Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel

After a couple of weeks of intense debate over budget plans proposed in the House and Senate, you may feel that this week’s Congressional recess is a welcome break from talk of taxes and spending, deficits and debt. But Congress is back in session April 8 – and the budget battles will return, too.

You may have heard that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his FY 2014 budget plan this week – and that it is bad news for women and families. Like Chairman Ryan’s previous budget plans, the latest version would make deep cuts to programs that women and their families depend on while giving lavish tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

The good news is that Chairman Ryan’s budget is not the only plan circulating on Capitol Hill this week. Yesterday afternoon, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) released her own budget blueprint for FY 2014. In stark contrast to the Ryan budget, the Murray budget proposes new investments in early childhood programs, largely protects core safety net programs (although it includes some cuts to funding for health care programs that could be worrisome), and advances tax fairness. For example, Chairman Murray’s budget:

• Supports key investments in our future. The Murray budget calls for new investments to expand access to pre-K, child care, Head Start, Early Head Start and home visiting services for parents with young children, helping more children prepare to succeed in school while giving more parents the support they need to work. The budget also invests in measures to speed up the economic recovery, including a $100 billion fund to support job training and infrastructure projects that would create new jobs and strengthen the economy.  
• Protects critical supports for vulnerable families and individuals.  Chairman Murray’s budget protects Social Security and most core safety net programs, which are particularly important to women because they face a greater risk of poverty than men at all stages of their lives. The budget also permanently extends improvements to the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit that lift millions of women and children out of poverty each year. And it secures funding to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that women will have greater access to affordable health insurance and preventive care services.