Debating Our Budget and Our Values

Working to Prevent a Government Shutdown
As your representative in Washington, I am committed to avoiding a government shutdown. As President Obama has said, a shutdown would affect millions of Americans, threaten vital services they have already paid for and jeopardize our nation’s economic recovery.

While Democrats have offered compromise after compromise to avoid a government shutdown and met Republican demands on spending more than 70 percent of the way, Republicans have refused to agree to common-sense, noncontroversial measures that would keep the government running while debate continues. Instead, they have insisted on ideological attacks on funding for women’s health.

I remain hopeful that a shutdown can still be prevented; I will continue to work hard to avoid that outcome.

Slash Medicare to Give Tax Cuts to Big Oil?
This week, Republican leadership released its budget plan for 2012, which contains the same old choices for the American people while adding $8 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. It ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors while giving away tens of billions of dollars in tax subsidies to Big Oil. It slashes support for nursing homes as it gives away tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. It cuts education for children and raises the cost of college for nearly 10 million students as it makes tax cuts for the wealthiest permanent, adding $1 trillion to the deficit.

While we must reduce the deficit, this budget does not create jobs, grow the economy or strengthen the middle class.

Congresswoman Pelosi discusses the current budget with the Hunger Fast Coalition, which is composed of dozens of faith organizations and their progressive partners that are fasting to protest proposed cuts to critical initiatives under the majority’s budget.

Fighting Attacks on Science and the Environment
Yesterday, the House majority voted to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. I strongly opposed and voted against this legislative attack on science and the Clean Air Act, which has effectively protected millions from harmful pollutants for over 40 years. This misguided bill comes at the expense of the millions of Americans who suffer from asthma, respiratory illness and other pollution-related disease.

Protecting the air we breathe is vital to public health, especially for our seniors and our children. I am proud that Senate Democrats are standing strong against these attacks, and I believe we must stand up for fair policies that protect America’s environment while allowing for economic opportunity—priorities that can work together.

Please feel free to forward this information to your family and friends. To learn more about these efforts, to express your views, or to sign up for email updates, please visit my website. I am also on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NancyPelosi.