Blake Moore: “Thank you so much for that courtesy. Mr. Chair, it is really my privilege to discuss the social safety net programs that…”

“Thank you so much for that courtesy. Mr. Chair, it is really my privilege to discuss the social safety net programs that are at the heart of the Congressional Black Caucus budget. The CBC acknowledges the efforts on the part of the majority to address debt and deficits, but we cannot do it on the backs of the poor. Much has been made of jobs being the answer. We agree with that, but there are the disabled, elderly, and children who comprise the poor who cannot and do not work. The Republican budget proposes $759 billion in cuts to the nondefense discretionary budget below the already damaging sequester levels. That is in addition to the more than $4 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending, a lifeline to benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, and Medicare. The CBC budget offers Americans a choice. In stark contrast to the Republican budget, we invest in low-income families and students and provide security so that our impoverished, our infirm, and our elderly and children are treated with dignity and respect. It protects the social safety net. It rejects the block granting of Medicaid and food stamps and voucherizing Medicare. It restores the TANF emergency contingency fund, rather than the $34 billion OCO slush fund. We do $2.5 billion rather than $34 billion for a slush fund. It also restores our emergency unemployment insurance for all Americans. Millions of Americans have exhausted these benefits.…”