Update on the sequestration from End Hunger CT!

Fiscal Showdown on March 1, 2013 - Who Will Sequestration Impact? On March 1 a series of automatic cuts, called a sequester, will take effect. The automatic cuts are substantial and will occur across all discretionary defense and non-defense unless Congress takes further action to reach agreement on a budget. The cuts were originally scheduled to take place on Jan 1, 2013 but as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 Congress agreed to replace the first two months of sequestration with a combination of revenue and spending cuts. Unless Congress acts now, the remaining cuts will take effect starting March 1. The White House has released state-by-state reports about the damaging impact sequestration will have on many of us unless Congress acts now.   The cuts include $31.4 billion in funding to domestic programs such as WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children), Head Start, child care, housing, home energy and homelessness aid, education and training and much more. In addition, Medicare will be cut by $11.2 billion. The consequence to these cuts would mean lack of access to important nutrition programs through WIC, Headstart and After School Programs.  Cuts to Meals on Wheels would result in fewer meals served to older adults, many of whom depend on those meals to provide half of their daily nutrition.     Financial (non-food program) cuts that would hurt low-income families:  HUD cuts that would place about 125,000 families at immediate risk of losing their permanent housing. Recipients of emergency Unemployment Compensation would face benefit cuts of 9.4%. Cuts that impact everyone, regardless of economic status: The U.S. will lose more jobs: Cuts to Title 1 Education funds mean that 10,000 teachers, aides and staff are at risk due to the elimination of funding for 2,700 schools and up to 7,200 special education teachers, aides and staff could be cut.  Cuts to food safety will result in 2,100 fewer food inspections putting everyone at risk of becoming ill from food borne bacteria and costing billions in lost food production.  Cuts to mental health could mean that 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children to untreated. These are just a few examples of the many areas that will be impacted if sequestration takes place.   Call or e-mail your congressional representative to tell him or her to vote against cuts and instead call for revenue solutions.   Too many people, our friends and our neighbors, depend on these programs to not have a serious plan.    March 1 is this Friday! Please act now to tell Congress you do not want these harmful cuts to take place.