David Minge: “the cuts in this rescission bill are devastating, WIC, jobs for youth in the summer, fuel assistance for low-income…”

“the cuts in this rescission bill are devastating, WIC, jobs for youth in the summer, fuel assistance for low-income Americans, foster care and adoption services, student loan programs, housing for low-income Americans, local water treatment costs for programs mandated by Congress. Can we justify the cuts for these programs in order to finance tax cuts for the more affluent members of our communities and increased military spending? Absolutely not. Going further, we have a convoluted budget-cutting process. In my opinion, there are criteria for deficit reduction. We would not simply say that it is deficit reduction to plan to shave $200 billion off interest on the national debt. That is not realistic. We need to have, if we are going to impose deficit reduction on the American people, shared sacrifice. We should not be balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, the veterans, and children. Where are the cuts in the weapons systems that the Defense Department does not want? Where are the cuts in programs for those of us with higher incomes? We are cutting the most vulnerable first. This stands our proud heritage of fairness on its head. At the very minimum, let us assure low-income Americans, students, and local communities that their disproportionate sacrifice goes for deficit reduction. I urge you to vote for this amendment. It mandates real deficit reduction. It locks in the savings for 1995 and for years to come.”