Coalition Statement of Principles for Fy 2012 Budget and Debt Ceiling Negotiations
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Officers Interim Chairperson Judith L. Lichtman National Partnership for Women &Families Vice Chairperson Karen K. Narasaki Asian American Justice CenterSecretary Barry Rand AARP TreasurerLee A. Saunders American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Executive Committee Barbara Arnwine Lawyer’s Committee ForCivil Rights Under Law Arlene Holt BakerAFL-CIO Marcia GreenbergerNational Women’s Law CenterLinda D. Hallman American Association ofUniversity Women Mary Kay Henry Service Employees International Union Andrew J. Imparato American Association of People with Disabilities Benjamin Jealous NAACP Michael B. Keegan People For The American Way Floyd Mori Japanese American Citizens League Marc H. Morial National Urban League Janet Murguia National Council of La Raza Debra Ness National Partnership for Women AndFamilies Terry O’Neill National Organization for Women Jacqueline Johnson Pata National Congress ofAmerican Indians John Payton NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Dennis Van Roekel National Education Association Anthony Romero American Civil Liberties Union Thomas A. Saenz Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund David Saperstein Religious Action Center forReform Judaism Shanna L. Smith National Fair Housing Alliance Joe Solmonese Human Rights Campaign Randi Weingarten American Federation of Teachers Mary G. Wilson League of Women Voters Sara Najjar-WIlson American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee Compliance/Enforcement Committee Chairperson Karen K. Narasaki Asian American Justice CenterPresident & CEO Wade J. Henderson Executive Vice President & COO Karen McGill Lawson May 24, 2011 COALITION STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES FOR FY 2012 BUDGET AND DEBT CEILING NEGOTIATIONS Dear Senator: The undersigned 116 organizations represent persons of color, women, children, low- to moderate-income workers, people with disabilities, consumers, elders, people of faith, English language learners, LGBT people, educators, and many other Americans. Together, we have formed a coalition that is extremely concerned with the ongoing state ofnegotiations over the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. We write today to present you with a list ofprinciples that our coalition believes are essential to address as the budget discussions move forward. As Congress focuses attention on reducing our federal budget deficits, it has the potential to either improve our overall economic situation or make matters even worse. Some of the proposals that we have seen to date are overly simplistic and would, in reality, do little to solve our budgetary problems. Others are simply draconian. As Congress continues its negotiations over the debt ceiling and the FY 2012 budget, we urge you to adhere to the following principles: Congress must reject global federal spending caps or entitlement caps. The Corker-McCaskill proposal limits spending to 20.6 percent of GDP, and would require massive cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs that meet critical needs of low- and moderate-income people and provide vital economic security for millions of Americans. In fact, under the Corker-McCaskill caps, federal spending on essential programs would be cut roughly as much as the recently-passed House Republican budget by the end of this decade. At the same time, by focusing only on spending, global spending cap proposals would protect tax breaks for millionaires and tax subsidies for corporations. Any cap on mandatory spending should be opposed. In addition, Congress should reject multi-year appropriations caps that force harsh reductions in domestic/human needs services.Any deficit reduction agreement, as well as any budget enforcement mechanism, must rely at least as much on revenue increases as on spending cuts. If revenue increases are not included, deficit reductions will have to come from spending cuts alone, requiring cuts similar to those in the House Republican (Ryan) budget proposal, and restricting the federal government’s ability to respond to economic downturns and limiting economic opportunity. That, in turn, would increase the likelihood that the fragile recovery will falter and could result in another recession. Related to this, any budget enforcement mechanism must include an automatic waiver during economic downturns or periods of unusually slow economic growth.
Coalition Statement of Principles for Fy 2012 Budget and Debt Ceiling Negotiations
