Civil and Human Rights Coalition: Default is Not an Option for Disadvantaged Communities

Washington, D.C. — Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations, released the following statement underscoring the need to ensure that a responsible budget compromise must not be made on the backs of low-income families, minorities, people with disabilities, and seniors:

“In the worst economic times that most of us have seen in our lifetimes, we commend Senator Reid for offering a deficit reduction package that preserves Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other vital programs that keep the middle class from sliding into poverty and the impoverished from living on the streets.

Federal default is not an option for disadvantaged communities who are already on the wrong side of the widest wealth gap ever recorded. Economic fluctuation has always hit those living on the margins with the most force and intransigence, and 2012 is no exception. 

The government needs a balanced approach to lowering deficits, including increased revenue to make good on spending commitments that Congress has already made to provide both opportunity and a safety net for middle-class and impoverished families. This is one case where the only fiscally responsible option is also the only socially responsible solution.”

Nancy Zirkin is executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.