KATHY BIGSBY MOORE | Posted: Thursday, September 29, 2005 7:00 pm
Americans have opened their hearts and their checkbooks to the hundreds of thousands of children who, along with their families, have been uprooted from their homes by Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf States.
Unfortunately, decisions that many of America’s leaders are considering could actually contradict the “helping hand philosophy” that has been so dramatically displayed by the citizens of our country. In the richest nation in the world, where children are our poorest citizens, many of the proposals being discussed could actually plunge poor families further into poverty by cutting programs proven to alleviate poverty, while simultaneously rewarding tax cuts to those with incomes more than $1 million a year.
While the initial, official response to Hurricane Katrina was too little and too late, thousands of generous citizens are donating time, money, goods and services. Billions of federal dollars were ultimately allocated for relief efforts but now the Republican Study Committee of the House of Representatives has released a package of proposed program cuts, which they say offset the cost of relief and recovery. Unfortunately, these cuts place much of the burden on our nation’s poor, seniors, and people with disabilities.
It is ironic that not long after Hurricane Katrina provided vivid images of the wide gaps between wealth and poverty in this nation, a group of lawmakers would propose a deficit-reduction package that relies heavily on cuts in programs that alleviate the worst effects of poverty without so much as a whisper of scaling back a single high-income tax break enacted since 2001. The Urban Institute-Brookings Tax Policy Center reports that the households with incomes more than $1 million a year are receiving tax cuts averaging $103,000 each this year, and two new tax cuts primarily benefiting the same group are slated to take effect Jan. 1. As the federal budget moves toward finalization, the Senate and House of Representative appear to continue to move forward on the pre-Katrina plan for $13 billion in proposed cuts in Medicaid and Food Stamps.
Because Katrina’s destructive force has focused the nation’s attention on the plight of poor people, now is the time to face a sobering truth: “Normal” life, for too many children and families, is a slow-motion disaster. Sadly, long before the hurricane touched the mainland, Congress was planning cuts in programs for the poor that would create even more deprivation for households already hard-pressed to make ends meet.
Low-income families and their children are suffering everyday emergencies for the same reasons so many were unable to escape from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans and elsewhere. The reasons are rooted in the realities of their daily lives.
n You can’t leave if you don’t have a car that can make the trip, and you don’t have the money for gasoline and tolls, and a place to spend the night.
n You can’t leave if you or your kids have health problems and you’re physically unable to leave or fearful that, since you don’t have health insurance, you can’t get treatment if you leave the system you rely on.
n You can’t leave if you wonder if the dangers of staying home are outweighed by the risks of leaving home, including the basic problems of finding food and lodging.
n You can’t leave if your bank account is almost empty and your home is all you have.
In Nebraska, 54,000 children live in poverty, including 14 percent of our youngest children. More than 135,000 children depend on Medicaid or Kids Connection to access health care each month. Still, an estimated 35,000 have no health coverage at all.
Cutting lifesaving and comprehensive programs for children living in poverty and cutting taxes for the rich doesn’t reflect the values of America at a time when so many people are uniting in an effort of generous giving to those in need.
I would encourage every concerned citizen to tell Congress to join the national, collective effort by responding to natural emergencies while solving the year-round, national emergency of extreme and persistent poverty. We need our lawmakers to support proven programs such as Medicaid and Food Stamps. The well-being of children and families tragically affected by Hurricane Katrina — and by the perennial devastation of poverty — hangs in the balance.
Kathy Bigsby Moore is executive director of Voices for Children in Nebraska, a statewide, nonprofit organization committed to educating the public about the needs of children and improving conditions when and where necessary.