United Church of Christ Action Alert
Thanks to House and Senate members who stood up for balanced and effective budget rules, congressional leaders have thus far been unable to finalize the FY 2005 budget resolution. Now that Congress is back from its spring recess, they are back to negotiating and once again cuts for human services hang in the balance.
The Senate version (S Con Res 95) contains key principles that the House version (H Con Res 393) does not. One key difference is the "pay-as-you-go" rule in the Senate that is designed to thwart efforts to make the 2001 tax cuts for the wealthy permanent features of future budgets. The Senate version also opposes the $2.2 billion in cuts to Medicaid included in the House version and protects up to $13 billion from proposed cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit and other entitlement programs in the budget given to Congress by President Bush.
Join a national call-in with the UCC and a coalition of over 500 national organizations by calling your member of Congress toll-free (1-888-508-2974) on Wednesday April 21st from 9am-5pm EST. Urge them to include these principles in the FY05 Budget Conference Report:
- The final agreement must not include cuts to Medicaid or other entitlement programs.
- The final agreement must require that new tax cuts be paid for with the Senate's "pay-as-you-go" rule.
- The final agreement must not include the $100 billion in cuts over 5 years in programs serving low and middle income people that is in both the House and the Senate version.
- The final agreement must not include new tax cuts for the wealthy, especially if they are not paid for fairly and sensibly.
