WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) issued the following statement today on Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to dismantle the social safety net. DeLauro is the Senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. DeLauro spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives about Chairman Ryan’s budget this evening. Her remarks can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/user/RosaDeLauro

“A rose is a rose is a rose. Once again Chairman Ryan has come forward with what he and the Republican Majority purport to be a serious plan for addressing poverty in America. And once again, the centerpiece of his plan is the same old bad idea. Chairman Ryan wants to dismantle all of the major federal anti-poverty programs that have long been proven to work for families in need. He wants to convert them into a block grant for the states. He now calls them Opportunity Grants. That is a message. It sounds good. They are block grants, pure and simple, that puts all of the decisions in the hands of the states, cut the funding, takes all the safeguards out and frays the social safety net. They have been consistent about this year after year after year.

“Seventeen years ago then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said we need to block grant the food stamp program, Medicaid and a variety of safety net programs. It is the same failed poverty, over and over again. Food Stamps helped lift five million Americans above the poverty line in 2012, 2.2 million of them children. Every single dollar invested in Food Stamps generates $1.79 in local economic activity. But what would Chairman Ryan do? He would end Food Stamps, our nation’s most important anti-hunger initiative, in favor of a block grant, just like he would end LIHEAP [Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program], Child Care Funds, Weatherization Assistance, Public Housing, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Community Development Grants and Dislocated Worker grants. 

“If you read his report it is almost diabolical in the sense that the language that’s used. And it’s language. And it’s a message. And it does nothing to provide opportunity or to help the poor in this country.

“There’s some good parts of his anti-poverty plan, like expanding the EITC for childless workers. But even that issue is infected by these bad ideas. To pay for this EITC expansion, already introduced by the Democratic party, Mr. Ryan would end programs like the Social Services Block Grant, which helps roughly 23 million Americans – half of them children – with child care assistance, child abuse prevention, and community-based care for seniors and disabled persons. He also wants to end the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which reaches over 115,000 students in 14 states with healthy food. And then he will decry people on food stamps and say they are picking the wrong foods for their families.

“What have we come to here? What is this harshness, this mean-spiritedness that’s come over our public policy?

“For over a year now, Chairman Ryan has tried to pretend that he that wants to put forth serious proposals to alleviate poverty in America. But the proof is in the pudding. Look at his most recently proposed budget. Two-thirds of the cuts in that budget fall on low- and middle-income families. It tries to turn Medicare into an underfunded voucher program, shreds our Social Safety net, block grants Food Stamps and Medicaid, and slashes WIC [Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children] by $595 million.

“It cuts spending that we do every year on health issues, worker training and education. He tries to cut that spending by $791 billion over the next ten year. It slashes child care assistance, job training program, Pell Grants and medical research. I’m a cancer survivor who’s alive because of the grace of God and biomedical research. Why shouldn’t other people have the advantage of biomedical research? Why would he want to cut this? And he does it all while cutting taxes for the wealthiest.

“I am glad to see that Chairman Ryan at least recognizes that he and his party need to be doing more to help end poverty and hunger in our nation. I hope we can engage in a constructive dialogue on issues like the EITC expansion and sentencing reform. And if Chairman Ryan and the Republican Majority want to get serious about helping families in need, they can start tomorrow, they need to make sure their Republican Child Tax Credit bill, so generous to those who can afford it, they need to make sure that helps  low-income kids as well. That bill tomorrow will cut the child tax credit for 450,000 veterans. What are our veterans doing? They are serving, they are sacrificing, and he wants to cut their Child Tax Credit. That’s what’s in there. And then he talks about the deserving poor and the un-deserving poor. Let me ask Chairman Ryan, what about low-income kids, what about them? What about the infants and toddlers? Tell us Mr. Chairman, who are the deserving infants and toddlers and who are the un-deserving infants and toddlers? We need an answer to our question. Our colleagues could join us in raising the minimum wage, something that’s long overdue.

“But until then, actions speak louder than words. And the bulk of this new plan, I am afraid, is the same old snake oil – the same tired, discredited ideological attacks on the social safety net that Chairman Ryan and this Majority have been putting forward, time and again, since coming to power in 2010. It will not wash. It’s harsh, it’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited. That is not why we came to this institution. It’s not why I came. It was the hope and a dream and the opportunity to provide opportunity for the people of this nation, to make this institution do what our founding fathers thought it should do and to give people a chance. This expanding opportunity in America will take away people’s opportunity and the American public knows it.”