Agencies decry GOP-proposed spending cuts
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Sakiyah Hall likes fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, her mother Teeoina said Thursday.
Her family may not be able to afford those healthy foods if Congress slashes funding for the WIC program, Teeoina Hall said.
Ms. Hall and her 17-month-old daughter, who live in Homewood, put human faces on the effects that $60 billion in proposed budget cuts will have, Rochelle Jackson said.
Ms. Jackson, a welfare client advocate with Just Harvest, was among representatives from 20 social service, health-care and educational agencies who held a joint news conference to decry the spending reductions. The speakers gathered in the offices of the Women and Girls Foundation at Station Square.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, is one of many programs targeted for trimming or elimination as part of a deficit-cutting effort passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House is controlled by Republicans, and their plan for continuing appropriations is facing strong opposition in the Senate, where Democrats still have the majority.
Many of the speakers at the news conference urged voters worried about federal spending cuts to contact Pennsylvania's senators, Bob Casey, a Democrat, and freshman Pat Toomey, a Republican.
Programs affected by the House legislation range from Head Start to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
"The phrase, 'women and children first,' used to mean [that] in an emergency these groups should be the first ones given the lifeboats to safety," said Heather Arnet, chief executive of the Women and Girls Foundation. "It did not mean, in a crisis, throw the women and children overboard. But that is exactly what the U.S. House budget does."
Speakers were grouped according to which portions of the GOP-backed bill would affect the programs they support. Each offered statistics on the numbers of people who would feel an impact.
First Published February 25, 2011 12:00 am
