Ahead of Vote on Budget Resolution, IFPTE Tells House of Representatives to Oppose Cuts to Federal Employee Benefits, Medicaid, and SNAP to Fund Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest
Before the House of Representatives vote to pass a Budget Resolution on Tuesday night on a party line vote, IFPTE sent lawmakers a letter outlining the union’s strong opposition to any cuts to federal employee health and retirement benefits, Medicaid, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The House Budget Resolution is a bill that sends instructions to various Congressional committees to find budget cuts and dollar-amount targets for each committee. The House Budget Committees will then assemble a Budget Reconciliation bill, which is a bill that is solely meant to change revenue and spending levels and not other policy. Unlike other legislation, a Budget Reconciliation bill only requires a simple majority to advance to a Senate vote, and the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for advancing bills does not apply to Budget Reconciliation bills.
IFPTE’s letter voices opposition to the Budget Resolution as the goal of House Republican leadership is “a whopping $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years for the very wealthy and corporations while cutting $2 trillion from programs that working Americans depend on.” The tax cuts being discussed by the House Republican leadership “would stifle economic growth for years to come and could put at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs in energy, manufacturing, and other industries.”
In particular, IFPTE is advocating that lawmakers oppose any changes to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) that would cut benefits and/or increase the employee contribution to FERS, which is functionally a pay cut. Cuts to the government’s share of Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) premiums may also be under consideration, which would increase the employee share of the FERS premium.
IFPTE is also sounding the alarm on the massive cuts to Medicaid, which will have widespread impacts on rural and community hospital systems, state and local government budgets, and working people who will be dealing with fewer care options, more expensive care, and a shrinking safety net for the working poor and retirees who count on Medicaid.