H.R. 1 Severe Cuts Will Hurt Jobs and Vulnerable Populations: Oppose H.R. 1

Recipient: U.S. Senate

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.

For these and numerous other
reasons, we urge you to vote against H.R. 1. Thank you for your consideration.
If you have any questions, please contact Senior Counsel Rob Randhava at (202)
466-6058.

Sincerely,

Wade Henderson
President & CEO

Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President

1 This is only a partial list of
cuts and restrictions in H.R. 1 that we find highly problematic.