CHN: CHN Launches New Federal Budget Campaign

The President’s irresponsible and unfair budget reduces access to basic resources such as food, shelter, education, and health care for all. In response to the proposed budget, the Coalition on Human Needs is launching a new budget project. “The Opportunity for All Campaign” will mobilize our community and fight for a federal budget that protects the services and benefits needed to provide opportunities and a safety net for low- and moderate-income families.
The federal budget should express a practical commitment to build a nation in which every American, young and old alike, is free from hunger, is adequately housed, and has access to health care. It should include concrete steps to enable parents to have the jobs, skills, and supports they need to raise safe and healthy families, and to ensure every child has the chance to learn and grow in order to become a productive citizen. The President’s budget does not do that.

As part of our budget campaign, CHN will compile the work of its members to produce a comprehensive analysis of how programs for low-income people fare in the budget. We will also be providing periodic updates as Congress debates the budget. As part of the budget campaign, CHN held a briefing on the President’s budget on February 9 for Hill staff and advocates. You can find the materials from briefing by clicking here

But learning about the budget is not enough. The personal involvement of adocates and ordinary folks in the campaign is essential to our success. If you would like to be a part of the Opportunity for All Campaign, send an email to ahughes@chn.org with “subscribe budget campaign” in the subject.

We will be calling on you to lend your voice – by picking up the phone to make a call to a key Senator, sending an email at a crucial time, or writing a letter. You can send this article to all your networks and invite them to be a part of this campaign.

Resources You Can Use Right Now
CHN FY 2005 Budget Resources Page
Has links to press statements and analyses of the President’s budget done by CHN member organizations and materials presented at the CHN hill briefing on the budget.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
President’s Budget Contains Larger Cuts in Domestic Discretionary Programs Than Has Been Reported
Analysis of the President’s Budget
This paper explains the proposed budget rules and why the budget does not cut the deficit in half by 2009.

OMB Watch
2005 Federal Budget Continues Fiscal Decline

Center for American Progress
Budget Resource Page

National Priorities Project
The President’s Budget: Impact on the States

Budget and Appropriations
Policy Analyses and Research
SNAP