By ThinkProgress War Room

The GOP’s Back to the Future Budget

Last week, the GOP once again proposed a plan to cap overall federal spending as percentage of the economy at a ridiculous and unsustainably low level. This is really just a backdoor way to gut programs like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid without saying so at the outset.

How low do Republicans want to set spending? As low as it was way back in 1966. In 1966, President Johnson was arguing we needed to stay in Vietnam. There were still countries called Upper Volta and Rhodesia. The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds. Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California. Medicare and Medicaid had only existed for one year.

In other words, it was a very different time and our country had very different needs. Here’s a closer look at just how different things are why the GOP’s back to the future isn’t suited for 21st century America.

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