Prioritize People Over Tax Cuts – Join the Postcard Campaign

We all want to live in healthy, hunger-free communities, but in order to ensure that everyone has sufficient food to be independent and active, we need a strong safety net of programs to help lift us back up when we stumble. A strong safety net needs an investment of public dollars, a wise investment because our communities thrive when all of us can contribute through work and public service.

Unfortunately, Congress is taking a dangerous path that could decimate that safety net.  In a narrow vote of just 216-212, the House adopted the Senate budget resolution on Thursday. This now gives Congress the dangerous framework it needs to fast track passage of a tax plan that will provide trillions in deficit-raising tax cuts, primarily skewed towards benefiting the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

This framework is dangerous for three reasons:

• It allows Congress to pass the tax cuts plan with just 51 votes in the Senate, continuing us down this path of extreme partisan rancor because not a single Democratic vote would be needed to enact this plan.
• It reverses a bipartisan agreement established in 2011 by allowing for increases to be made in defense spending while cutting discretionary programs such as WIC, housing programs, and the Community Development Block Grant. These are programs that provide for basic needs and economic investment opportunities for all Americans.
• The proposed tax cuts will raise our nation’s deficit by trillions of dollars, thereby opening the floodgates to make trillions in cuts to essential needs programs including SNAP, school meals, Medicaid, and Medicare a reality. These cuts will drive up hunger and create a chasm that will overwhelm and even break our charitable system.

Both the House and the Senate are motivated to get a tax bill on the President’s desk for signing before the end of the year. We must act fast to put a stop to this, urging Congress to prioritize people over tax cuts–save our safety net!

WHAT YOU CAN DO