By Catalyst Miami President/CEO Daniella Levine
The
U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget proposal at the end of
March, ironically titled "The Path to Prosperity." Chairman Ryan from
Wisconsin, the architect of this wrongheaded proposal, recently spoke of
trying to help those living in poverty with this budget. Unfortunately,
the budget proposal does the complete opposite. It slashes education,
training, nutrition and health care, weakening both protections for
people in need and the help that can lead to employment and a more
secure future.
Although the economy is starting to
recover, people in Florida are still struggling. Unemployment here
peaked at 11.4 percent in January 2010 and still remains unacceptably
high at 9.6 percent today. If you count the number of people who have
given up looking for work or can’t get as many hours as they want, the
rate rises to 18.2%. Almost 1 in 7 Florida residents and almost 1 in 5
children are living in poverty. We need to see budget solutions that
respond to our needs. We need to invest in jobs for unemployed workers,
protect low-income people in our communities, and raise fair revenues
instead of balancing the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable.
Our recent report published with the Coalition on Human Needs outlines some of the choices our Members of Congress are facing in Washington.
