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Monday, January 30, 2006
Budget Bill Vote on Wed.; CBO Releases Cost Estimate
The long-awaited House vote on the Senate-passed budget reconciliation bill is taking place this Wednesday, February 1. The vote is expected to be extremely close, as a handful of moderate Republicans who previously voted for the bill are expected to vote against it this time around. In preparation for the vote the Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities is holding a number of events across the country in order to inform people of the budget cuts and hopefully pressure additional House members to vote against the bill.
You can take action and contact your representative by calling toll-free 1-800-426-8073. Tell them to vote NO on the budget cuts bill.
The conference agreement the House will be voting on (S 1932) would, according to this Congressional Budget Office report, "reduce direct spending by about $39 billion over the 2006-2010 period and by approximately $99 billion over the 2006-2015 period." Passed in tandem with the tax reconciliation bill, however, the savings achieved in this bill become somewhat meaningless, as the bills together would add tens of billions on to the budget deficit. Not to mention, passing harmful budget cuts in order to partially offset tax cuts does not reflect compassionate or responsible priorities on the part of Congress.
Despite any amount of savings the bill may achieve, this "deficit reduction act" is harmful. As Robert Pear points out in an excellent article in today's NY Times, this bill would reduce Medicaid coverage for poor people significantly, as well as increase the number of uninsured individuals. The bill would also significantly cut student loans and crop subsidies, among other priorities. The health care cuts make up half of the savings over ten years.
Posted by Becky Lewis
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