America's Most Vulnerable Need Your Help
Medicaid is slated to be cut by $10,000,000,000. Children and Family services such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), child care, foster care and adoption assistance programs, and the Social Services Block Grant are slated to be cut by nearly $7,000,000,000.
That's $17,000,000,000 worth of cuts to Medicaid and other programs for needy families. That means that up to a million families in need of mental health and related services will not receive them. Without adequate mental health care, SSI, TANF, child care, and child welfare services this nation will experience a meteoric rise in unemployment, crime, and broken homes.
The budget's spending targets passed the House and Senate last week, though the House passage could have been stopped if six democrats hadn't failed to show up for the vote:
Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY 10) (202) 225-5936
Representative Steve Rothman (D-NJ 9) (202) 225-5061
Representative William Jefferson (D-LA 2) (202) 225-6636
Representative Harold Ford (D-TN 9) (202) 225-3265
Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX 25) (202) 225-4865
Representative James Clyburn (D-SC 6) (202) 225-2313
If you live in one of these districts, your voice can be very loud in this debate. Time to call and let your representative know that hollowing out the nation's Medicaid, Social Security Disability, Foster Homes, and Social Services Block Grants while doling out over a hundred billion dollars of tax cuts isn't a position you can get behind.
Here are some other cuts in the budget:
Head Start funds would be reduced $3.3 billion over five years, with 118,000 fewer youngsters enrolled in 2010.
The budget cuts food stamps by $1 billion over 10 years, which means 200,000 to 300,000 fewer low-income working families with children will receive nutrition assistance.
The budget cuts $6,600,000,000 from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The budget cuts $4,700,000,000 from Student Loan Programs.
The budget calls for a sell-off of public parks to private interests for total revenue of $175,000,000 over 10 years by privatizing 40,000 individual federal forest properties.
This budget cuts funds for the most vulnerable people in our society.
This budget also offers $106,000,000,000 in tax cuts.
There's a lot a politicking to be done between now and the passage of the budget. Call your Representatives and Senators. Vent some spleen. Argue impassionedly. Or just call and let them know that you support retaining funds for the neediest Americans. No matter how you choose to do it, it's fun.
posted by Gordon D. Smith, LPC @ 4.5.05
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