This article originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

January 16, 2006

Ted Boettner

House budget proposal hides tax cuts for wealthy

A COUPLE of weeks ago, with help by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the U.S. House of Representatives barely passed (217-215) a devastating budget reconciliation bill that, if signed into law, would severely hurt West Virginia families.

Under the guise of reducing the federal deficit to pay for the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina and her relatives, this bill contains $50 billion in spending cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, student loans and other vital government services. Its real purpose is to pay for $70 billion in more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

These cuts will cause an estimated 70,000 Americans to lose health-care coverage, add $8 billion in cost to student borrowers and their families, and halt food stamps for an estimated 300,000 people. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this bill will cause 40,000 children to be thrown out of the school lunch program.

If a budget is a statement of a nation’s priorities, this one speaks volumes about the misplaced priorities of Congress and Capito. It comes at a time when 37 million Americans live in poverty (including 27 percent of West Virginia children), when the number of people lacking health insurance has reached an all-time high (295,000 in West Virginia), when the gap between rich and poor is widening, and when one in six households with children experienced hunger or risk of hunger in 2004.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, public opinion stands in stark contrast to the concerns of Congress and Capito. The survey found that “a 54 percent majority chose reducing spending on the war in Iraq as the best way to pay for relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.”

In addition, 17 percent chose raising taxes, 15 percent favored increasing the budget deficit and just 6 percent supported reducing spending on domestic programs such as education and health care.

According to a recent report by the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities, West Virginians stand to lose an estimated $84.4 million in Medicaid cuts; $83.2 million from food stamps; and $53.3 million from child care, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and other low-income initiatives.

Despite college tuition increasing at its largest rate in decades, the proposed student aid cuts would increase by $6,000 the amount an average student would have to repay. There are more than 49,000 West Virginia students receiving student aid and a majority of them come from middle-income families.

Despite the harmful effects of these budget cuts to West Virginia’s low-income and middle-class families, Capito was quoted as saying “this budget reflects our national priorities.” Capito went on to say, “Voting for the budget is voting for savings and eliminating waste in government programs. Cutting taxes leads to a stronger economy; a stronger economy helps reduce the deficit.”

Capito should remember that during the Reagan period, cutting taxes for the rich led to larger deficits, higher interest rates and lower economic growth — and the Bush tax cuts have given us more of the same.

However, the most deceiving aspect of these immoral spending cuts is that they don’t reduce the deficit. In fact, the House budget bill increases the deficit by $20 billion. The spending cuts of $50 billion are being used to pay for a second reconciliation bill containing $70 billion in tax cuts that will soon be considered by the House. While the congressional leadership is trying to confuse the public by delaying the $70 billion tax cut for a few weeks, the net result will be an increase in the deficit of $20 billion.

Similar to the recent debate about “reforming” Social Security, this legislation goes to the very heart of what kind of community we want to live in. In brief, do we care if the person down the street has medical care and something to eat, or is our moral compassion such that people are purely out for themselves and the idea of community responsibility nonexistent? It’s long been a West Virginia value to show concern for our neighbors and look out for one another, but this budget bill reflects nothing of the sort.

The good news is that Capito can still save face when Congress reconvenes to reconcile the Senate and House bills. After the differences are resolved between the bills, it will come back to each body for a final vote. This is when Rep. Capito can show the people of West Virginia what redemption is about and vote against any bill that will hurt West Virginia families.

Boettner is federal issues coordinator for West Virginia Citizen Action Group