WAR! On Head Start, LIHEAP, Legal Aid, WIC, Pell grants, community health centers.....

[Bluebear]

Stop budget hawks' war on the poor
by Hal Cohen
Mar. 18, 2011

If you haven't been following the current budget debate in Congress, you may end up getting a big surprise in a few weeks, when services for the needy in Vermont suddenly undergo deep cutbacks. The reason is that the package of current-year cuts passed by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives contains massive cuts to programs that serve many Vermonters, mostly low-income and the working poor.

Take a good look at House Resolution (HR) 1, passed by the House on Feb. 19, which cuts, among other programs: Head Start, LIHEAP, Legal Aid, WIC, Pell grants, community health centers and the Community Services Block Grant, which funds poverty relief services through community action agencies. And what do these programs have in common? Why, they serve the poor. From the elderly to those newly born, these programs are key threads in America's social safety net. And for those who may be merely hanging on by a thread, their lifeline has just been slashed.

Poverty can happen to anyone, after all. And in a down economy -- when good jobs are harder to come by and costs just keep going up -- one illness, or one job loss, or one tough year can send someone over the line from "getting by" to "struggling." Programs directed toward low-income people are designed to help people move back to "doing okay," even during hard times....

But this budget shreds that safety net. With a snip here and a sharp cut there, the strands that tie this web of support together are separated. The loss of federal funding for these programs will radically reshape the landscape for low-income Vermonters, leaving them with weaker support systems and fewer pathways out of poverty. The War on Poverty, begun by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, ends here -- not with a celebration of success, or a bold new strategy, but as a byproduct of a political exercise that doesn't even begin to solve our deficit woes.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110318/OPINION02/103180320/My-Turn-Stop-budget-hawks-war-poor?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Front%20Page|s

[LAGC]

1. We don't have money for any of that frivolous stuff.

But we do have plenty of money to blow on hundreds of cruise missiles at $600K a pop.

:sarcasm:

[freshwest]

2. Yup, there are new evildoers everyday! We gotta bomb Quack Daffy! The Duck must be stopped!

:banghead:

[ErikJ]

3. Let them eat cake.

We have to keep our job creators happy. The little people will have to suffer.

[Bluebear]

7. .

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. If we thought we were broke before.....

now that we're AT WAR, we'll NEVER have money for what we need. EVER.

[lonestarnot]

6. !

K & R

[Aerows]

8. But but but...

...we have to support the defense contractors! Bombing people in other countries is MUCH more important than people here in our own country.

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[Bonobo]

10. We just fired a year's worth of heating assistance at Libya. nt

[Bluebear]

11. +

[Jakes Progress]

12. Yeah, but what good does a Pell Grant do for Raytheon.

The corporations must be served. Defense contractors need gold fixtures in the guest bathroom at the lake house. Where is your humanity?