Your calls made a difference last week. $50 billion was NOT cut from programs important to people with disabilities and to others who live in poverty, including children. But we can't declare victory yet! Keep those calls coming. You DO make a difference!

Call your representative this week at 800-426-8073.
Tell your representative to vote “NO” on this bill (HR 4241).
The vote may happen at any time Thursday through Saturday!

According to an article in CQ on Tuesday, Nov. 15, by Steven T. Dennis: “House GOP leaders will not set a vote on a budget savings plan until Nov. 17 at the earliest, and face the tough task of reducing the package’s scope to win votes of moderates without alienating fiscal conservatives…If the package shrinks too much, some conservatives may balk at voting for it. And if it does not shrink enough, moderates will continue to resist.” Rumor is that the House may be in session through Saturday if necessary to get this bill voted on.

Democratic House Representatives have remained firm in their opposition to this legislation. Democratic leaders used terms such as “morally wrong” and “corrupt” to describe the budget package which they said would deprive the neediest to fund tax cuts for the richest. In the CQ article, Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition stated: “It is hard to rally support for a spending cut labeled the ‘Deficit Reduction Act of 2005’ when it will be followed by a tax cut that, by the same logic, should be labeled the ‘Deficit Increase Act of 2005.’” Deficit watchdog groups have pointed to the companion $70 billion tax cut package (HR 4297) as sapping support for the spending reduction. Meetings on both these issues – spending and tax cuts – are being held in Congress all this week.

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released last week showed that 75% of the Medicaid cuts are coming from beneficiaries and 50% of the cost sharing increases are on children. The CBO concluded that “flexibility” language in the Medicaid revisions would reduce benefits for 2.5 million enrollees in 2010 and by 2015, that total would climb to 5 million enrollees or about 8% of the Medicaid population.

The most extreme and cruel cuts and other provisions in this legislation include:

1. $12 billion in Medicaid cuts that would invite states to impose (and enforce) health care co-payments and workfare increases on the poor, including people with disabilities and children, while dropping preventive medical care.
2. The "look back" period for seniors who transfer assets was lengthened from three to five years.
3. $14 billion from the underpinnings of some of the most vital student aid and loan programs.
4. $4 billion from efforts to enforce child support – a successful program with a four-to-one return on investment.
5. $844 million in food stamp cuts, knocking close to 300,000 working poor and legal immigrants from the program.
6. The elimination of day care subsidies for an estimated 330,000 children of the working poor.

Not included in the House bill are provisions for Money Follows the Person or the Family Opportunity Act. This bill could worsen the institutional bias that already exists in Medicaid. Section 3131 of the House bill, entitled Expanded Access to Home and Community-based Services for the Elderly and Disabled, permits states to cap enrollment, maintain waiting lists and provide services in only certain parts of the state -- all of which are not disability friendly.

Another section, 3132, called Optional Choice of Self-Directed Personal Assistance Services (Cash and Counseling) is also somewhat risky. Both the Clinton and Bush Administrations have taken positive steps to promote self-direction of services. Research has shown that cash and counseling programs may make people happier with the services they receive, but they have not saved money. By promoting these programs without addressing the risks for people with disabilities, there is the potential of actually harming individuals with disabilities.

CALL TODAY!! 800-426-8073