Budget battle puts Medicaid, student aid at risk

Moderate Republicans are balking in the congressional budget reconciliation battle over balancing the nation’s books on the backs of the less fortunate. Thanks in part to aggressive AFT lobbying inside and outside the Beltway, it’s an outcome politicians find unpalatable.

Much of the battle has focused around a budget reconciliation package that was moving through the House of Representatives as AFT On Campus went to press. Critics question the House leadership’s efforts to cut $50 billion from programs for the nation’s most vulnerable while pushing a new round of reckless tax cuts.

Children, nursing home patients, disabled individuals and low-income working families would bear the brunt of the $11.8 billion Medicaid cut included in the House budget bill.

Also at risk are students entering college and their families. Cuts in several major student loan programs could total more than $14 billion and result in an average increase of $5,800 in loan interest payments.

Standing to gain, of course, would be the wealthiest Americans, who would reap the bulk of benefits under the $70 billion in tax cuts contained in a companion bill moving through the House. 

In a key break from the past, however, this package of draconian cuts in critical programs combined with lavish tax breaks is giving many moderate Republicans pause. Several lawmakers also point out that spending cuts would be more than offset by tax breaks—increasing the federal deficit by another $20 billion at a time of unprecedented demands on the nation.

At press time, several GOP House members indicated they were ready to stand with Democrats, who are solidly against the GOP leadership’s budget package. The shift prompted a flurry of last-minute amendments designed to salvage the House budget bill.

The AFT at every level has lobbied aggressively for a new direction in Congress that puts working families and children ahead of tax breaks for the rich.

The AFT’s legislative team in Washington, D.C., visited more than 110 GOP offices in the days preceding the vote to lobby against deep domestic cuts and school voucher initiatives. In addition, the union’s legislative action center generated almost 8,000 letters and e-mails and hundreds of phone calls to Capitol Hill offices.

As the budget fight heads into December, AFT members are urged to visit AFT Online (www.aft.org) and click on the legislative action center for new updates and ways to make your voice heard.

Labor wins on prevailing wages
Under bipartisan pressure, President Bush reversed his Sept. 8 suspension of wage protections for workers hired for construction projects in Gulf Coast hurricane-affected areas. The AFL-CIO mobilized an intense grass-roots campaign to restore worker rights under the 74-year-old Davis-Bacon Act, which requires companies awarded federal construction contracts to pay prevailing wages.

In a statement, AFT president Edward J. McElroy said he is pleased that President Bush is reversing “his earlier, misguided decision,” adding that he hopes this “sends a message to those seeking to make the Gulf region a laboratory for anti-worker policies.”