Same Dots, Same Connections

This great letter from Sister Mary Scullion, the executive director of Project H.O.M.E., appeared in today's Inquirer.

Your May 30 editorial "Bad math, slick politics" was an important tool to help voters connect the tax-and-spend dots. However, it overlooked how the current choices of President Bush and this Congress related to taxes and budgets have already impacted federal investment in education, health care, social services, affordable quality child care, and community development. These leaders continue to count on the fact that voters aren't educated and do not comprehend the real consequences of cutting taxes for America's wealthiest - less revenue means less investment in American priorities.

Congress' approval of billions in tax cuts for wealthy investors came within months of the same Congress enacting the Deficit Reduction Act. This brutally unfair legislation adversely impacted tens of millions of low-income Americans while at the same time increasing the deficit. It guaranteed cuts for Medicaid, child-support enforcement and child-welfare services, and included changes to the country's welfare reform laws that will deny more low-income, hard-working parents access to child care.

Another important point for people to consider is that the tax cutting is far from over. The Senate leadership has vowed it will tackle repeal or reform of the estate tax. Either route will have virtually the same result. Billions more will be siphoned out of the federal treasury assuring essential American domestic priorities and programs are further starved. We should use our voices and votes as a signal that we have connected the dots, and we're ready for a new direction.

To learn more about the lawsuit filed by Rep. John Conyers over the Deficit Reduction Act, click here.