Brad Woodhouse, President of American Bridge

Last week, Tim Phillips, president of the Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity, penned an op-ed for Forbes entitled “The Non-Existent Era of Austerity.” In his piece, under the familiar guise of faux fiscal responsibility, Phillips assailed President Obama for his “addiction” to protecting programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from massive cuts. Or as AFP calls massive cuts, “reforms” that would “save” the programs.

Make no mistake–the goal of Americans for Prosperity, which has already promised to spend $125 million supporting extreme conservatives in the midterm elections, is not save Social Security or Medicare. Their agenda is exactly the same as the one the Koch brothers have been pushing for over 30 years: Slash Medicare, dismantle social security, and undermine government as a whole in the process. It’s a self-serving agenda that centers on making the rich even richer at the expense of working families.

Their history speaks for itself: AFP has supported Paul Ryan’s budgets, including one that the Wall Street Journal said would “essentially end Medicare.” David Koch’s 1980 Libertarian ticket called social security “the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to nuclear war.” They’ve supported huge tax cuts for the wealthy, while calling for abolishing the minimum wage.

AFP and the Kochs don’t want to save programs that are crucial to the middle class. They want to destroy them.

Background

Medicare

2011: AFP Backed FY 2012 Ryan Budget, Which Consolidated Income Tax Brackets And Set A Top Marginal Rate Of 25 Percent. According to AFP’s congressional scorecard for the 112th Congress, AFP took a “yes” position on the House vote on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed budget resolution covering fiscal years 2012 to 2021, which, according to the House Budget Committee, included a proposal to “consolidate tax brackets and lower tax rates, with a top rate of 25 percent.” The vote was 2011 House vote 277. [AFP Scorecard for the 112th Congress, 2/1/13; House Budget Committee,4/5/11]

• Wall Street Journal: Ryan Plan “Would Essentially End Medicare.” According to the Wall Street Journal, “Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move that will dramatically reshape the budget debate in Washington. […] 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. Mr. Ryan and other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program’s soaring costs.” [Wall Street Journal, 4/4/11]
• Ryan’s Budget Eliminated Traditional Medicare And Created A Medicare Exchange On Which Seniors Could Purchase Private Plans. According to the Congressional Research Service, “Individuals who become eligible (based either on age or disability) for Medicare in 2022 and later years would not be able to enroll in the current Medicare program. Instead, they would be given the option of enrolling in a private insurance plan through a newly established Medicare exchange.” [CRS Report #R41767, 4/13/11]

Clark-Koch Campaign White Paper: “We Propose A 50 Percent Reduction In Payments To [Medicare] Contractors For Processing Claims Payments.” In a white paper, the Clark-Koch campaign wrote, “Medicare Contractors – cut We propose a 50 percent reduction in payments to contractors for processing claims payments. We are confident that administrative overhead can easily be cut by that much.” [Clark For President White Paper On Taxing And Spending Reduction, 1980]

Minimum Wage

Clark: “We Should Abolish The Minimum Wage Laws.” In his book, “A New Beginning,” Clark wrote: “We should abolish the minimum wage laws and licensing laws so that people can once again be free to compete and to work, so that no bureaucrat or politician backed by special interested can ever again stand between a human being and a chance to work for a living, bringing with it the dignity of self-reliance, not the dehumanizing dependency of helpless poverty and unemployment.” [A New Beginning, p. 97, August 1980]

AFP Foundation: Minimum Wage Represents “Failed Government Intervention”; “Policymakers Should Let Individuals And Businesses Freely Decide What Wage Levels Are Appropriate.” According to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, “The history of minimum wage laws in the United States tells the story of a failed government intervention into the economy. Minimum wage laws have the unintended consequence of increasing unemployment and reducing opportunities for young and low-skilled job seekers. Despite these discouraging outcomes, politicians have continued to press for a higher minimum wage. For too long, this has hindered Americans in their quest for prosperity. Instead of creating more labor market barriers, policymakers should let individuals and businesses freely decide what wage levels are appropriate.” [AmericansForProsperityFoundation.com, March 2012]

Social Security

Clark Called Social Security “The Most Serious Threat To The Future Stability Of Our Society Next To The Threat Of Nuclear War.” According to a press release from the Clark for President Committee, “Clark said Social Security ‘the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to the threat of nuclear war.’” [Clark for President Committee, 9/24/80]

AFP Foundation Supports Private Social Security Accounts. According to Americans for Prosperity Foundation, “Thankfully, there is a better way. We could empower workers with a choice: stay with the tax-and-benefit system of Social Security as it is now, or save and invest your same payroll tax contributions through a personal savings account. Instead of seeing their hard-earned dollars funneled through Washington to pay for current retirees’ benefits, workers would truly own and control the accumulated funds and could invest them with a wide variety of investment funds offering different mixes of stocks and bonds and different levels of risk and reward.” [AmericansForProsperityFoundation.com, February 2012]

Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

AFP Scored At Least Eight Votes Reducing Taxes For The Wealthy As Key Votes. According to AFP’s congressional scorecards for the 111th and 112th Congresses, as well as the AFP Scorecard website, AFP took a position in favor of cutting taxes for the wealthy at least eight times. Six of those are the House and Senate votes on House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s FY 2012, FY 2013 and FY 2014 budgets – 2013 House vote 88, 2013 Senate vote 46, 2012 House vote 151, 2012 Senate vote 98, 2011 House vote 277 and 2011 Senate vote 87. The seventh was AFP’s backing of the FY 2012 Republican Study Committee budget – 2011 House vote 275 – while the eighth was AFP’s backing of Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) FY 2013 budget resolution: 2012 Senate vote 99. [AFP Scorecard for the 112th Congress, 2/1/13; AFP Scorecard for the 111th Congress, 1/10/11; AFP Scorecard website, viewed 5/2/14]