For
Immediate Release
Contact:
November 14, 2005
Gloria Lanyon
(719) 481-6012
5:00pm
Margaret Schuster (719) 471-1499
Local activists challenge
Representative Hefley on budget reconciliation bill
Colorado Springs, November 14, 2005 -- Local activists will take part in a
MoveOn.org national day of challenges
to Senators and Representatives and the "Reverse Robin Hood" budget bill,
with a press conference at the offices of Joel Hefley, 104 South Cascade,
at 12, noon on Wednesday, November 16. Speakers, including Elizabeth Fineron,
Katherine Fatica, and Jocelyn Vaughan will address the $50 Billion in budget
cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and student loans.
Katherine Fatica, victim of a genetic disability, responded to the $11.9
Billion proposed cuts in Medicaid by saying, "I get $615 a month to live
on and the House bill will cut that by $88.50, leaving me with $536!" "I have
to see my doctor 8 times a month", she continued, "and that costs $30 for
each visit, totaling $240 more." "That's one of the invisible issues underneath
this bill," she pointed out.
"I'm trapped", she explained, "because if I make just $5 more per month, I'll
be ineligible, and they'll take in all away!"
Katherine is not alone. The $11.9
Billion in Medicaid cuts will effect 438,670 people in Colorado,
including 237,067 children, 66,272 disabled, and 47,566 elderly.
Student loans will be cut by $14.3
Billion nationwide, effecting 123,249 people
in Colorado alone.
Colorado College student, Jocelyn Vaughan, remarked, "I'm
outraged at Republicans like Representative John A. Boehner, the chairman
of the House Education and Workforce Committee pushing to cut student loans!"
"It is economic apartheid on the poor," she continued, "to limit their potential
for an acceptable standard of living by financial limitations on higher education."
The Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities says "Even though poverty, food insecurity, and and the number
of people lacking health insurance have all been rising, the House bill would
ask low income families to shoulder a large share of the budget cutting burden,
leaving them with less access to needed healthcare and basic food aid."
The budget reconciliation bill will also cut $844 million
from the food stamps program effecting 241,780 people in
Colorado alone. The House version cuts $4.9 Billion from child support
enforcement, which will cost $7.1 Billion in payments not collected.
Empty plates with all these budget cut figures and other statements on them
will be presented to Representative Hefley for his Thanksgiving dinner.
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