Members of Congress will face some big choices in the coming months. The upcoming round of negotiations will include decisions on: whether tax cuts for wealthy hosueholds will be allowed to expire; whether to halt across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to hit programs such as affordable housing and early childhood education in January; and whether to continue key expansions in the earned income and child tax credits that lifted 1.6 million people in working families out of poverty in 2011.
The Coalition on Human Needs
composed a letter to Congress that details the consequences of congressional inaction. According to the letter, if Congress fails to stop across-the-board cuts:
- 750,000 fewer infants, toddlers, and moms will get critical nutrition assistance.
- More than 460,000 adults and youth will lose employment and training services, including 51,000 veterans.
- 734,000 households will lose access to home heating and cooling assistance.
- 1.8 million fewer low-income schoolchildren will get reading and math help.
Each of these numbers represents people whose potential we can’t afford to lose.
Please help educate members of Congress about the important value of these programs. If you represent an organization, you can
sign the Coalition on Human Needs’ sign-on letter here to add your voice to the hundreds of organizations calling on Congress to embrace the following principles: Protect low-income and vulnerable people; promote job creation to strengthen the economy; increase revenues from fair sources; and seek responsible savings by targeting wasteful spending in the Pentagon and in other areas that do not serve the public interest. If you’re an individual,
contact your member of Congress directly and urge them to stand up for struggling families.
From our friends at Half in Ten and the Coalition on Human Needs
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