Congresswoman Lowey Blasts GOP Budget; Warns of Lost Services

PRESS RELEASE FROM CONGRESSWOMAN NITA LOWEY – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday outlined what she says would be the devastating impact of the House Republican budget.

“This budget is wildly out of step with the fair and balanced approach that Americans expect and deserve,” said Congresswoman Lowey. “In fact, this budget is just more of the same Romney-Ryan policies that the American people rejected in November.”

Lowey says Republican budget would:

· Increase prescription drug costs for 226,000 seniors in New York State
· Force 2.3 million seniors in the state to pay more for preventive health services
· Restrict access to 2.9 million New Yorkers aged 45-54 to the traditional Medicare program and force them into a voucher program when they turn 65
· Slash $78 billion in Medicaid funding for nursing home care and other services for seniors and the disabled in New York, harming the care that nursing home residents receive.

Of the impact of the Ryan budget on women and families, Lowey said:

· Of the two million jobs the Economic Policy Institute estimates would be lost in 2014 alone due to this budget, 930,000 women would be affected
· Because the GOP budget repeals the benefits of Affordable Care Act, insurance companies would be allowed once again to treat being a woman as a “pre-existing” condition and to charge women more than men for the same coverage
· About 6 million women students would receive less assistance for college due to $83 billion in cuts in Pell Grants
· Parents of tens of thousands of children would be impacted by an 18 percent cut in help with child care expenses in 2014
· Sixty six percent of individuals who depend on senior meals like Meals on Wheels are women. Senior meals would be cut by 18 percent in 2014
· Approximately 200,000 children could lose access to Head Start in 2014.

“Budgets are a statement of values,” said Congresswoman Lowey. “I will continue to support a budget that makes my values clear: create jobs, strengthen the middle class, expand the economy, and reduce the deficit in a way that is responsible and fair.”

Lowey also highlighted the contradictions included in the Republican budget proposal, including its proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act while also counting on the savings contained in the law.

  GOP Budget, House Republican budget, nita lowey, romney, ryan