Jackson Free Press

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released his budget proposal to fund the government for fiscal year 2012 on April 5. If enacted, how would these cuts impact low-income families? What would the GOP's new budget mean for our safety net? And how many people are hungry in Congressman Ryan's district?

Take the quiz below and find out. (Answers on the bottom.)

1. The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans take in ___ of America's income and ___ of America's wealth.
A. 10 percent, 20 percent
B. 20 percent, 15 percent
C. 25 percent, 40 percent
D. 30 percent, 25 percent

2. The GOP budget for fiscal year 2012 proposed cutting the deficit by $4.3 trillion over the next 10 years. What percentage of that $4.3 trillion would come from ensuring the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes?
A. 67 percent
B. 34 percent
C. 15 percent
D. 0 percent

3. What percentage of that $4.3 trillion would come from budget cuts affecting low- and moderate-income Americans?
A. 67 percent
B. 34 percent
C. 13 percent
D. 0 percent

4. True or False: It is cheaper to insure people through private insurance coverage than with Medicaid.
A. True
B. False

5. Medicaid pays for what percentage of long-term and nursing home care for the elderly in the United States?
A. 10 percent
B. 22 percent
C. 36 percent
D. 43 percent

6. The budget proposed by Ryan calls for a restructuring of the SNAP/food stamps program that would cut off millions of families struggling against hunger from the nutritional supports they need. It would also prevent SNAP from responding during recessions when unemployment spikes. How many Americans are experiencing "food hardship" (inability to afford enough food for your family) in Congressman Ryan's district today?
A. 1 in 10
B. 1 in 9
C. 1 in 8
D. 1 in 7

7. The GOP plan to fund the remainder of fiscal year 2011 (through September) proposed $61.5 billion in cuts, including deep cuts to programs that help people get ahead such as Head Start, Pell Grants and job training. How much were the tax cuts for the wealthy in last year's tax deal?
A. $32.3 billion
B. $45 billion
C. $69.5 billion
D. $82 billion

8. How many students would lose some or all of their Pell Grant under the GOP plan to fund the remainder of this year?
A. 7.4 million
B. 8.4 million
C. 9.4 million
D. 10.4 million

9. How many workers would lose access to job training if the GOP budget for this year were signed into law?
A. 2 million
B. 4 million
C. 8 million
D. 12 million

10. Nationally, child poverty went up by 1.7 percentage points in 2009. By how much did child poverty rise in House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) district last year?
A. 1 percentage point
B. 1.7 percentage points
C. 3 percentage points
D. 6 percentage points

11. The GOP fiscal year 2012 budget proposal includes recommendations to "strengthen the social safety net." Which of their proposals below are included in this section?
A. Investing in job creation to move low-income parents from welfare to work
B. Cutting Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance
C. Investing in early childhood education to provide greater equality of opportunity
D. A and C

1. The answer is C. The top 1 percent of Americans receive 25 percent of all of America's income and own 40 percent of all of America's wealth. Over the past several years, income inequality has widened, with the wealthiest capturing nearly all of the gains from economic growth. But median income fell and poverty rose for the first time on record. Yet the GOP budget proposed more tax breaks for the richest
2 percent of Americans.

2. The answer is D. The GOP budget did not seek to reduce the deficit by reforming or eliminating special-interest subsidies. Instead, the Republican budget proposes draconian cuts in a part of the budget containing key investments in job training, Head Start, and nutrition assistance for pregnant women, infants and children. This at a time when companies such as General Electric can use these subsidies to have an effective tax rate of zero while bringing in $14.2 billion in profits last year.

3. The answer is A. The GOP budget would get more than two-thirds of its savings over the next 10 years from programs affecting low- and moderate-income Americans. It would get about $1.4 trillion (32.5 percent) from cuts to the Medicaid system, fundamentally altering the structure of the program so it can no longer respond to recessions, health epidemics, demographic changes or medical advances. This would prevent millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans from accessing health-care coverage and shift enormous cost burdens to states. The rest comes from cuts to other health programs, mandatory programs such as SNAP/food stamps, and cuts to domestic programs such as Pell Grants and affordable housing.

4. False. The GOP budget claims its proposal will rein in "out-of-control costs." But the average cost per Medicaid beneficiary is significantly lower than the average cost under private insurance. Medicaid costs 27 percent less for children than private insurance, and 20 percent less for adults than private insurance despite more comprehensive benefits and significantly lower cost-sharing charges. In fact, over the past decade Medicaid has controlled health-care costs more effectively than private coverage. Trying to curb health-care costs by cutting Medicaid alone will simply shift higher costs to states, providers and beneficiaries, or result in a massive increase in the ranks of the uninsured.

5. The answer is D. If you have an elderly or disabled relative who requires long-term care to live independently, or nursing-home care, there's a good chance that Medicaid is helping cover those costs. Medicaid is the primary payer for this range of services, accounting for about 43 percent of all spending in this area. Without Medicaid, many middle-class families could quickly go bankrupt trying to afford care.

6. The answer is D. New analysis from the Food Research and Action Center reveals 15.8 percent of people in Congressman Paul Ryan's district (more than 1 in 7) indicated they could not afford the food their family needed in the past 12 months.

7. The answer is C. The tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would have more than paid for all the cuts in domestic programs in this year's GOP budget. The GOP plan chooses to cut housing assistance for veterans, food baskets for the elderly and work-force development programs, while keeping in place tax cuts that last year averaged about $125,000 for millionaires.

8. The answer is C. The Republican plan to fund the remainder of fiscal year 2011 would reduce the maximum Pell Grant by 17.4 percent. This would result in 9.4 million low-income college students losing all or some of their financial aid to attend college.

9. The answer is C. The GOP plan would prevent 8 million workers from accessing job training and placement services. It would also eliminate effective education and skills-training programs for low-
income youth such as YouthBuild.

10. The answer is D. Child poverty went up by more than 6 percentage points in House Speaker Boehner's district (Ohio-8) last year. It was among the 25 worst increases in child poverty of all 435 congressional districts.

11. The answer is B. Unfortunately (and ironically), the GOP proposal to "strengthen the safety net" proposes significant cuts to health care, housing and nutritional supports for low-income families that would push millions more families into poverty, and make it more difficult for them to climb out.

This quiz was created by the Center for American Progress (http://www.americanprogress.org).