on the rich was going to somehow destroy the economy and harm those "job creators" and that Democrats just want more spending and "bigger government." Woolsey pushed back and tried to explain that there is a budget out there which is fair and doesn't balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the poor and the working class, or destroy our social safety nets so the rich can get more tax cuts, and that's the Congressional Progressive Caucus' The People's Budget.
Cavuto was having none of that though, and after the constant interruptions he wound up the segment by lowering her mic when she was still trying to talk.
For more on what Cavuto did not want to give the Congresswoman a chance to explain, because heaven forbid their viewers ever hear something other than right wing talking points, here's the overview of their budget -- Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Fiscal Year 2012:
The People’s Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The People’s Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.
Our Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus In Ten Years
Our budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness
• Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them
• Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programsOur Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System
• Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012
• Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students
• Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more
• Implements a progressive estate tax
• Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations
• Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchangeOur Budget Protects Health
• Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies
• Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decadeOur Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years
• Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share
• Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee sideOur Budget Brings Our Troops Home
• Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad
• Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programsOur Budget’s Bottom Line
• Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
• Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
• Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
• Public investment $1.7 trillion
You can read more details and analysis at the link above.
