Congresswoman Barbara Lee Blasts Bush/Republican Budget
GOP Budget Inadequate on Affordable Housing and
Energy Assistance - No Funding for Electoral Reform
WASHINGTON - 03.28.01 | Congresswoman Barbara Lee today voiced strong opposition to House passage of the Republican budget, H.Con. Res. 83 by a vote of 222-205. The budget cuts funding for low income energy assistance programs, cuts programs in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and omits funding for electoral reform.
"The Bush/Republican Budget makes cuts to essential programs that improve the quality of life for millions of Americans," said Lee. "The budget requests the smallest increase for education funding in five years, dramatically slashes programs for affordable housing and energy programs, and does not address electoral reforms that will prohibit the electoral irregularities that were witnessed in Florida."
The Bush/Republican budget cuts $859 million from the HUD public housing budget, including funding for repair and maintenance, for drug prevention security services, and for community development and other affordable housing programs. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) alternative budget resolution championed by Congresswoman Lee would invest $2 billion per year for an affordable housing construction program and an increase of $500 million for public housing upkeep. In addition, the CPC budget increases Section 8 housing vouchers by $575 million to provide 100, 000 more vouchers, and provides a $200 million increase for Homeless Assistance Grants, as well as increased funding for child care development and social services programs.
"There is currently an extreme lack of affordable housing all over the nation and particularly in the Bay Area. Efforts to rectify the problem are being sacrificed in order to fund Bushıs tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor the wealthy," said Lee. "Families are finding the American dream of home-ownership harder and harder to attain, and we must develop a national housing agenda to address this crisis. The Progressive Caucus budget proposes real solutions to our housing crisis."
The Bush/Republican budget freezes funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) next year and does not provide any funding at all in the LIHEAP emergency account. Despite record high energy prices in the West and recent winter storms in the Northeast, fewer than one in three eligible families get LIHEAP assistance because the program is not fully funded. The CPC budget provides a nearly 400% increase in funding for LIHEAP, and also provides increased funding for the low-income weatherization program, for the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, and provides funding for a Natural Gas Reserve.
"California is facing an energy crisis that will have a devastating effect on other states facing energy problems of their own. The Public Utilities Commission recently voted to raise consumer rates by as much as 46%," said Lee. "The Progressive budget will help Californians and others across the country pay their increasing energy bills, but more importantly, the budget focuses on a long term energy plan by redirecting resources from fossil fuel research to funding research and investment into cleaner alternative and renewable fuels."
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