On Feb. 14, the Obama administration
announced a $3.73 trillion federal budget aimed at reducing the
deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2017 at the expense of poor and
working people. The budget would devastate vital programs like the
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, community development
grants and Pell grants.
Although the administration claims that
it does not have the money to fund these programs, Obama recently
agreed to sign an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Including $118 billion of earmarks, the Pentagon would receive an
absurd $671 billion under the proposed budget.
These budget cuts as well as the
austerity measures being imposed by states have nothing to do with
“fiscal responsibility.” As the political arm of the capitalist
class, the government will, at all levels, attempt to shift the
burden of the economic crisis onto the working class. Only a militant
movement of working and poor people can combat this injustice.
