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Wednesday, 30 November 2005 04:32 |
| Protestors gather in Pack Place last Wednesday to voice their opposition to proposed, federal budget cuts. Organized by MoveOn.org, the protestors urged Congressman Charles Taylor to vote against the cuts
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By DAVID FORBES
Holding signs and voicing their opposition to proposed cuts in social programs like Medicaid, food stamps and student loans, which they say would greatly harm lower- and middle-income Americans, around 40 people gathered in Pack Square last Wednesday to unsuccessfully ask Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, to oppose the cuts.
?®We are here today to urge Congressman Taylor to not let this budget go through,?∆ Michael Hurd, one of the organizers of the protest, said. ?®These cuts will rob from the poor and give to the rich. It??s an over $50 billion cut in essential programs to pay for $70 billion (in) tax cut for the rich.
?®Congressional Republicans want people to believe that the people that are being targeted (by the cuts) are undeserving or insignificant or invisible,?∆ Hurd added. ?®But they??re real people, and they??re with us here right now.?∆
After the demonstration, around 30 of the protestors marched to
Taylor??s office, located in the Jackson Building, and spoke to Steve
Green, his district chief of staff.
The budget cuts narrowly passed the House of Representatives 217-215
last Friday, with Taylor voting in favor. However, the House chose to
delay voting on the proposed tax cuts until after Thanksgiving.
The social program cuts must still be reconciled with a different Senate version of the bill.
The Budget Reconciliation Bill that the protestors opposed is intended to pay for damages caused to the Gulf Coast by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Responding to the protestors?? concerns, Green said that he would brief Taylor, who had yet to state a definite position on the bill last Wednesday, but that the money to repair damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will have to come from somewhere.
?®There??s numbers that are going left, numbers going right. He has made no comment on his decision yet,?∆ Green said. ?®Finding a way to pay for all that is a major consideration, and that??s why they??re having trouble getting members to vote one way or the other. They??re trying to find ways so the cuts aren??t a problem for anybody. But the fact is that things happened and they??re trying to pay for that.?∆
The protest was organized by MoveOn.org, a national political action committee that labels itself as ?®progressive,?∆ according to its website, and has termed the bill ?®The Reverse Robin Hood Budget.?∆
When asked by protestors about the proposed tax cuts, Green said, ?®I took a look at the resolution yesterday and I didn??t see anything about money being funneled to rich people.?∆
Green added that he would inform Taylor of the protester??s ideas about not implementing the tax cuts to pay for the damages.
Before the protest began, Tressa O??Brien of Asheville, who works as a server, told the Daily Planet that she was personally protesting against the cuts because they will affect the lower and middle classes.
?®Asheville, specifically being a service-oriented area that caters to tourists, means a lot of the people that live here need those government programs,?∆ O??Brien said.
Several Asheville-area residents and MoveOn.org members spoke about how they personally will be affected by the proposed cuts.
Emilee Rose, a recent college graduate, said that the cuts in student loans would make it difficult for her to make ends meet.
?®My peers and I will have an even harder time affording an education,?∆ Rose said. ?®The Republican bill would increase the cost of paying off student loans by an additional $6,000 on average.?∆
Rose also noted that ?®these (financial aid) programs are not intended to be a cookie jar for Congress to raid when it feels the need to pass a tax cut. Instead, these funds are allotted to me and my peers so we can better afford an education.?∆
Meanwhile, Justina Hamad, a 32-year-old single mother, noted that she would be hurt by the cuts in student loans and in Medicaid.
?®For the last couple years, my family??s well-being and ability to stay fed and healthy has been largely the result of subsidies and aid,?∆ Hamad said. ?®Despite the fact that their father has always paid child support, without food stamps there is no way I could have fed my kids adequately.?∆
Hamad chose to return to college to increase her family??s income, noting ?®under these cuts, there would be no way, no possibility of me doing that.?∆
Agreeing with Hamad, Susan Wilson, a local attorney who often serves as a court-appointed advocate in
abuse and neglect cases, said that the proposed cuts, especially to Medicaid, will harm the children with whom she works.
?®One of the children I represent came into department of Social Services?? custody with six cavities,?∆ Wilson
said. ?®Without Medicaid benefits, he would have suffered further deterioration of his teeth.?∆
Children who have been exposed to abuse or neglect and need therapy will also suffer from the cuts, Wilson added.
?®Medicaid pays for the therapy these children need to overcome the trauma that they have lived through,?∆ she said. ?®Slashing Medicaid, and especially mental health benefits, will adversely impact the future of these children and their ability to grow into healthy adults.?∆
The cuts will also harm science and research ?? decreasing America??s scientific edge, Jeff Schmitt, a scientist
who works in Asheville, said in remarks at the protest.
?®This bill constitutes another crippling blow to the progress of science in America,?∆ Schmitt said to the audience. ?®With regards to medical funding, 95 out of 100 grant applications are now rejected and unfunded.?∆
Furthermore, advanced technology grants are also going unfunded, a problem with which Schmitt said he has
personal experience.
?®I was lucky enough to be a recipient of such a grant before the Bush administration pulled the plug on funding,?∆ he continued. ?®I personally know five reserchers who have gotten grants funded, but have never received the money because their respective administrations are so worried about funding their staff.?∆
The sum effect of this policy, he added, damages efforts by scientists to ?®ensure a cleaner, more secure future.
The Robin Hood legislation is filled with many anti-environmental provisions too, including cuts to wildlife and endangered species protection.?∆
Veterans in need of medical care will also suffer under the cuts, said David Brown, a disabled Vietnam veteran.
?®Because of my service-connected injury, I rely solely on the benefits accorded to me by my rights as a
disabled veteran,?∆ Brown said.
However, the funds for veterans?? health care have been ?®pinched more and more,?∆ Brown asserted, leaving him vulnerable to his increasingly serious gum disease as well as spinal cord injuries.
?®So, not only must I deal with the pain and debilitation of a spinal-cord injury, but due to the lack of funding, I also have to endure toothaches and jaw pain 24 hours a day,?∆ Brown said. ?®The administration??s plans to steal even more funding from Veterans Affairs to pay for an unwise tax break for those who least need it can only mean one thing: a further loss of health, not only for myself, but possibly for 700,000 other North Carolinian veterans as well.?∆
When talking to the protestors, Green said that veterans actually would receive more funding, but added that he wanted more information about Brown??s case.
?®There is a lot of bureaucracy that he (Taylor) does not want to participate in and doesn??t like,?∆ Green said. ?®If this veteran is entitled to his benefits, we really try to help every single person. He really needs to talk to us and press for his benefits. Veterans are getting the highest amount of funding in history. A lot of other things will be cut, but veterans are one of the ones they??re trying to assist.?∆
Standing in the lobby of the Jackson Building, Walter Dinteman, president of the MRI sales consulting firm based in Asheville, told the Daily Planet that he had come to the protest ?®to support opposition to a bill that would reduce the budget for social services and veteran??s benefits.
?®I think these are the wrong budget cuts to make,?∆ Dinteman told the Daily Planet. ?®I think ultimately these cuts
affect Asheville??s security because it makes the economy weaker and makes for greater social divisions in the country.?∆
The House committees considering where to make the cuts are going through a complex process, Green said.
?®There are 10 subcommittees considering where to make these cuts,?∆ Green said. ?®So, it??s very ebb and flow right now. There??s not a final solution.?∆
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