An Immoral Budget Proposal

AN IMMORAL BUDGET PROPOSAL -- (House of Representatives - February 08, 2005)

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Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) for reserving the 1 hour of time this evening for the Congressional Black Caucus to make preliminary comments on the President's proposed budget.

When the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Bush on January 26, we presented a CBC agenda that would close disparities and create opportunity. We outlined six areas in which significant barriers exist that prevent African Americans from enjoying the same quality of life as white Americans. We requested the President's support and asked him to demonstrate it both verbally and substantively. Unfortunately, the budget that the President sent to Congress yesterday falls far short of the substantive goals that we hoped the President would have set forth to eliminate disparities.

The first area we presented to the President was in the area of closing the achievement and opportunity gaps in education. In his budget, the President proposes eliminating the Perkins loan program, which provides low-interest loans to low- and middle-income college students. This proposal would have disastrous effects on African American college students, many of whom rely heavily on Federal financial aid programs to offset the cost of obtaining higher education. As it is, African Americans attend college at a lower rate than white Americans. If the President succeeds in his plan to eliminate the Perkins loan program, a college education would simply be unaffordable and unattainable for many African American college students.

African American college enrollment rates are 10 percent lower than white college enrollment rates. College graduation rates are even worse for African American students. Only 46 percent of African American freshmen ever graduate from college, compared to 67 percent of white freshmen. According to the Education Trust, the typical American college or university has a graduation rate gap between white and African American students of over 10 percentage points. A quarter of institutions have a gap of 20 percentage points or more.

In a recent study by the Luna Foundation For Education, the Foundation found that the single most important financial variable influencing whether or not a student will attend college is the amount of need-based financial aid being provided. In spite of these disparities, the President seeks to not only eliminate the Perkins loan program, but he is proposing to eliminate the Gear Up and the TRIO programs as well.

The sole purpose of the Gear Up program, which our Congressional Black Caucus colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) introduced, and the TRIO program, both of those programs are designed to prepare low-income and disadvantaged students for college. In other words, the President, through his budget, wants to eliminate the very programs that would help close the achievement and opportunity gaps in education. In fact, one out of every three programs that the President proposes to cut or eliminate in his budget is in the Department of Education. So the President has not been responsive at all to the CBC agenda in that area.

The second area we outlined to the President was in the area of health care, providing quality health care for every American. The President's proposed budget slashes at least $45 billion from the Medicaid program, which provides health coverage to 50 million low-income children, working families, seniors, and others who would otherwise be uninsured. The President's proposed cuts to Medicaid would have devastating effects on the working poor and would have particularly devastating effects on African Americans.

According to Families USA, African Americans are generally less likely to receive employer-based health care because African Americans are more likely than whites to work in positions where health care benefits are not offered, work for companies, typically small companies, that cannot afford to pay for employee health insurance, and to be unable to afford health insurance premiums when coverage is offered.

The third area we asked the President to respond to was in the area of economic security, building wealth, and business employment. The African American unemployment rate is consistently more than double the average national average. In inner cities, that number is even larger. Yet, the President proposes cutting the budget for the Department of Labor by 4.4 percent, including Workforce Investment Act State grants. Further, while the African American homeownership rate is over 20 percentage points behind that of white Americans, the President proposes cutting funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by almost $3.7 billion.

We asked the President to address disparities in foreign policy, eradicating poverty, hunger, and armed conflicts around the world, especially in Africa and the Caribbean, which is a major component of the CBC's agenda. Unfortunately, the President's budget offered no solutions on how to strengthen the economic stability and self-sufficiency of countries in the African Diaspora.

The Caucus supports reducing the heavy burden that debt has on many countries and reengaging with the United Nations, regional organizations, and countries throughout the world to help promote civil society, global health, fair trade, and peace. While we applaud the President for his proposal to fund the global initiative to fight HIV/AIDS, we implore him to also provide financial assistance to end the fighting in African countries that are engaged in civil war and in genocide.

We asked the President to help address retirement security for African Americans and the disparities that exist there. During the last several weeks, President Bush has traveled the country, selling his Social Security reform proposal to the American people. Because African Americans rely heavily on the survivor disability and retirement benefits provided by Social Security, the CBC is extremely interested in the details of this proposal. Contrary to the President's claims, African Americans receive a higher rate of return than whites, due to their heavier reliance on the full range of benefits offered by Social Security.

The CBC has made it clear to the President that we are against any proposal that would result in future benefit cuts or divert payroll taxes from the Social Security Trust Fund. African Americans are 8 percent of all retired beneficiaries, 13 percent of survivor beneficiaries, and 18 percent of all disability recipients. Social Security is the only source of retirement income for 40 percent of older Americans, and if those benefits were reduced, the poverty rate for older African Americans would double almost overnight.

Social Security is one of the most effective programs in the history of the United States and is essential to the livelihood of African Americans.

We asked the President to ensure justice for every American. The CBC supports criminal and juvenile justice reform that focuses greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation, reduces recidivism by successfully reintegrating former inmates into society, and ends arbitrary mandatory minimum sentences.

We also strongly support preserving affirmative action until all the effects of past and present discrimination have been eliminated.

While the President's budget does include $75 million for a prisoner reentry initiative, much more rehabilitation needs to be done for prisoners while they are in prison.

In addition, we are disappointed to report that the President's fiscal year budget proposes to cut funding for the Justice Department's civil rights division even while we all know that more enforcement is necessary. And despite that fact our election system does not work properly, the President's budget proposes to eliminate grants to States for election reform.

In summary, Mr. Speaker, the budget that the President sent to Congress yesterday reflects priorities and values that are not in line with those held by the majority of American families or by the Congressional Black Caucus.

Today the President told reporters that his budget sets priorities. He went on to say, "Our priorities are winning the war on terror, protecting our homeland, and growing our economy." I would say to the President that while we fight the war on terror, America's families also want to fight the war on poverty. While we protect our homeland, we must also ensure that American families are able to buy affordable homes. While we must grow our economy, we must also provide retirement security for American families in times of economic downturn. These, Mr. President, are America's priorities.

I hope the President will work with the Congressional Black Caucus to turn these priorities into realities.

Mr. Speaker, the following is a summary of some of the draconian cuts that the President has proposed in his budget.
Bush Administration FY 2006 Housing Budget-Continuing the Assault on the Most Vulnerable

The Bush Administration's FY 2006 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget makes deep cuts to a wide range of housing programs that serve low-income families, the elderly, and disabled persons. Overall, the HUD budget is cut by 11.5 percent. Critical housing and community development programs (CDBG, Brownfields cleanup, and Empowerment Zones) are eliminated and are consolidated into a new program in the Commerce Department, with an overall funding cut of 35 percent. The biggest funding cuts are targeted at those programs that serve our most vulnerable citizens, as follows:

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