THE US Congress has still not been able to agree a budget — even though widespread agreement exists on the need to reduce health and welfare rights and increase military spending to $243 billion (around £160 billion).
Over 760,000 government workers were locked out of work without pay for three-weeks in which the goxemment was "unable" so pay its bills. Around 480,000 were made to work without pay.
In early January 260,000 laid-off workers were instructed by the House of Representatives to go back to work sparking angry protests nationwide. Congress later reinstated wage payments.
The US goverment is very far from broke. But since the second world war US state investment on education, health and the national in. frastructure was partly funded by government borrowing, rather than by taxing the massive profits which this government spending allowed.
Interest payments on this debt are around $250 billion a year — pushing the government's badget into the red. Last year, the US goverment ran a deficit of S164 billion.
This irrational method of state fi. nance represents a massive subsidy paid by US taxpayers to the corporate and bie-husiness backers of the Democratic and Republican parties. a bayines now arount for 28 per cent of US income tax.
While deep tactical disagreements continue between the Democrats and Republicans, the course being taken by them is clear. Over $600 billion in cuts are proposed by the White House: - with sive oilin from Medicare retirement payments and $52 billions more from Medicaid.
They are coupled to the shifting of the tax burden onto working people. Clinton's seven year plan of $245 bil lion tax cuts for the rich is to be made up for by seav billion or cate taxe aimed at workers and poor farmers. the key speoker ot 20,000-strong protest ogainst Medicare ond Medicold cuts! and by sharp rises in social insurance premiums.
in the run un to this autumn's Presidential elections the US labour movement leaders will be campaigning for Clinton's re-election. Much of the US left will follow suit, arguing that the Democratic Party represents • a "lesser evil". This is a deeply missaken view Unlike the Labour Party in Britain. the Democrats are not just politically pro-capitalist — the Democrats are a millionaires party, led and built up by a current of the US ruling class. Clinton's 1992 election vow was "to end welfare as we've known it".
In this context, the poor and exploited in the US — most of whom abstain in elections - noed to find ways to sake out along their owe road, rather than join in the "national The US needs a broad-based working class party, that puts forward the indenendent interests of workers and poor farmers, both in elections and in the struggle for social justice.