Letter to Mitch McConnel, Senate Majority Leader, and Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader - Eliminate Harmful Sequester Spending Cuts, Finalize Bipartisan Budget Deal

Letter

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Reid,

We are writing to urge you to quickly finalize a bipartisan budget agreement that will eliminate sequester spending cuts that will negatively impact the 63,000 children living in poverty in Connecticut.

We were deeply saddened to learn that according to Census bureau data released last month, 14.9 percent of Connecticut children were living in poverty in 2014. The disastrous, arbitrary, across-the-board sequester cuts have harmed children in our state by withholding vital services that could help them become successful adults. During the Senate's appropriations process, we've heard both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that the current budget caps do not allow for the type of robust investment in our country that is needed to give every American the opportunity to succeed.

In Connecticut, the consequence of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget caps means that 3,900 fewer children would have access to full-day, full-year Head Start when compared to President Obama's budget request. The Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations bills might also eliminate 50,000 Housing Choice Vouchers, which would leave 1,010 Connecticut families without housing assistance. This type of assistance is desperately needed because 25% of Connecticut residents are spending half of their income on housing, which is unsustainable for a low-income family working hard to make ends meet.

The Congressional Budget Office says that sequestration-level cuts could prevent 1.4 million jobs from being created in the next two years. By perpetuating this misguided budget policy, we're essentially telling these struggling families that the Senate is unwilling to restore the safety net that they need while knowingly stymying the very economic growth that could lift them up so that such assistance is no longer needed.

We believe there is a common sense bipartisan solution to be found that would make the necessary investments in children from needy families and support the extension of low-income tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), and other longer-term measures that will strengthen the American economy well into the future. Simply extending those tax credits could lift 35,000 children in Connecticut out of poverty. These children have done nothing wrong and don't deserve to feel the effects of arbitrary and callous cuts in Washington that stem from our inability to achieve consensus. We believe we can and must find common ground on behalf of the almost 15% of children living in poverty in our state, and look forward to working with you and our colleagues to find a way forward.

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