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ABOUT USThe Minnesota Budget Project is an initiative of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
Federal Budget Reconciliation UpdateIt’s
been a long and strange 2005 budget reconciliation process, and with a vote
in the U.S. House yesterday, one stage of it has come to an end. Our
voices were heard,
and many Minnesota Representatives voted against the budget reconciliation
legislation in yesterday’s vote. In particular, Representative Ramstad
voted against this legislation, as did Representatives McCollum, Oberstar,
Peterson, and Sabo. It is particularly noteworthy that Rep. Ramstad
switched from supporting the House-Senate agreement on budget
reconciliation to opposing it after hearing from constituents and nonprofits
about the harmful impacts the bill would have on Unfortunately,
the budget reconciliation legislation passed on a 216 to 214 vote, with
Minnesota Representatives Gutknecht, Kennedy, and Kline voting for it. If
you are a constituent of one of these Representatives, please call and let them
know you are disappointed with their vote, and hope they will hold
the line against further pain for low-income families, children, people with
disabilities, and other Minnesotans as they face budget decisions in 2006. Contact
information for Minnesota’s congressional delegation is available at www.mncn.org/fedcontact.htm. What
Happens Next?
The
budget reconciliation conference agreement has finished its journey through
Congress and will be sent to President Bush for his signature. The state
of Minnesota will have to decide about whether to implement some of the changes in health
care and welfare-to-work policies, and we’ll keep you informed about that
discussion in the Minnesota Legislature. The
second component of the 2005 budget reconciliation – the tax
cut portion – was not finished in December and so is still moving
through Congress towards a House-Senate conference committee, which
will convene shortly. Stay tuned for more information about this
legislation as it progresses. The 2005 budget reconciliation
process allows for $70 billion in tax cuts — significantly more than the
$40 billion in spending cuts, meaning overall budget reconciliation will
increase the federal deficit. Much of these tax cuts will go to
benefit very wealthy Americans. The
President will be releasing his proposed FY 2007 budget shortly. Based
on news reports and the President's State of the Union address, it is clear that
the new budget will propose further deep cuts in domestic spending and
another round of tax cuts that would increase the deficit. The strong
response from Minnesota
on budget reconciliation gives us a good starting point to work against more
damaging budget decisions being made in 2006. February 2, 2006 |
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