The Republican Spending Cut Bill - Like Their Budget - Makes the Wrong Choices for America
Dec 20, 2012
The Republican bill (H.R. 6684) protects special interest tax breaks but slashes health care for kids, food and nutrition assistance for struggling families, and vital safety net programs.
- Keeps in place the 2 percent cut to Medicare under the upcoming sequester.
- Eliminates health care coverage for at least 300,000 kids on the Children's Health Insurance Program.
- Reduces food and nutrition assistance to every household receiving SNAP benefits almost immediately – and over 20 million beneficiaries are kids.
- Denies nearly 300,000 children school meals, on top of losing the benefits that provide food at home.
- Zeroes out the Social Services Block Grant, which helps 23 million children, seniors, and people with disabilities become self-sufficient and economically independent.
- This grant funds programs like Meals on Wheels, prevention of child abuse, and child care for working parents.
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Repeals the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which supports things like cancer screenings for women and immunizations.
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326,000 women would not get the breast cancer screenings and 284,000 women would not get the cervical cancer screenings they are slated to receive in 2013.
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Democrats offered a fair and balanced approach
- Earlier this year, Democrats proposed to replace the sequester with a responsible combination of cuts to agriculture subsidies and revenues from cutting taxpayer subsidies for big oil companies and asking the wealthiest to share greater responsibility in reducing the deficit.
- Not only did Republicans not support that plan, they blocked it from having a vote on the House floor.
- The President has proposed a balanced approach to deficit reduction that would replace the entire ten-year sequester.