Civil Rights Coalition Applauds Senate Rejection of Draconian Budget Cuts

Washington, D.C. –The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations, applauded the Senate’s move to reject the FY2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1).  In a letter sent to senators, the civil and human rights coalition expressed its strong opposition to H.R. 1 and exhorted senators to reject the measure, which was filled with politically motivated cuts to human needs programs that would do little to reduce the deficit.

The letter states that “H.R.1 makes cuts that are extreme and irresponsible, slashing or eliminating many services that are needed by communities represented by The Leadership Conference.”

“With millions of families still hurt by unemployment and reduced income, numerous economists have warned that the House cuts would make things worse by slashing job training and education, infrastructure and technological investments, emergency food and shelter, and home heating assistance…Finally, many of H.R. 1’s cuts appear driven more by political ideology than a sincere interest in deficit reduction.”

By way of example, the letter outlines seven politically motivated cuts that would be detrimental to Americans while having only a modest impact on deficit reduction:

• Head Start
• Pell Grants
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• “Gainful Employment” Rule
• Repeal of Open Internet Rules
• Health Services for Women and Girls
• Equal Access to Justice Fees.

The full text of the letter is below

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March 7, 2011

   H.R. 1 SEVERE CUTS WILL HURT JOBS AND VULNERABLE POPULATIONS:

OPPOSE H.R. 1

Dear Senator:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, we urge you to oppose H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. We urge the Senate to pass a continuing resolution through September 30, 2011 that helps the most vulnerable Americans, while also ensuring that there is enough revenue to sustain our country’s recovery and invest in the future.

H.R.1 makes cuts that are extreme and irresponsible, slashing or eliminating many services that are needed by communities represented by The Leadership Conference, including vulnerable and low-income people such as young children, students, older people, the jobless, and the uninsured. With millions of families still hurt by unemployment and reduced income, numerous economists have warned that the House cuts would make things worse by slashing job training and education, infrastructure and technological investments, emergency food and shelter, and home heating assistance. At the same time, H.R. 1’s draconian cuts are not fairly balanced by increases in revenue, such as the elimination of tax breaks for oil and gas companies or the wealthiest Americans, that could be done without harming the economic recovery. Finally, many of H.R. 1’s cuts appear driven more by political ideology than a sincere interest in deficit reduction.

 For example, we are particularly troubled by the following provisions of H.R. 1:[1]

 ·         Head Start: H.R. 1 cuts more than $1 billion from the Head Start program, which provides comprehensive early childhood services – education, nutrition, health, social, and emotional development – to nearly one million low-income children and their families. This cut would eliminate these vital services for about 218,000 children and their families next year.

 ·         Pell Grants: H.R. 1 reduces the maximum annual Pell Grant award by $845 to $4,705, a 15 percent cut below the current maximum of $5,550. This would have a devastating impact on the roughly 8 million needy students that qualify for the maximum award, nearly 90 percent of whom come from families making less than $40,000 a year.

 ·         Consumer Protection: H.R. 1 reduces the newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding – which, in this case, is not a Congressional appropriation – from $143 million to $80 million. The cut will hamstring the CFPB’s ability to enforce the consumer protection laws that were largely ignored by existing regulators in the years before the mortgage and financial crisis.

 ·   “Gainful Employment” Rule: H.R. 1 blocks the Department of Education from issuing or enforcing its proposed “gainful employment” rule, eliminating accountability for career colleges that educate 10 percent of higher education students, receive approximately 24 percent of federal grants and loans, and account for 48 percent of defaults.

 ·         Repeal of Open Internet Rules: H.R. 1 repeals the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet rules, including those that prevent the private blocking of constitutionally protected speech. This causes significant harm, particularly to the constituencies represented by our member organizations, and diverts attention from other critical media and telecommunications issues that are so vital to our nation’s economic and civic life.

 ·         Health Services for Women and Girls: H.R. 1 prohibits any federal funding from being made available to Planned Parenthood Foundation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or any of its affiliates, for any health care services whatsoever for women and girls. This ideologically-driven attack on PPFA is unnecessary, as existing law already prohibits federal funding from being used to pay for abortions and will instead wipe out a range of other vital health care services.

 ·         Equal Access to Justice Fees: H.R. 1 prohibits any federal funds from being distributed under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). This will deprive people – including seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, small business owners and farmers – who cannot afford a lawyer from being represented against the federal government, when the government acts illegally against them.

 Sincerely,

Wade Henderson                                                         Nancy Zirkin

President & CEO                                                         Executive Vice President