GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Obama and Romney remain silent on sequestration, agree on Social Security cuts
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates called for immediate action in Congress to stop looming cuts to housing and other social services as a result of sequestration. Greens called the sequestration cuts and proposed Social Security reductions a bipartisan attack on the safety net for middle- and low-income and poor Americans.
"Sequestration" means automatic across-the-board cuts in discretionary funding that will be triggered if Congress fails to produce a deficit reduction bill with at least $1.2 trillion in cuts, according to the Budget Control Act of 2011. President Obama signed this bill into law in August 2011 after negotiations with Republican members of Congress.
Cuts from sequestration will also hurt public education, veterans' programs, small businesses, and many other essential services. The 'Green New Deal' proposed by Green presidential nominee Jill Stein would provide sufficient funding to preserve and expand these services (http://www.jillstein.org/green_new_deal).
1, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States:
"The indiscriminate cuts imposed by sequestration will be a disaster for millions of Americans who depend on affordable housing, child assistance, community development programs, and other basic services. When sequestration kicks in on Jan. 3, 2013, across-the-board reductions will mean a loss of 250,000 housing vouchers and hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their homes. Greens insist that core government services be maintained and urged deep reductions in military spending instead. We support full funding for the National Housing Trust Fund. We demand an immediate halt to foreclosures and a permanent extension of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, which will expire in 2014."
See also: National Low Income Housing Coalition http://nlihc.org
Cheri Honkala, Green nominee for Vice President of the United States (http://www.jillstein.org), co-founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (http://www.jillstein.org/cheri_honkala / http://economichumanrights.org):
"The deficit is a result of tax cuts for the wealthy and money borrowed for America's 'endless' wars. How do we solve the deficit? End the wars and make the one percent pay their fair share. Unfortunately, President Obama shares the Bush Administration's enthusiasm for military aggression and has cooperated with GOP demands for tax cuts for the one percent. Top corporations still get away with paying zero or near-zero taxes. The deficit is a result of government limited to two pro-Wall Street warhawk parties."
G. Lee Aikin, candidate for 'Shadow' U.S. Representative for the District of Columbia (http://gleeaikin.blogspot.com):
"Obama and Romney agree on cuts to Social Security. President Obama admitted this during the Oct. 3 debate. ["I suspect that on Social Security, we've got a somewhat similar position."] Social Security doesn't add to the deficit, because it's a separate account. Social Security is not in danger right now and any projected future shortfall can be fixed easily by modestly raising the cap for high-income earners. The delay in eligibility age recommended by President Obama's Fiscal Responsibility Commission will mean 'work till you die' for many working Americans, especially those with statistically shorter life expectancies, like low-income workers and Blacks. What we're seeing is a bipartisan attack on Social Security, in cooperation with greedy corporate lobbies that want Americans' retirement money invested in the Wall Street casino."
See "Saving Social Security, Wage Cap, Marriage Penalty, Failure to Index" by Ms. Aikin: http://gleeaikin.blogspot.com/2012/10/saving-social-security-wage-cap.html
Howard Switzer, candidate for U.S. House in Tennessee, 7th District (http://howardswitzer.com/2012):
"The looming threat to the social safety net because of sequestration has been completely ignored in the Obama-Romney debates -- along with climate change, the Trans-Pacific Partnership's threat to jobs and the environment, mass incarceration of young black and brown people in the private prison-industrial complex, impunity for Wall Street criminals, dismantling of civil liberties and constitutional protections, and other urgent issues. Only Green Jill Stein, Cheri Honkala, and other Green candidates are talking about them."
Mr. Switzer interviewed by PoliticIt.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVqb08eU9K8
