RSS | Newsletters | Facebook CAP en EspaƱol
Center for American Progress Center for American Progress
Issues Economy Federal Budget

Republican Budget Cuts Promote 'Trickle Up' Poverty

How appropriate that Washington’s most challenging budget crisis in decade coincides with the Republican Party’s centenary birthday celebration of Ronald Reagan, whose attacks on “welfare queens” and the social safety net in the name of deficit reduction caused indisputable collateral damage to middle class Americans. The Ronnie-like budget cuts that Republican leaders are proposing today—against unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing—all boast the potential to carry on the Reagan tradition of hurting the very middle class they aspire to help. 

Why? Because the cuts to the programs the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives are targeting would increase poverty, and more poverty lowers property values, diminishes the quality of life, and drives up family taxes and expenses of middle class Americans.

Read more here.

This article was originally published in The Hill.

To speak with our experts on this topic, please contact:

Print: Katie Peters (economy, education, and health care)
202.741.6285 or kpeters@americanprogress.org

Print: Christina DiPasquale (foreign policy and security, energy)
202.481.8181 or cdipasquale@americanprogress.org

Print: Laura Pereyra (ethnic media, immigration)
202.741.6258 or lpereyra@americanprogress.org

Radio: Anne Shoup
202.481.7146 or ashoup@americanprogress.org

TV: Lindsay Hamilton
202.483.2675 or lhamilton@americanprogress.org

Web: Andrea Peterson
202.481.8119 or apeterson@americanprogress.org

Subscribe to RSS Feeds

RSS IconSite-Wide and Issue-Specific RSS Feeds

Related Materials

The Rich and Powerful Really Are Rich and Powerful, by Michael Linden

House Republican Cuts for Kids by the Numbers, by Melissa Boteach

Protecting Wasteful Military Spending at All Costs, by Melissa Boteach, Lawrence J. Korb, Max Hoffman

The Richest 1 Percent Get More, Pay Less, by Michael Linden

The Federal Budget and Gay and Transgender Families, by Crosby Burns

Also by Donna Cooper

Auditing the Cost of the Virginia Tech Massacre, April 12, 2012

House Republicans Want to Punish the Poor, March 26, 2012

Interactive Map: House Republicans' Latest Assault on Nutrition Assistance, March 26, 2012