Economist agree. This isn’t the time for cuts. This is a time for investments in public infrastructure and stimulus. The only people who think the current jihad on jobs is a good idea are residents of the DC bubble like Senator Tom Carper.
To help try and penetrate the bubble a little bit, the letter below, signed by 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, Americans for Democratic Action, the Newark branch of the NAACP, the Delaware branch of the National Organization for Women, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the Delaware State AFL-CIO was delivered to Senator Carper at his offices yesterday. The photo provides a tidy summary of what the SEIU and other organizations calling for budgetary sanity are up against.
Dear Senator Carper:
In the November election, Americans delivered a mandate: Fix the economy by strengthening the middle class and working families. Our country has come a long way since the worst of the recession, but far too many families are still struggling to make it.
As you consider urgent budget decisions over the next seven weeks, our highest priority is job creation and economic growth, and not devastating cuts that will cripple our recovery. The best way to reduce the deficit is to put people back to work and accelerate our recovery.
When you consider these proposals, we urge you to:
- Support policies that lift up middle class and working families by investing in good jobs, education, and infrastructure;
- Support policies that require the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share, starting with ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%;
- Oppose cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Head Start and other programs, as these cuts will hurt our economy and shift costs to the states;
- Oppose cuts to safety net and vital services for low-income people.
Working families have already sacrificed to reduce the deficit. Federal spending was cut by $1.5 trillion in the first round of deficit reduction negotiated in 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Sixty percent of those cuts came from programs important to our families such as education, food safety, environmental protection and law enforcement.
To achieve more deficit reduction – or to make additional investments in jobs and services to rebuild our economy – lawmakers must raise more revenues from the upper-income earners who have enjoyed years of tax breaks and loopholes. That means their income tax rates need to be increased – not decreased, as some in Congress propose.
We would be happy to discuss with you other such options that are based on the principle that it is time for the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
