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This week, the Republican led Congress continued efforts to slash funding
to Medicaid, student loans, food stamps, and other important programs that
directly and adversely impact the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.
Congress has been instructed to make these cuts as part of the $35 billion
in the House budget reconciliation bill.
This year’s budget includes over $70 billion in tax cuts. It’s
about priorities. Tax cuts are being provided for the wealthy while
important programs that directly impact the poor, the disabled, and the
elderly are being slashed.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce was directed to cut at least
$10 billion directly from Medicaid, a program which provides critical health
care services for low-income children, the elderly, and the disabled.
Recent numbers indicate that there are 717,000 Medicaid recipients in Arkansas,
or one in five people. Over half of Arkansas’s children are on Medicaid
or have received Medicaid services this year and eight out of ten seniors
in Arkansas nursing homes are on Medicaid.
The Committee on Education and the Workforce has proposed $14.3 billion
in cuts, the largest cut the federal student aid program has ever seen.
These proposed cuts were made by raising the student loan interest rate
cap, raising taxes on student loans, and raising interest rates on consolidation
loans. According to the United States Department of Education, over
58,000 people in Arkansas with student loans will be adversely affected.
The House Agriculture Committee has cut $3.7 billion, including $844
million from food stamps, a $734 million reduction in conservation programs,
over $1 billion from Farm Commodity Support Programs, and $620 million
in Rural Development Programs. With this summer’s drought and the
devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this is simply not the
time to be cutting critical funding for our farm families who produce our
nation’s food and fiber.
America subscribes to a system of government of the people, by the people,
and for the people. Our first and foremost responsibility is
to take care of and respond to the needs of our citizens. It is our
responsibility, as lawmakers and citizens, to help those who need it most.
We must not slash funding for programs that directly affect our nation’s
poor, the disabled, and the elderly while providing $70 billion in tax
cuts to our nation’s wealthiest citizens. As your Representative
in the United States Congress, I will always side with the hard-working
families of Arkansas. |
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