By Robert Borosage / Campaign for America's Future Blog
Budgets are numbing – grist for geeks, not citizens. The Congressional Progressive Caucus annual budget proposal – the Better Off Budget – is no exception, detailing row after row of numeric projections. Produced in conjunction with the Economic Policy Institute, it is an analyst’s document, based on a sound economic model.
But amid the numbers, budgets display our values, what we consider important, what we consider fair, how we address our future. Taken together, the blizzard of numbers provides a pointillist portrait of the society we would build.
And here, the CPC budget offers a vivid contrast both to the course plotted by the Republican House budgets put together by Rep. Paul Ryan and the cautious course followed by the White House. It is a testament to the vision of CPC co-chairs Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), and the work of many members, including Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Jim McGovern (Mass.) and Jim McDermott (Wash.).
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