SC Connecticut News

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) today released the following statement following passage of House Republicans’ harmful debt default and cuts bill:

“Preventing default is an obligation Congress has. But my Republican colleagues have voted instead to hold the economy hostage, link it to the annual appropriations process, and cut funding for the critical programs that serve American families and our veterans.

“The thing is, now that they passed these devastating cuts, they have to somehow figure out how to get the bipartisan, bicameral votes they need to actually pass appropriations bills. They know well that we cannot and will not pass the 12 appropriations bills at these levels.

“According to House Republicans, the price of averting a catastrophic default is drastic cuts to these programs in 2024 and severe caps for the next 10 years—10 years of cuts for less than one year of preventing a default. They do not want to just return nondefense programs to the 2022 level. They want to slash these programs by at least 22 percent, taking us back years. It would amount to the biggest cut to nondefense programs in history.

“This bill would be devastating. It would take child care and Head Start away from 300,000 children, cut nutrition services for more than 1 million seniors, increase heating and cooling costs for 5 million households, and force 80,000 people out of college. It puts veterans’ health and wellbeing at immediate risk by delaying access to the health care and benefits they have earned, and it would continue to slash the programs that veterans depend on in each of the next 10 years.

“Caps are cuts, and cuts of this magnitude would be devastating. I will never stop fighting for the programs that serve American children, families, seniors, veterans, and rural communities.”

Issues: Budget Jobs and the Economy

Original source can be found here.