[Pacg] From Pax Christi: Action Alert on Economic Plan

[Carolina 1961]

>From Pax Christi

Our economy should work for everyone!

from NETWORK




Until a very few weeks ago, the president lauded the state of the U.S.
economy. His recent acknowledgement of a turn toward recession nudged the
House and Senate to produce economic stimulus packages (see
http://www.networklobby.org/issues/reorderin
g_budget/2008stimulus2-5-08.htm<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001w2poG8Ckx5JOeapXir6QiNUUABhYAPdbQc8EkX8H83fnyENQmVIxOOYqUJNNTZHhkIG22BuG7o4uwL3PKpcwG9isjMylEeDet6uSAF5HTfPHp3os_ZkWnR8_sDUiunD8vJSWnkJ1F-J0ZgEKZ4HVN9-7VBFDWYV8Z-yOj4dKi5DidjTncYTYkMz7uiPhHX7C>).


An economic stimulus package must be timely, temporary and targeted. It must
also be passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president.
Unfortunately, many desirable provisions would make it unlikely to pass in
both chambers.

Amid the furor to improve the economy, the president released his budget
request on Monday, February 4, in which he promotes expansion of tax cuts to
the wealthiest Americans - estimated by the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) to cost $4.3 trillion over ten years.

According to the National Women's Law Center analysis, households with
incomes over $450,000 a year (top 1%) will be gifted with over $1 trillion
in tax cuts in this time - an average tax savings of $8,000 per year.

Funding for this gift to the wealthiest earners in the nation materializes
through cuts to programs that provide necessities to low-wage workers,
seniors, and persons with disabilities - including veterans.

*ACTION*

Contact your representative and senators; tell them to support an economic
stimulus package that will:

- get money into the hands of seniors
- get money into the hands of veterans and other people whose disabilities
keep them from significant earning, and
- extend unemployment insurance, expanding it to cover those who lost
low-wage and part-time work
- increase funding for LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program),
as the costs of energy skyrocket, even for those living in poverty.

Write Congress TODAY by clicking on this
link!<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001w2poG8Ckx5LD3Dr9KpKTBUa254AcMT-58ZXWAuxQRaH7L-SE-IvA9QIh8xGTkt5pI1J-uwycIduDaI5Ov6xnhhHSLaHcMbVxr0euaha4PxpHLjz-jEm4xmUHdJDM6Myt43FKR68esockV5Ytv8NL4LgTBFs_we8aqeAcjZOfl37FELUMRBmVmMOyBL5RENHf>

Your senators and representatives have the opportunity to place funding
where it will truly stimulate the economy - with the people in need who will
spend the money they receive.

 Communities cut; military grows

from the National Priorities Project




While ensuring tax cuts stay permanent and military spending grows by five
percent, the President's budget for Fiscal Year 2009 proposes deep cuts in
an array of domestic programs that impact needy communities and low- and
middle- income families. For NPP's budget overview and state-level analysis,
*click here*<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001w2poG8Ckx5Lqa9qMVjbEbfpLoeWAooP84s7V8HPTjhdjcmz7QiQ_ColGJ8QEXN7VZ-9S3oG0gbIlYTGmcuuM6Mq7NqRP8lpxStvW9cZXNwZHDvEcZ1lpnAMATv_CXdxTGyAHpYd47CCs6DYuvoJaSg==>.


State-level breakdowns show the impact of the proposed cuts in the following
programs: Child Care and Development Block Grants, Community Development
Block Grants, Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, Low-Income Energy
Assistance Program, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and the Social
Services Block Grants.

Under the President's budget, military spending would reach $541 billion in
Fiscal Year 2009, including nuclear weapons. At the highest level since
World War II, this amount of military spending does not include the proposed
$70 billion for partial war funding next fiscal year. The President's tax
cuts would also be made permanent under the proposed budget with the
wealthiest 20 percent receiving 74 percent of the benefit.

"This budget is painfully out of line with the public's priorities," said
Greg Speeter, spokesperson for the National Priorities Project. "The
President seems determined to turn all the good the government does on its
head and leave generations of Americans behind in the process."

To find out how your state will be impacted under the President's proposed
budget, click here<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001w2poG8Ckx5Lqa9qMVjbEbfpLoeWAooP84s7V8HPTjhdjcmz7QiQ_ColGJ8QEXN7VZ-9S3oG0gbIlYTGmcuuM6Mq7NqRP8lpxStvW9cZXNwZHDvEcZ1lpnAMATv_CXdxTGyAHpYd47CCs6DYuvoJaSg==>
.

Thanks,

Cathy Bolkcom
*
"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try
to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you
don't give up." Annie Lamott*

*"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined
nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."
Martin Luther King, Jr.*
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