NWLC Statement On Debt Ceiling Deal

(Washington, D.C.)  Last evening President Obama and congressional leaders agreed to a deal to raise the federal debt limit that includes steep spending cuts but no new taxes.  This agreement follows several weeks of a partisan impasse that pushed the country to the brink of a government default.

The following is a statement by NWLC Co-President Nancy Duff Campbell:

“For months, far-right Members of Congress have been threatening to force the U.S. to default on its obligations unless Congress enacts devastating cuts to programs that are vital to women and their families. The debt ceiling deal averts the disaster of default but at a painful and unfair price. The deal would cut domestic discretionary programs – programs such as Head Start, K-12 education, Title X family planning, job training, domestic violence prevention, meals-on-wheels and other services for vulnerable people – by hundreds of billions of dollars but not touch a penny of the tax breaks enjoyed by millionaires and corporations.       

“In addition to the nearly $1 trillion in cuts to defense and non-defense programs over the next ten years, the deal would create a new congressional committee to propose an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by this November. That committee will have the authority to consider cuts to all spending programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Food Stamps, and revenue increases to help reduce the deficit. Though House Speaker John Boehner has already said that the House will not consider any tax increases on anyone, he should not be allowed to prevail.

“The congressional committee’s recommendations will be put to a vote in Congress by the end of this year; if Congress fails to enact sufficient reductions, automatic spending cuts would take effect beginning in 2013. While the automatic cuts would exempt a number of key safety-net programs, including Social Security, Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), discretionary programs for vulnerable people would be subject to additional, devastating cuts.   But tax subsidies and tax breaks would not be touched by these automatic cuts.

“This deal will weaken an already anemic economic recovery. For the millions of women and men who are still struggling to find jobs and already suffering from deep cuts in public services, the fact that this deal could have been worse provides little comfort. Americans deserve better.

“All those who care about the vulnerable among us should stand up and fight to ensure that Congress takes a more balanced approach to the deficit and makes job creation a higher priority in the months to come.”

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