Larry Bucshon

Congressman Bucshon voted for a budget that would essentially end Medicare and turn it into a voucher program. Bucshon would make seniors pay six thousand four hundred dollars a year MORE for their benefits to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and big oil.  Bucshon even voted to protect tax breaks for companies that ship Hoosier jobs overseas.

Voted for Ryan Budget That “Would Essentially End Medicare.” On April 15, 2011, Bucshon voted for the Republican budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills.” [H Con. Res. 34, Vote #277, 4/15/11; Wall Street Journal, 4/04/11]

New York Times Called the Plan a “Voucher Program.” On April 10, 2011, The New York Times described  the Republican’s budget, claiming: “The plan would turn Medicare into a voucher program for future generations and slash spending for the need-based Medicaid program and other domestic initiatives, while largely sparing the Pentagon and cutting $4 trillion more in corporate and high-income taxes.” [New York Times, 4/10/11]

Though The Difference in Out of Pocket Costs Would Be About $6,400. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation policy brief, the difference between Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget and an alternative fiscal scenario examined by the Congressional Budget Office would be about $6,400. [Kaiser Family Foundation Policy Brief, Proposed Changes to Medicare in “Path to Prosperity,” 4/08/11]

Ryan Budget Gives $125K Tax Break To Millionaires. “People with incomes over $1 million would receive average tax cuts of $125,000 a year” under the Ryan budget plan. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/20/11]

Ryan Budget Retains $40 Billion in Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. “House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit big oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in the clean energy technologies of the future that are essential for long-term economic growth.” [Center for American Progress, 4/06/11]

Bucshon Voted to Transition to Tax System That Would Reward Moving Jobs Overseas. On August 1, 2012, Bucshon voted for a plan to transition the federal tax code to a “territorial tax system.” Currently, U.S. companies pay the tax rate of the country where the outpost is located and then, if they bring those profits home, often pay some U.S. taxes as well. Under this proposal, companies essentially would pay just the tax rate of the country where the profits are earned. The territorial system “would exacerbate the worst features of our current tax system. It would: enhance the tax code’s rewards for moving jobs and investments overseas; provide a gratuitous windfall to some of the very companies that have already shifted jobs and profits overseas; further invite the offshore tax haven abuse that deprives the U.S. Treasury of tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year.” [HR 6169, Vote #552, 8/2/12; Citizens for Tax Justice, 3/22/12; Center for American Progress, 7/16/12]

Red Alert

Larry Bucshon’s economic policies are costing Indiana jobs. Larry Bucshon voted for three new free-trade deals with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea --the type of job-killing trade deals that encourage companies like Whirlpool to relocate from Evansville to Mexico. Larry Bucshon voted against allowing the U.S. to impose tariffs on China to crack down on currency manipulation, which allows their companies to unfairly compete. Larry Bucshon voted to give tax breaks to American companies that ship jobs overseas.

Voted to Implement Free Trade Agreements. [HR 3079, Vote #782, 10/12/11; HR 3078, Vote #781, 10/12/11; HR 3080, Vote #783, 10/12/11; USA Today, 10/13/11]

Free Trade Agreements Expected to Cost 214,000  US Jobs.  In August 2011, CNN reported that an international economist for the Economic Policy Institute estimated that the South Korea, Colombia, and Panama free trade deals taken together would result in a loss of 214,000 American jobs. [money.cnn.com, 8/15/11]

Whirlpool Moved Plant from Evansville to Mexico. In August 2009 Whirlpool announced plans to move its Evansville factory to Mexico, leaving at least 1,100 unemployed. [Evansville Courier Press, 8/28/09; PBS, 10/26/11]

Bucshon Voted Against Protections from Unfair Chinese Currency Manipulation. In 2011, Bucshon voted against a bipartisan effort to crack down on unfair Chinese currency manipulations that cost American jobs.  The motion would have added the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act to the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act. The motion would have allowed the U.S. government to impose tariffs on goods produced in countries that "fundamentally" undervalue their currencies under U.S. trade remedy laws. [CQ Floor Votes, 10/12/11]  According to the Economic Policy Institute, "If only China revalued [their currency] by 28.5%, the growth in U.S. GDP would support 1,631,000 U.S. jobs." That revaluation of the yuan/dollar exchange rate by China along would increase U.S. GDP by $207 billion dollars in 18 to 24 months. [Economic Policy Institute, 6/17/11; HR 3078, Vote #780, 10/12/11]

Congressman Bucshon Voted to Transition to Tax System That Would Reward Moving Jobs Overseas. On August 1, 2012, House Republicans voted for a plan to transition the federal tax code to a “territorial tax system.” Currently, U.S. companies pay the tax rate of the country where the outpost is located and then, if they bring those profits home, often pay some U.S. taxes as well. Under this proposal, companies essentially would pay just the tax rate of the country where the profits are earned. The territorial system “would exacerbate the worst features of our current tax system. It would: enhance the tax code’s rewards for moving jobs and investments overseas; provide a gratuitous windfall to some of the very companies that have already shifted jobs and profits overseas; further invite the offshore tax haven abuse that deprives the U.S. Treasury of tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year.” [HR 6169, Vote #552, 8/2/12; Citizens for Tax Justice, 3/22/12; Center for American Progress, 7/16/12