Statement of Linda Meric, Executive Director, 9to5

9to5 strongly opposes the Fiscal Year 2013 budget offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and passed March 29 by the U. S. House of Representatives.

The Ryan budget makes cuts that are extreme and irresponsible — slashing or eliminating many critical services low-income women and families rely on to survive. More than 62% of cuts in the Ryan budget affect programs that serve the hardest-hit Americans.

With millions of families struggling with unemployment, reduced incomes, foreclosures and bankruptcies, the Ryan budget will have a crippling affect on their ability to rebound from the economic crisis. It guts Medicare and Medicaid, and repeals the new Affordable Care Act health care reform law. The Ryan budget makes massive cuts in education, including Pell grants; potentially denying college access to millions of low-income students. It slashes SNAP emergency food assistance, leaving many low-income children and adults hungry. It jeopardizes critical safety net programs, including Head Start, child care, WIC, veterans’ assistance, Community Development Block Grants, and jobs programs.

These cuts go well beyond those that Congress agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011. The Ryan budget calls for significantly higher levels of defense spending, reneging on the deficit reduction deal agreed to last summer, and forcing the outright elimination of many important government functions.

While imposing huge spending cuts that will harm low-income and middle-class Americans, the Ryan budget gives massive tax cuts to corporations and wealthy individuals, and fails to address the revenue side of the budget.

For these reasons, 9to5 strongly opposes the Ryan FY2013 budget.

9to5 calls on Congress to pass a budget that does not harm the most vulnerable Americans, ensures adequate revenue to sustain our economic recovery and invests in the future. We must provide everyone in our country with genuine economic opportunity and the ability to live with dignity.

9to5, and our allies, will continue to lift the voices of low-income women and families to pass a responsible and fair federal budget that will grow our economy and reduce the deficit. Realizing our potential as a nation requires sound investments in education, job training, and human services that make the American Dream available to everyone, not just the 1 percent.

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