Leadership Conference Budget Principles Call on Congress to End Sequestration

By

Hannah Cornfield

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights submitted a letter this week urging Congress to meet a set of principles as lawmakers work toward an end-of-the-year budget agreement.

The letter, which 93 other organizations signed on to, calls on Congress to repeal job-ending sequestration cuts. Over 20 million people are in need of full-time work and simply repealing sequestration would generate 900,000 jobs over the next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Sequestration only exacerbates the job crisis and inhibits economic growth.

“We can’t shut down and cut our way to a stronger economy,” said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The tea party’s rigid ideology has hurt middle- and low-income people. Yesterday’s election affirmed that voters from the Deep South to the East Coast have seen through the rhetoric and want a government that works for them.”

The letter also urges Congress to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security from benefit cuts, defend core programs for those most at risk, and eliminate all tax incentives for sending jobs overseas while creating jobs at home.

The Budget Conference Committee, led by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan, R. Wis., and Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray, D. Wash., is expected to issue its conference report of recommendations to the full Congress by December 13.