Against Budget Reconciliation (the Deficit Reduction Act)

On November 18, 2005 at 1:39 a.m., I voted against H.R. 4241, the misleadingly-named Deficit Reduction Act, registering my strong objections to a hurtful piece of legislation that would cut food stamps, Medicaid, child support enforcement, raise the cost of going to college for poor and middle-class Americans.

The Budget Reconciliation bill would cut $12.7 billion from student loan aid, $6.9 billion from Medicaid and CHIP, $6.4 billion from Medicare, and $1.5 billion from child support, among other programs. Meanwhile, accompanying Tax Reconciliation legislation would wipe out the savings of the budget bill and significantly increase the national debt.

I wrote letters to Republican committee chairmen urging that they not penalize hardworking Americans with these cuts. Unfortunately, they did. As they have shown the propensity to in the past, Republican leadership strong-armed their way to legislative victory. The bill passed the House in the early morning hours, 217-215, only after a Tom DeLay-style effort to twist the arms of hesitant moderate Republicans. The Democrats were united in opposition to the cuts to essential programs.

The Senate made minimal changes to the Budget Reconciliation Act, which required the House of Representatives to again vote on the bill. I also voted against the revised Budget Reconciliation Act on February 1, although it unfortunately passed by a vote of 216-214.