[acb-hsp] 12 Ways the Sequester Will Screw the Poor

[peter altschul]

12 Ways the Sequester Will Screw the Poor
  Erika Eichelberger February 25, 2013 Mother Jones
  When Congress agreed on automatic slash-and-burn spending cuts 
in 2011--if no big bipartisan deficit reduction package could be 
achieved--the cuts were designed to be so unpalatable that 
Republicans and Democrats would feel compelled to concoct a 
better deal to replace them.  President Barack Obama says 
avoiding the deep cuts, called sequestration in DC-speak, should 
be a "no-brainer." But Republicans are increasingly saying the 
sequester won't be so bad.  Sen.  Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said 
Thursday that the $85 billion in cuts "would really help a long 
way and get us on a sustainable fiscal path."
  One problem is that many poor Americans rely on services the 
government provides.  The White House released a report Sunday 
emphasizing the ways in which the cuts will hurt the middle 
class, but although important entitlement programs such as 
Medicaid, Social Security, and food stamps are exempt from 
sequestration, many programs for low-income families are on the 
chopping block.  Here are 12 of them:
  Public housing subsidies: $1.9 billion in cuts would affect 
125,000 low-income people who would lose access to vouchers to 
help them with their rent.
  Foreclosure prevention: 75,000 fewer people would receive 
foreclosure prevention, rental, and homeless counseling services.
  Emergency housing: 100,000 formerly homeless people could be 
removed from their current emergency shelters.
  Educational programs: Learning programs for poor kids would see 
a total of $2.7 billion in cuts.  The $400 million slashed from 
Head Start, the preschool program for poor children, would result 
in reduced services for some 70,000 kids.
  Title I Funding: The Department of Education's Title I program, 
the biggest federal education program in the country, subsidizes 
schools that serve more than a million disadvantaged students.  
It would see $725 million in cuts.
  Rural rental assistance: Cuts to the Department of Agriculture 
would result in the elimination of rental assistance for 10,000 
very low-income rural people, most of whom are single women, 
elderly, or disabled.
  Social Security: Although Social Security payments themselves 
won't be scaled back, cuts to the program would result in a 
massive backlogging of disability claims.
  Unemployment benefits: More than 3.8 million people getting 
long-term unemployment benefits would see their monthly payments 
reduced by as much as 9.4 percent, and would lose an average of 
$400 in benefits over their period of joblessness.
  Veterans services: The Transition Assistance Program would be 
forced to cut back some of the job search and career transition 
services it provides to 150,000 vets a year.
  Nutritional Assistance for Women and Children: The government's 
main food stamp program is exempt from cuts, but other food 
programs would take a hit.  Some 600,000 women and children would 
be cut from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, 
Infants, and Children, which provides nutrition assistance and 
education.
  Special education: $978 millioninin in cuts would affect 30.7 
million children.  For example, the scaling back of federal 
grants to states for students with disabilities would mean that 
cash-strapped states and districts would have to come up with the 
salaries for thousands of teachers, aides, and staff that serve 
special needs kids.
  Job training programs: $37 million would be slashed from a job 
retraining and placement program called Employment Services, and 
$83 million would be cut from Job Corps, which provides 
low-income kids with jobs and education.