Reid Ribble

Reid Ribble has voted to cut Medicare while giving tax breaks to oil companies and businesses that outsource our jobs overseas – taking from our seniors while giving to big corporations.  What’s worse, Ribble called for “a phase out of the current Social Security system,” saying that it “is in fact a Ponzi scheme.”

 Voted For Ryan Budget That Cut Medicare. On April 15, 2011, Ribble voted for the Republican budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “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.” [H Con. Res. 34, Vote #277, 4/15/11; Wall Street Journal, 4/04/11]

Ryan Budget Retains $40 Billion in Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. “House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit big oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in the clean energy technologies of the future that are essential for long-term economic growth.” [Center for American Progress, 4/06/11]

Ryan Budget Cuts Corporate Tax Rate. According to the Washington Post, “On taxes, Ryan's budget would consolidate brackets and lower tax rates; the top individual and corporate rates would drop to 25 percent.” [Washington Post, 4/05/11]

Ribble: Social Security “a Ponzi Scheme.”  “We have to establish a phase out of the current Social Security system to a new system that will have to happen over time…I envision a shift in how that system works so that by the time you get there you’re not only responsible for your own but we’ve made tax law available to help you be responsible for your own, and that the government can’t take that money from you and give it to somebody else. That is in fact a Ponzi scheme.” [Fox Valley Initiative Candidate Forum, Appleton WI, 11/03/09]