In response to Mitt Romney’s proposal to privatize veterans’ health care by introducing a voucher system, Lt. Governor Brown, a Colonel in the Army Reserve and the nation’s highest ranking elected official to serve a tour of duty in Iraq, issued the following statement:
Our brave men and women in uniform have risked everything in service to their country, and it is our duty to provide them with the high quality care and support they have earned. Mitt Romney’s private voucher scheme would push our veterans away from the specialized and experienced care that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been providing for decades and force them to find their own care through private insurers. Vouchers would increase costs for veterans and damage their quality of care, and have been strongly opposed by veterans’ organizations. While President Obama is fighting to protect benefits for our veterans and help put our returning servicemembers back to work, Mitt Romney would rather undermine the very resources they depend on.
The Maryland Democratic Party today held a press conference call with Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton, Maryland Democratic Party Chair Yvette Lewis and Texas State Teachers Association President Rita Haecker, to discuss Rick Perry’s disastrous record and his agenda, which will hurt the middle class, seniors and students while protecting millionaires and big business.
Rick Perry, who held a fundraiser today in Baltimore and announced the support of 40 Maryland Republican legislators and party leaders, is wedded to positions that are far-right, divisive and out of the mainstream. Perry, Mitt Romney and the rest of the GOP field don’t have any new ideas that will create jobs in Maryland or help working class Americans. These Tea-Partying Republicans are following the lead of John Boehner and Congressional Republicans who are committed to dismantling Social Security and Medicare, rolling back critical protections for consumers and promoting economic policies that will lead the country back into recession.
Listen to the full call here.
Maryland Democratic Party Chair Yvette Lewis
The President wants to invest in America – in the infrastructure that will get Americans working and spur commerce, in the schools that will educate our next generation of leaders and CEOs, and in the technologies that will again make American innovation the envy of the world. Republicans are working to gut the programs that make America’s future bright.
Lt. Governor Anthony Brown
And, when [Rick Perry] talks about the Texas economy, just remember that growth has been driven by that which he cannot take credit for – like rising oil prices and increased military spending. But he did have control over other factors: tens of thousands of teachers will be laid off in the budget that took effect just this month.
Rick Perry’s jobs record fails to impress, and Mitt Romney’s isn’t any better. Romney’s record shows him to be one of the worst job creators in the country. In his time as governor of Massachusetts – his state ranked 47th in job creation.
Texas State Teachers Association President Rita Haecker
[Rick Perry] has starved public education in our state, and his two year state budget is the first budget during his life time – more than 60 years – that failed to fully fund Texas public schools financial obligations. This budget cut – 4 Billion dollars from school district formulas and another 1.4 Billion in educational discretionary grants for vital programs such as full day pre-kindergarten and dropout prevention … Thousands of teachers are already out of jobs – 49,000 school employees will get pink slips by this time next year.
Salisbury Mayor and 3rd grade teacher, Jim Ireton
Rick Perry has been putting education – the priority of those Texas children – awfully low on his list as Governor. It’s pretty clear that if he’s managed his state that way, if he comes to Washington to take the helm, he could very well run our education system into the ground.
As we celebrate the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this week amidst Republican false attacks and continued efforts to repeal, it is important to highlight the new benefits, choices and protections available through the law.
Today we’ll focus on the benefits for small businesses – the backbone of the economy and the engine for job growth in Maryland.
Small businesses – especially those with less than 10 employees- struggled and suffered under the old healthcare system to provide their workers with quality affordable health insurance. MIT economist Jonathan Gruber estimated that without reform, small businesses would pay nearly $2.4 trillion to cover health care costs collectively over the next 10 years, and 178,000 jobs would be lost as a result.
President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress sought to immediately change the status quo and ensured that the Affordable Care Act would not only reduce the healthcare costs of small businesses but also expand access to insurance for their employees.
One provision of the law that has already gone into effect is tax credits that small businesses can use to pay for health insurance for their workers. The Small Business Majority found that more than 4 million small businesses are eligible to receive these credits including 122,100 here in Maryland. These much needed credits allow small business owners to keep (or even start) offering health care coverage and empower entrepreneurs to hire new workers.
This is how health care reform is positively impacting businesses and working families today
Sadly, a national survey of small business owners found that 57% were not familiar with the available tax credits. That’s the reason why in Maryland, Democrats and health care reform proponents have launched an aggressive advertising campaign to encourage small businesses to take full advantage of the federal program.
Watch this video of Lt. Governor Anthony Brown – who is leading efforts to implement reform, tackle costs and improve quality – introduce the ‘Small Business Tax Credits – Your Healthy Bottom Line’ campaign:
