Call your Senators and Representative TODAY!!! Vote on Budget Reconciliation Imminent!

The information contained in this alert is based on reports received as of this morning Friday, Dec. 15. These reports have not been fully confirmed. A meeting of the House-Senate conferees on the budget reconciliation final report which had been rumored for today has been rescheduled for Monday. In fact, conferees are yet to be officially named.

The controversial Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) provision that has held up the budget reconciliation process (the Senate bill included it and the House did not) may be put in the Defense appropriations bill. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has threatened to keep the Senate in session until the matter (ANWR) is resolved. “I will be here through Christmas if necessary,” he said. And he will not sign the budget reconciliation conference report until this issue is resolved. Thus, the budget reconciliation report may be dependent on completion of the $453 billion FY 06 Defense spending bill. [Note: the Defense bill is likely to contain a one percent across-the-board cut in most domestic discretionary spending.] Also, Senate Democrats are prepared to raise procedural obstacles and stall the bill if necessary.

So it is imperative that you call your Senators and Representative TODAY and tell them to vote NO on the final version of the budget cuts (HR 4241 and S 1932). Any way you look at it, the end result is cuts in funding to programs that serve people with disabilities and other low-income persons, including children.

The really unfortunate story in this whole process is that it is NOT our concerns – cuts to Medicaid, SSI, foster care, food stamps, student loans, child support, cost-sharing for Medicaid beneficiaries – that are driving this train. Issues like ANWR and how much of an increase in Medicare fees to give physicians are taking center-stage. The only way OUR concerns will be given the priority they deserve is if members of Congress, particularly those doing this negotiating, hear from US!

CALL NOW 800-426-8073

Tell your Senators and Representative to vote NO on this final version of budget cuts!