Congress Considers Cuts to Vital Services and More Tax Cuts
National Women's Law Center
As was reported in the May 4th E-Update, the 2006 Congressional budget resolution includes instructions to cut (through the reconciliation process) at least $34.7 billion over the next five years to vital supports like Medicaid and Food Stamps and to provide additional tax cuts of $70 billion over the same period of time. This fall, Congress will consider both of these bills – which could require the deepest sacrifices of low-income women and their families while expanding tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations.
Not later than September 16, several House and Senate committees, including the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, which have jurisdiction over Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), and the Earned Income Credit and other vital supports for vulnerable women and their families, must report out bills that cut spending by at least $34.7 billion over the next five years. If committees fail to write bills that meet their spending cut targets by this date, the House and Senate budget committees will do it for them.
