I love Oregon

Just got this e-mail from one of our Senators (Jeff Merkley):

For months now, the House Republicans - led by Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) - have been promising a bold, new plan to cut the deficit.

After much anticipation, Rep. Ryan released his plan today. But it's hardly a bold, new plan. Instead, Ryan's plan is a rehash of the same old failed ideas they've been touting for years.

What's the Republican solution to our budget crisis? More tax cuts for the wealthy and big multinational corporations; attacks on our teachers, firefighters, and other public servants; and announced today, a plan to end Medicare and give our seniors coupons for private health insurance.

Unbelievable.

Make no mistake: No one is going to kill Medicare on my watch. We're not going to go back to the days when many of America's seniors were living in destitute poverty without access to health care. We've made a solemn commitment to our seniors, and we're not going to break that promise.

So, how do we bring down the deficit?

* End the exclusive tax breaks available only to millionaires and billionaires.

* End the subsidies for the highly-profitable oil and gas industries.

* Bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a responsible end.

* Get our economy back on track - by investing in education and clean energy technology, boosting manufacturing, and keeping families in their homes by fixing the broken housing market.

Of course, I'd prefer he was a bit more harsh and direct in his language (e.g. "Fuck You Paul Ryan, why don't you leave us alone and get back to fucking Ayn Rand's corpse."), but in the meek Senate, this is pretty good. Keep it up Jeff.