WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today on the Republican budget being voted on by the House of Representatives today. DeLauro is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee responsible for funding the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services.

“Yet again, the Republicans have proposed a radical plan that puts all of the burdens on the most vulnerable Americans. It proposes $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and further cuts to other support systems that help low and middle income families. Among them is the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program, which provides critical food benefits to 8.3 million pregnant women, and new moms and their kids. The cuts would result in at least 200,000 women and children would be dropped from the WIC rolls in 2016.

“Despite a benefit cut to food stamp participants last year and a Farm Bill further taking food away from hundreds of thousands of recipients, the budget demonstrates the Republicans true intent to decimate the Food Stamp program. Millions of low-income families would see their benefits cut off, particularly harming the children who account for nearly half of all recipients.

“The Republican budget also cuts 170,000 kids from Head Start and educational services for 3.4 million disadvantaged kids. It cuts Pell Grants by $145 billion, meaning millions of Americans would have a harder time affording a college education.

“It repeals the Affordable Care Act, enabling insurance companies to again charge women more than men. Millions of seniors would immediately be forced to pay more for their medicine. Americans work all their lives, and pay into the system, knowing that they can depend on Medicare when they get older. But this budget aims to end Medicare as we know it, turning it in to a voucher program.

“The list goes on. Meals on Wheels, biomedical research and job training would all suffer. This budget does not reflect America’s values; it is an ideological document that threatens the most vulnerable families, who are already burdened by this tough economy. In fact, 69 percent of the cuts contained in the Ryan budget would come from programs that benefit low and moderate income Americans. This includes children, seniors and veterans. This budget is immoral, it is the wrong direction for our country and we can do better.”