Pelosi Statement at ?Speak Up for Kids Day? Rally
Pelosi Statement at ?Speak Up for Kids Day? Rally
March 31, 2005
San Francisco -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this morning at the ?Speak Up for Kids Day? rally, at which hundreds of parents, youth and advocates gathered to protest proposed local and federal cuts to education and children?s services and the elimination of federal college preparatory programs. Below are her remarks as prepared for delivery.
?Thank you to Coleman Advocates for Youth and Families, the San Francisco Child Advocacy Network, the San Francisco Youth Commission, and the Coalition to Support TRIO College Access Programs for sponsoring ?Speak Up for Kids Day.?
?A special word of thanks to the TRIO students and parents here today - Thank you for your commitment to your own education, but also to ensuring that the doors of opportunity are open to all.
?If you ask me what are the three most important issues facing the Congress, I always say the same thing: our children, our children, and our children. Their health, their education, the environment in which they live, and a world at peace in which they will thrive.
?Education is the key to success, and the best investment we can make in our children and our future. We demand that America pursue policies that give every student the best possible education and that make college more affordable and accessible to all.
?Everything we do in Congress should be to make the future brighter for our children and grandchildren. Nowhere is that more important than in the federal budget, which should be a blueprint for how we build that better future.
?Sadly, the Republican budget is a blueprint for disaster. Instead of being a statement of our national values, the Republican budget is an assault on our values.
?The leaders of five Protestant denominations - the Episcopal Church USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church - recently called President Bush?s budget ?unjust.? They reminded us of the words of the prophet Micah: ?What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God??
?Does this budget do justice for Americans? You be the judge.
?Is it doing justice to our children to give tax cuts to people making more than $500,000 a year, while underfunding No Child Left Behind by more than $9 billion? Is it doing justice to our young people to give tax cuts to the wealthy while raising taxes on student loan borrowers by almost $6 billion?
?Is it doing justice to our children to give those tax cuts while eliminating the Upward Bound and Talent Search initiatives? In San Francisco alone, that will mean a cut of $3.5 million and a lost opportunity for 6,000 students who are better prepared for college because of these initiatives.
?And is it doing justice to give tax cuts for the wealthy, while launching a shameful attack on the poor? In a country where one in five children lives in poverty, those cuts will inevitably have a harsh impact on children.
?The President?s budget cuts an unconscionable $60 billion from Medicaid.
?The President?s budget undermines the Community Development Block Grant initiative with an ill-considered restructuring and a massive 35 percent cut. The impact of that cut in San Francisco will be between $12 million and $20 million.
?The President?s budget makes huge cuts to affordable housing initiatives. The impact on San Francisco is projected at more than $5.7 million.
?According to a recent study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the House Republican budget cuts initiatives serving primarily low-income children by approximately $4.5 billion in California alone.
?The Republican budget does not do justice, it does great damage to our country. We must ?speak up? for a budget that truly reflects our national values.
?The Republican budget is not only morally irresponsible, it is fiscally reckless and will heap tons of debt onto our children. In 2001, President Clinton left President Bush a projected $5.6 trillion surplus. In just four years, President Bush has turned that record surplus into a record deficit of nearly $4 trillion - a $10 trillion swing in the wrong direction. The budget deficit for this year is a record $427 billion.
?These deficits are the direct result of Republican policies - huge tax cuts for the wealthy, a refusal to pay-as-you-go, poor planning for a war of choice in Iraq, the list goes on and on. America is awash in red ink because of Republican fiscal irresponsibility, and the burden will fall on our children.
?We should be giving our children opportunity, not obligations. And we should have a budget that honors our national values, including our commitment to our children.
?Thank you again for ?speaking up for kids.? Our inside maneuvering in Congress depends on your outside mobilization. So thank you for talking to your neighbors, to your supervisor, to the Mayor, and to your representatives in Congress to take a stand on behalf of children. Today, you are saying in a loud and clear voice that our children?s future must be our highest priority."