Obama’s Last Budget Includes Many Latino Priorities, But Gridlock May Doom It
*It’s good that the President’s budget proposal contains items tha address Latino concerns, but because of political polarization the proposal is a non-starter. GOP leadership refused to consider the budget, they didn’t even see it. VL
By Hector E. Sanchez, Huffington Post Politics
The White House unveiled its budget proposal today but leaders in Congress want nothing to do with it. It’s a shame, because in the last federal budget proposal by this administration, the President has laid out a blueprint that’s consistent with many of the goals that Latino advocates have articulated to the White House andCongress in recent months and years.
First, it’s worth noting that this budget proposal follows the three main pillars of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda’s (NHLA) ongoing recommendations for building a fair economy. This budget proposal:
- Reduces the budget deficit — not through cuts on the backs of working families, but through new revenue, including 955 billion from those who have the greatest means to contribute more, and 170 billion in savings that comprehensive immigration reform would generate over a decade.
- Puts an end to sequestration, the arbitrary across-the-board cuts that threaten to hit every important domestic funding priority after next year.
- Increases investment in our economic future by investing more in our youth.
Second, while the President’s proposed increase in spending for domestic priorities is lower than we might wish for, at a very modest one percent, his administration targets this at boosting many of the educational and workforce investments that the NHLA coalition has consistently called for in recent years. This includes proposals to expand full-day Head Start, promote universal pre-school, increase access to quality child care, boost funding for STEM education in public schools, make two years of community college free for responsible students, expand apprenticeships, and invest in youth job training and summer jobs. Considering that one in fourchildren in America are Hispanic, these proposals give young Latinos the tools they need to succeed in their careers and life would strengthen our nation’s economy as well as increase the standard of living for Latino families.
The President’s budget proposal also offers tax reforms that should garner bipartisan support, especially the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to more working individuals without children and noncustodial …
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[Photo by The White House/Flickr]
