The Republican campaign for
austerity makes educators and
students, as well as millions of others, the victims in a strategy to make the middle class and the poor pay for the
excesses of the banking /economic crisis.
California schools have just begun to
recover from 4 years of extreme budget austerity and recklessness at the state
level. It would take at least 3 years
to return to normal. Now,
the federal sequester will impose new cuts on school districts which receive
federal funds- such as Title I, and Migrant Education. The Obama Administration estimates that California schools will lose about $88 million this year. The vast majority of schools and districts will not be
directly affected until the 2013–14 school year because of the “forward funded”
nature of federal education spending. However, when children have less food to eat, don't receive their vaccinations and lack medical care, schools suffer.
From
the Coalition on Human Needs
“The Sequester’s Beginnings. Congress
included sequestration – or across-the-board cuts in all but a number of
exempted programs – in its deficit reduction legislation, the Budget Control
Act of 2011.
The law set 10 years of appropriations caps, projected to
save about $1.5 trillion through FY 2021. Congress was supposed to agree
on a plan to reduce the deficit another $1.2 trillion, which could be achieved
by a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. To force itself
to act, Congress included an enforcer – automatic cuts that would kick in if
Congress could not agree on a plan. Those cuts would be split 50-50
between Pentagon and domestic/international programs.
Congress had more than a year to come up with an
alternative to cuts that would hit WIC nutrition, Head Start, public housing,
unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, education, environmental
and consumer protection, medical research, job training, air traffic and food
safety, and a whole lot more. The President and Congressional Democrats
called for new revenues to play a part in replacing these cuts.
Congressional Republican leaders said no.
The House leadership pointed to legislation it had
passed twice in 2012 to replace the sequester – which slashed SNAP/food stamps,
Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, federal employee benefits, the Child Tax
Credit and other services. House leaders said they would not do anything
else, and would await action by the Senate.”
The
Republican Party used its majority in the House of Representatives (Congress)
to force a budget sequester. This month sequester is the strategy to impose
austerity.
In economics austerity is the
policy of reducing government spending by cutting social services such
as health care, education, food assistance, and other welfare assistance. At the federal level, Republicans and some Democrats seek austerity by cutting social
Security and Medicare. This week the
Republicans insisted on massive
budget cuts known as the sequester.
By any name, these cuts are bad.
In the current economic crisis, the governments of Ireland, Greece,
Italy, the UK, Spain and Portugal have implemented austerity programs and cut
their budgets creating more unemployment and making the recessions in these countries worse.
Austerity
policies can be counter-productive because reduced government spending increases unemployment and thus cost
more money for unemployment insurance and
food assistance. These cut
backs make the recession worse and
last longer.
While
unemployment remains high and economic growth slow, government policy should not impose austerity measures which reduce essential public safety programs for the middle and working classes and that shred the social safety net for the most
vulnerable. Rather, government policy should prioritize public investments in
job creation, public education and healthcare reform, while raising essential
revenues by taxing the large corporations and the wealthiest citizens who can afford to pay.
2 comments:
Study my Letter on Diana@Philosophyinaction.com.
Stop referring to their Deliberately Raising The Deficit as "Reducing the Deficit"!!!
Stop claiming that a measly 2 1/3% budget cut produces "Horrible Austerity"!!!
Stop claiming that if they SAY they're putting Caps on their FUTURE SPENDING, that saves huge amounts of$!!!
The so-called "federal government" is not only Bankrupt, It's Head- Over- Heels In Debt, & Operating Way In The Red, & It Has A Huge, & Increasing, Budget Deficit. There's virtually zero $ for anything whatsoever.
(Instead of searching for Crazy Inbox, try June 5, 2012 p=6498.)
Thanks for the post. Note. Most of your post refers to items I did not say. I guess that you are posting this around the web on articles about the sequester.
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