Members of the Congressional Black Caucus present alternate budget

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have presented an alternative budget for the 2013 fiscal year that they said slashes deficits, eliminates the sequester and protects those programs which are safety nets for the most vulnerable.

“Since 1981, the Congressional Black Caucus has presented alternate budgets which lowers deficits and alleviates harm in a fiscally sound manner,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio). “I do not believe we should sacrifice the community to balance the budget.”

“I’m extremely proud of this budget. I think it’s the best one offered so far.”

Ms. Fudge was joined by Reps. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in a media conference call on Friday, March 15. Each criticized the budget released recently by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan because of its over-reliance on savaging Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while calling for even greater cuts to taxes for the richest Americans.

“There are different priorities between us and the Republicans,” said Scott. “I wouldn’t call what the Republicans produced a budget. It’s a document. We use a pre-sequester baseline and parts of our budget eliminates the sequester … there is US$500 billion invested to accelerate the nation’s economic recovery, we restore cuts to education, there’s 10 years of deficit reduction of US$1.2 trillion. We spent money in different ways and exceeded Simpson-Bowles by US$400 million.”

Simpson-Bowles refers to a commission brought together by President Barack Obama to find a recipe of spending cuts and revenue to balance the budget.

Scott explained that Congress has already implemented US$2.4 trillion in tax cuts, adding that US$1.6 trillion in cuts is needed to put the country on a sustainable path. He said the Congressional Black Caucus taskforce found US$4 trillion in cuts by focusing on closing corporate loopholes and special interest benefits, noting that “a lot more could have been found.”

This is budget season in the nation’s capital with both political parties, as well as Obama, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and a range of other entities and groups putting forward their version of what the budget should look like.

Read more: The Washington Informer