Union Consensus on Romney’s VP Pick: Wrong for America
AFL-CIO unions reacting to presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin’s Rep. Paul “End Medicare as We Know It” Ryan as his running mate say the Romney-Ryan ticket is the wrong choice for America.
Yesterday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, "Whether it's outsourcing American jobs or picking his running mate, Mitt Romney's proven just how bad his decision making is for working people. Aligning himself with the poster-child for ending Medicare and Social Security puts to rest any suggestion that Romney has a clue what the middle class needs. We're witnessing the radical Tea Party extremes drive its final nail in what was once the Republican Party."
Here’s what unions had to say:
For years Mitt Romney has outsourced American jobs and stashed his wealth in offshore tax havens. Throughout his presidential campaign, he has pandered to extremists within his party who put the interests of the ultra-rich before those of the middle class. Now he has chosen Paul Ryan, who proudly proposes forcing millions of seniors into poverty by ending Medicare as we know it, as his running mate. The distinctions between Obama-Biden and Romney-Ryan couldn't be any clearer. President Obama and Vice President Biden are fighting for everyone to have a fair shot at the American Dream. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are plotting a nightmare for middle-class families.
Mitt Romney conceded with the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate that this fall’s election is not a referendum on President Obama. Instead, Romney cemented the fact that this presidential election is a clear choice between two vastly different visions for America’s future. On one hand, the Obama/Biden ticket wants to strengthen the middle class and restore prosperity for all Americans. On the other, the Romney/Ryan ticket stands for creating more wealth for those who need it least and telling the rest of America, “You’re on your own.”
Rep. Ryan’s record speaks for itself. He would reduce, not expand, real opportunities for all students to have access to high-quality public education. He would repeal the health care reform law that is helping millions of Americans gain access to the medical care they need. And he is the architect of the radical Republican budget scheme that would end Medicare as we know it.
Romney’s selection of Rep. Ryan is a clear signal that the Republican ticket doesn’t understand the needs and challenges Americans are facing right now. Not only is Romney on the wrong side of issues affecting the middle class, but now he’s assembled what may be the most out-of-touch ticket in decades. The Romney/Ryan ticket is the wrong choice for hardworking middle-class Americans, working families and the future of our great nation.
The choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential nominee cements Mitt Romney is out of touch with the middle class and all working Americans.
Tea Party extremist Ryan is single handedly trying to dismantle Social Security and Medicare. He is a Washington gasbag who has produced little in his career except a distorted economic theory, which would deliver a death blow to the middle class. His policies are those of a class warrior who would drive most Americans into poverty.
Romney and Ryan would give wealthy Americans and corporations more tax breaks while continue to undercut middle-class Americans.
It's now even more clear that a Romney presidency is the wrong choice for America.
Mitt Romney’s choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate adds the anti-senior Wisconsin congressman with the anti-worker offshorer from Bain Capital.
If you didn’t like the way Romney’s vulture capitalism hurt working families with good jobs, you won’t like both these guys lumped together as wealthy elitists bought by billionaires to end Medicare and Social Security, plus the middle-class American majority.
Romney and Ryan are economic twin brothers who share the values of the ultra-rich. They would both destroy lives of millions of seniors to give trillions in tax breaks to their millionaire and billionaire buddies.
Romney’s announcement affirms he is a captive of the tea baggers’ extremist mentality who have hi-jacked the Republican Party and are firmly in control of the agenda. Social Security, Medicare, veterans, education, and infrastructure—everything is to be offered up on an altar of sacrifice to fund more tax breaks for the rich.
The Romney-Ryan agenda is out-of-touch with reality. The “magic-of-the-market,” the idea that if you just turn over the store to the very rich everything will miraculously be wonderful for everyone, doesn’t work. We tried that under Bush and it crashed the economy and destroyed millions of jobs.
President Obama has listened to us as American workers and laid out a vision of the America we want to be that creates jobs and prosperity for us and not the 1% who have looted the economy.
Over the next few days, we will expose the Romney-Ryan agenda. We stand with President Obama and Vice President Biden at another major moment in this campaign.
Fact sheets on the Romney-Ryan agenda can be found at: www.usw.org.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are cut from the same cloth. As CEO of Bain Capital, Romney made his fortune by hollowing out the dreams of ordinary American workers. The Romney/Ryan budget would wreak the same kind of economic damage on households nationwide.
Make no mistake about it; the Romney/Ryan budget plan would end Medicare as we know it, turning it into a voucher system at a much greater cost to seniors. Working families cannot afford to elect a duo who will slash middle-class support systems for the benefit of the super-rich.
