Chicago City Wire

This week Members of Congress all over the country are asked to support bipartisan legislation to raise the debt ceiling and maintain the full faith and credit of the U. S. Government.

Over the Memorial Day weekend and on May 29, 2023, I attended meetings with the White House, the Democratic Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus.  I have reviewed the proposal upside down and backwards and forwards, and currently I am prepared to go to Washington and represent the wishes of my district. 

I asked residents in the 7th Congressional District to weigh in on the fundamental questions about whether the United States should raise the debt ceiling, and more than 80% said yes and more than 80% said without any cuts in vital social services.

While poverty has decreased in the 7th congressional district, it is still high, while persons who are insured have increased in the 7th congressional district, there are still many individuals who still need healthcare.

The current debt ceiling proposal will cut:

• $9.9 billion dollars from the public health and social services emergency program fund
• $391 million from one education program alone
• $80 million from the restaurant revitalization fund
• $99 million from Minority Business Development
• $27 million from Child Care

In my district, we can anticipate huge cuts including:

Cutting Support Programs for People When They Most Need Help

• The 101,000 families in the 7th congressional district who get SNAP benefits and the roughly 251,000 people on Medicaid would face a mountain of paperwork just to keep their benefits.
• The 23,000 families below the poverty level will shoulder much of the burden of the broad budget cuts targeting safety net programs. This hurts families and the communities they live in.
• Across-the-board cuts jeopardize funding for Veterans Affairs health benefits that support the 19,000 veterans in the 7th Congressional district. This can cause delayed care and missed appointments that worsen health outcomes for our nation’s veterans.
• Republicans’ budget cuts hurt the 95,000 K-12 students in the 7th Congressional district when federal funds for education are cut.
• There are 83,000 households in the 7th congressional district that spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Many of these renters include low-income families who are eligible for rental assistance. Unfortunately, federal housing assistance only has enough funding for one in four eligible families, and Republicans want to cut this program even more.

There are some helpful protections in Snap for vulnerable students, homeless individuals, foster children who are aging out of care up to age 24.

There has been much conversation about work requirements and some massaging of what will be required.  There is a pilot program which will give (5) states the flexibility to shape programs to determine what works best to meet their objectives and fall within the TANF guidelines.  Many Members are concerned that the Defense proposal is to increase defense and cut domestic programs.

So, this week, I plan to fight, fight, fight for the poor, for business owners, for seniors, for unemployment benefits, for foster children, for the homeless, and for the people.

Original source can be found here.