Republican budget cuts attack children, seniors, veterans and the poor

Nevadans need to call Congressman Joe Heck and Congressman Dean Heller and let them know that their proposed budget cuts in the House are immoral because they attack those that need the governments help the most.

The House Republicans proposed budget does little to help cut our deficit, in fact the proposed cuts will actually add $2.5 trillion to our deficit according to the CBO, and will endanger millions of Americans. Their budget proposal attacks children, senior citizens, veterans, the poor and working Americans.

And it gives billions of our tax dollars to corporations and the rich.

When the Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) recently announced that some Americans would lose their jobs, he said “So be it”. He doesn’t care if more working Americans lose their jobs due to his budget cuts. In fact, he seems to be proud of that fact.

Here are some of the items the Republicans plan on attacking and slashing as they feebly say these cuts will help to balance or budget and deficit.

• Destroy 700,000 jobs, according to an independent economic analysis.
• Zero out federal funding for National Public Radio and public television.
• Cut $1.3 billion from community health centers—which will deprive more than 3 million low-income people of health care over the next few months.
• Cut nearly a billion dollars in food and health care assistance to pregnant women, new moms, and children.
• Kick more than 200,000 children out of pre-school by cutting funds for Head Start.
• Force states to fire 65,000 teachers and aides, dramatically increasing class sizes, thanks to education cuts.
• Cut some or all financial aid for 9.4 million low- and middle-income college students.
• Slash $1.6 billion from the National Institutes of Health, a cut that experts say would "send shockwaves" through cancer research, likely result in cuts to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research, and cause job losses.
• End the only federal family planning program, including cutting all federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood to support cancer screenings and other women's health care.
• Send 10,000 low-income veterans into homelessness by cutting in half the number of veterans who get housing vouchers this year.

Call your Congressmen and tell them its time that corporations start paying their taxes, Exxon who earned $19 billion last year paid zero in taxes. GE, CitiGroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Boeing similarly have had entire quarters or years without paying corporate income taxes. 80 of the top 100 American corporations are not paying their taxes.

People, we can not balance the budget on the backs of working Americans, senior citizens, veterans and the poor. We must demand that corporations and the rich pay their share of the taxes and be responsible for part of this burden, that is the American way. Or at least it use to be.

Sources:

• "GOP spending plan would cost 700,000 jobs, new report says," The Washington Post, February 28, 2011
• "GOP budget would cut funding for public broadcasting," The Washington Independent, February 14, 2011
• "NACHC Statement in Response to the Budget from the House Appropriations Committee, National Association of Community Health Centers website, accessed March 4, 2011
• "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli.," The New Republic, February 12, 2011
• House Republican Spending Cuts Target Programs For Children And Pregnant Women
• "Obama and the GOP's Spending Cuts: Where's the Outrage?" Mother Jones, February 18, 2011
• "Deficit Reduction on the Backs of the Most Vulnerable," Center for American Progress, March 2011
• "The GOP Budget and Cancer—Why New Research Is at Risk," Politics Daily, February 27, 2011
• "Republican Budget Cuts at Heart of Medical Research: Albert Hunt," Bloomberg, February 20, 2011
• "Durbin: Cuts to NIH put research jobs at risk," Business Week, February 28, 2011
• "GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2011
• "House GOP Spending Cuts Would Prevent 10,000 Low-Income Veterans From Receiving Housing Assistance," Think Progress, March 1, 2011

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