This week — probably Thursday, October 5th — the House of Representatives is expected to take up the Budget Resolution approved by the House Budget Committee. They’re doing it to fast-track trillions of dollars in tax cuts that will overwhelmingly go to the wealthy and corporations. The budget pays for these tax cuts by cutting $5.7 trillion over ten years from essential services: everything from Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP/food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for poor elderly and people with disabilities, tax credits for low-income workers, K-12 and college education assistance, housing aid, public health services, medical research, environmental and consumer protections, and most other domestic programs.
Take Action! Tell your Representative NO
Vote NO on the House budget: it slashes trillions from Medicaid, Medicare, food and income assistance, education, housing and more,to pay for tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
On Tuesday – Thursday, October 3rd, 4th, & 5th:
Call Your Representative and Say NO.
Call 1-888-516-5820*
(Enter your zip code and you’ll be connected to your Representative)
*Thanks to the Communications Workers of America for the use of this toll-free number
Why you should care about the Budget Resolution – and why your call is so important:
- If the House and Senate can agree on a budget resolution, they can approve fast-track rules for tax cuts (and the House proposes to fast-track some spending cuts too) so that these bills (called “reconciliation” bills) can be passed with only a simple majority in the Senate. That means they can do it without any Democratic votes if most Republicans vote for the bill.
- The budget itself is pretty vague — it does not include all the details of proposed tax or spending cuts but tells certain committees to come back with legislation that Congress will take up later.
- The House Budget sets up bad priorities:
- It makes $4.4 trillion in cuts over 10 years to basic entitlement programs (such as Medicaid, Medicare, TANF, SNAP, SSI, college aid), of which $203 billion are fast-tracked.
- It also cuts $1.3 trillion over 10 years in domestic appropriations (for housing, K-12 education, child care, etc. In 2027 domestic appropriations would drop to 44 percent below their levels in FY 2010, taking inflation into account – the lowest level since before the Depression in the 1930’s.
- If the Budget Resolution passes and includes tax cuts for the rich and service cuts for the rest of us that can be enacted with a simple majority in the Senate, it makes it far more likely that these upside-down priorities can become law.
- But even if Congress does not fast-track the spending cuts, tax cuts that deepen the deficit will over time create more and more pressure to cut vital services.
Please tell your Representative to oppose the Budget Resolution. For more background on what’s in the Budget Resolution approved by the House Budget Committee, click here.