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GOP Members Face Backlash From Constituents Over Support For House Budget

After House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his Medicare-ending budget last spring, he and his fellow Republicans faced tough questions and protests at town hall meetings across the country. Protesters slammed Republican representatives for voting to end Medicare and cut vital safety net programs while slashing taxes for the rich.

The House passed Ryan’s newest iteration of the “Path to Prosperity” budget last week, and immediately, multiple Republicans faced backlash from their constituents. Voters gathered outside the Duluth, Minnesota office of Rep. Chip Cravaack (R), calling for a budget that preserves vital safety net programs like Medicare and raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help pay down the debt.

Watch a news report on the protest:

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Protesters also gathered outside the office of Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick and chastised his support for a budget “only the 1 percent could love,” MSNBC reports:

Outside the office building by the Oxford Valley Mall, members of Pennsylvania Working Families, held signs and chanted: “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.” […]

The Ryan budget, which Fitzpatrick fully supports, is all about cuts to the poor and middle class and tax breaks for billionaires and corporations,” said Steve Nathan of Sellersville, one of Tuesday’s protesters. “There’s nothing in it about job creation.”

The House GOP budget is likely to face even more protests as members return to their districts for the spring recess, considering that Republicans ignored Americans’ opposition to last year’s budget and have shown, repeatedly, that they favor raising taxes on the wealthy and preserving programs like Medicare. The Republican budget does neither, instead gutting Medicare while giving the richest Americans a massive tax break.