Another bad budget for the other half

The other half are always at the mercy of those in charge. That's the lesson we seem to learn all too often. And it is the lesson that we were forced to learn once again yesterday when Congress approved a budget bill that maintains the president's tax cuts, but has little to offer to those that have little voice.

Here is a quote from today's Washington Post story (which was far better than the story in The New York Times):

In recent days, separate Congressional Budget Office documents estimated that Medicaid changes would impose new costs on 13 million poor recipients and end insurance coverage for 65,000 Medicaid enrollees, that cuts to federal child-support enforcement funds would shift costs to the states and eliminate billions of dollars in child-support payments, and that changes made to the Senate-passed budget package saved private Medicare insurers $22 billion over 10 years.

Not something unexpected, when you get right down to it, but the vote was closer than I would have imagined. That said, it is pretty clear that the folks at the bottom will remain at the bottom for some time and tha the folks at the top don't care.

So do what you can to help. Buy a copy of Voices of Reason, or donate directly to a local soup kitchen. Or volunteer. But help.

-- Hank Kalet