By Carol McCracken  (Post # 1,248)

Congresswoman Pingree said today in a press release that she will oppose Republican plans that would slash SNAP (food stamp) benefits and allow unemployment benefits to expire while giving millionaires an average $50,000 tax cut.

“We need to find a balanced solution to the fiscal cliff, but giving millionaires a tax cut and asking working families to cut back on their weekly food budget isn’t a balanced approach,” Pingree said.  “In fact, it’s downright cruel.”

Congressional Republicans are bringing up two bills for a vote today in the House and Pingree says she’ll vote against them both.

One would cut SNAP benefits by $36 billion and roll back provisions of the Affordable Care Act by nearly $500 billion.

The other is a proposed extension of tax breaks that would give millionaires and billionaires an average $50,000 tax cut on their first $1 million in income.  At the same time, under the proposal 25 million working families would lose access to a child credit and pay an average of $1,000 more a year in taxes.  The bill also allows unemployment benefits to expire for 2 million Amercians – about 7,000 in Maine alone.

“Cutting food stamps, Social Security and Medicare so the wealthiest Americans can get a tax break is the wrong approach,” Pingree said.  “Seniors and working famililes have already made plenty of sacrifices in this economy and now is not the time to ask them to dig even deeper.  I’m urging Congressional leaders to continue to work with the President so we can vote on a balanced, bipartisan compromise before the end of the year.”

editor’s note:  This evening the vote on the Republican “Plan B” proposal was withdrawn by Speaker Boehner  because of a lack of support from Republicans.