Pelosi: Majority’s Budget Hurts Middle Class Under Guise of Helping Katrina Survivors

Pelosi: Majority’s Budget Hurts Middle Class Under Guise of Helping Katrina Survivors

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined other Democratic leaders at a press stakeout today after the Democratic Caucus meeting to discuss the Republican budget and its negative effects on working families. Below are Pelosi’s remarks:

â€Å"Tomorrow will present a choice to the Members of Congress. We can choose to help the people who are affected by Katrina, or we can give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America.

â€Å"Once again, the Majority is using a misfortune in our country as a Trojan horse. They are wheeling in this Trojan horse on the guise of assistance and using it instead as a way to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country.

â€Å"This budget increases the deficit by $20 billion; it does so by giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America at the expense of the poorest people in our country; and the middle class is paying the bill. It is a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest without doing what it should do for the people of Katrina: cutting Medicaid, which gives health care to the poorest children in America, many of them in the Katrina area; and cutting student loans, making it more expensive for young people to go to college. Why is that a good idea in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy? Cutting assistance to LIHEAP as we go into a winter where people have apprehension not only about the price at the pump of gasoline, but also of home heating oil for their families.

â€Å"It is not a statement of our national values as a budget should be. Instead it hurts the middle class to give tax cuts to those at the highest end under the guise of helping those affected by Katrina.

â€Å"When Katrina struck, America opened its heart to the people who were affected by it. The personal generosity of the American people was admirable to behold. At the same time people thought, ‘What if this happened in my area? Would the federal government be there for me?’

â€Å"The message from this budget is, not only is the federal government not going to be there for you, it’s going to make matters worse for you and use you as an excuse to give tax cuts to the wealthiest and to increase the deficit with the middle class paying bill.

â€Å"Under the leadership of our distinguished Whip, Steny Hoyer, I am certain our caucus will have a unified vote. This is a clear message about the values of the Democrats versus the distorted priorities of the Majority.”