by Cristina Martin Firvida
Today, the House of Representatives is voting on the spending bill (H.R. 3043) that funds many of the federal programs that make the greatest difference in the lives of American women and their families – programs like Head Start, Pell grants, Title X family planning, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant.
This is the bill that makes the spending decisions most of us care about – money to make it more affordable to find good child care for our children, to make sure schools can prepare them for a strong future, and to put a college education within the reach of more Americans. This is the bill that funds the research to find a cure for cancer, and to support health services in local community health centers. Many of these priorities have gone by the wayside for the last six years, and the bill being voted on today, while it falls far short of meeting unmet needs, certainly is better than anything we have seen in a long time. Yet the President has threatened over and over to veto this bill because it spends $10 billion more on these kinds of priorities than his own budget proposes to spend – and to be clear, in many cases, his budget would cut a lot of spending that you and I care about.
Plenty of members of the House of Representatives have echoed the President’s message during the debate. Plenty of members say the problem today is not inadequate investment in what really matters – our health, education and our children – but that we are spending too much! Apparently, for these members, everything is going great right now, despite the statistics showing increased poverty, stagnant wages, and rising prices. They insist that services for our families and communities, especially those in need, should be cut, while also insisting that tax breaks for the wealthy and powerful must be protected.
When the bill passes later today – and it will pass – the question will stand: did your member of Congress vote for a change in priorities, or to keep heading in the wrong direction?
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