Human Needs Report

The Human Needs Report is the Coalition on Human Needs' newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. It is published every other week while Congress is in session.

If you would like to receive the Human Needs Report by email, send an message to Adam Hughes with "subscibe Human Needs Report" in the subject line.

Articles from February 15, 2002

• Bush Budget Weakens Low-Income Programs
  On February 4, President Bush sent Congress a $2.1 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2003. The proposed budget provides significant increases for defense and national security - and pays for these hikes by cutting or freezing spending on a host of critical domestic programs. Under the President's budget, discretionary spending would rise by nine percent, with a build-up in defense programs and homeland security initiatives accounting for most of the increase. Overall growth for programs not included in these two categories would be limited to two percent, falling well-short of the 3.8 percent increase needed to keep pace with inflation.
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• Senate Stimulus Bill Dies
  The Senate approved a proposal on February 6 to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by 13 weeks beyond the 26 weeks in current law. After months of heated partisan debate on an economic stimulus package, the UI benefits extension was the only provision on which Senators were able to agree. The House, by contrast, passed two GOP-written stimulus proposals before the winter recess, and the President included economic stimulus dollars in his budget proposal.
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