fresh voices from the front lines of change

Democracy

Health

Climate

Housing

Education

Rural

They say that Washington DC and the major media are "wired for Republicans." Steve Benen explains how this works,

... week in and week out, this debate is dominated by voices from only one party.

A couple of years ago, Josh Marshall talked about how the Washington establishment is simply “wired” for Republicans. It’s GOP ideas that get attention; it’s GOP talking points that get internalized; it’s GOP voices that get aired.

Today the Progressive Caucus released their "Back To Work" budget. Rep. Keith Ellison, the Progressive Caucus co-chairman, explains the budget in this interview.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_D3iZJTTdo4[/youtube]

This morning Bill Scher asked, Will The Media Cover The “Back To Work” Budget?

For the past 24 hours, the media has dutifully reported on the budget proposal from Rep. Paul Ryan, even though everyone knows it is extremely unlikely to become law.

That’s fine; it’s not the media’s job to short-circuit debate. It’s the media’s job to report factually on the ideas proposed in Congress, so the public can weigh in before Congress votes.

Today, another budget will be proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the “Back to Work” budget. It probably won’t become law either. But it deserves every bit of media attention that Ryan’s budget gets.

Ryan/Republican Budget -- Intense News Coverage

This week the Republican "Ryan Budget" was released. It just absolutely guts government, guts safety net, privatizes Medicare, guts Medicare -- and give HUGE tax cut to the wealthy.

As I write this Google News yields more than 72,000 stories. (Search term: "Ryan budget" in quotes so you don't get results for anything with the two words in it.) Washington Post, NY Times, CBS News, NPR, Politico, etc...

Progressive Budget -- Nothing

The Congressional Progressive Caucus released their "Back To Work Budget" this morning. It immediately hires 7 million to rebuild our infrastructure so our economy can be competitive. It reinforces safety-net programs, provides a public option for health care and taxes the wealthy to not only pay for these but to reduce the deficit by $4.4 trillion over the next decade.

So far a Google News search for "Back To Work Budget" yields .. two results, Huffington Post and Raw Story.

After the November election Atrios was a bit hopeful that "wired for Repubicans" would start to change, writing,

Given the realities of money and power, Washington's always going to be a bit wired for Republicans. My theory has been that it'll take at least 3 subsequent Dem presidential terms to shift that a bit. The problem will always be there, but running the executive branch for awhile will have some impact.

So far -- nothing.

72,000+ vs 2. "Liberal media." Right.

--
Take Action
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new job-killing budget is the most reckless austerity plan he’s ever proposed. The Congressional Progressive Caucus “Back To Work” budget offers a better way. It cuts deficits by putting people back to work – and closes loopholes and shuts down tax dodges for the wealthy on the wealthy and multinationals to invest in areas vital to our future. Tell Congress: Vote for the "Back To Work" Budget!

Pin It on Pinterest

Spread The Word!

Share this post with your networks.