Untitled Document
In a shocking but nevertheless unsurprising maneuver, U.S. House Republicans
are attempting to introduce a bill
that will inflict serious hardship on the already precarious existence of
the nation's 37 million poor. In a multi-pronged attack the Republicans have
targeted the safety net that the nation's children and those living in poverty
rely on.
Programs targeted include food stamps, school lunch programs, student aid for
college, child support enforcement, Medicaid for children, disabled and the
elderly. Also day care subsidies for the working poor and all assistance of
any sort to legal immigrants is to be eliminated in the GOP's plan. There appears
to be a direct correlation between this attack on the nation's poor and the
impending tax cuts to be handed to the rich, a sort of reverse Robin Hood program.
The breakdown of the cuts proposed are $12 billion in Medicaid cuts, $14 billion
in cuts to student aid and loan programs, $4 billion from child support enforcement,
$844 million will be cut from food stamps, and day care subsidies are to be
eliminated.
One does not have to look hard to find concrete examples of the impact of these
proposed policy changes. A Muskegon Heights, MI schoolteacher claimed in a recent
conversation that the school lunch provided for poor students is the only meal
many children receive throughout the day. This is a likely reality throughout
the country. Another area of impact concerning children is the new proposal
that Congress would require co-payments or premiums to be charged to every child
under Medicaid whenever they visit a doctor, receive prescription medicine,
or have to stay in a hospital. This new reality may result in second thoughts
by some parents or care givers in deciding on urgent health care needs for their
children.
Cuts in student aid will, no doubt, reduce the numbers of poorer Americans
from attending college or university, thereby limiting their potential to advance
their education and causing a further stratification of society. The elimination
of child support enforcement also reveals the phony nature of the "family
values" party, giving the nod and thumbs up sign to dead beat dads.
Food stamp cuts will negatively impact about 300,000 working poor and immigrants,
rolling back the welcome wagon of the "land of the free and the home of
the brave."
The ending of day care subsidies will impact 330,000 children of the working
poor -- all this in time for Christmas.
If these proposals go through, there will be more than $50 billion in spending
cuts, with simultaneous tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
The Republicans called these proposals "tough choices." In reality
they were very specific, targeted choices in a war on the poor. The underlying
message to the poor is: "We don’t give a damn about you." These
Republican actions could cause a shift in control of the House and the Senate
next year and in '08, if the poor, and those who care about them, will vote.
Brian McAfee lives in Michigan and can be reached at:
brimac6@hotmail.com.
