The budget now being considered is disastrous for women and all American families. The Fiscal Year 1996-2001 budget pending in Congress will set the broad priorities for many years to come, but Congress still has to decide on exact spending each year. Now is the time to make your voice heard!

Ask Congress and the President to use the following minimum guidelines for the seven-year budget package now under consideration:

• Reject cuts to social programs, particularly the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which will penalize low-income families and poor children.

• Urge President Clinton to reject Congressional attempts to overturn the federal welfare guarantee of income support for poor children.

• Support reductions in spending for unnecessary weapons (like the B­2 bomber) and end Pentagon waste, fraud and abuse; support a plan for military to civilian conversion.

• Increase investments in education, infrastructure, and job training.

• Reject tax breaks to the wealthy and end corporate welfare.

• Engage in gradual debt reduction.

This is an election year
Register to vote, educate yourself and others, and get out and vote! Write letters to the editor and get on radio talk shows. Contact the national office of your religious denomination for materials on economic justice. Hold community meetings. Distribute this resource widely and join with organizations in your community to protest the emerging priorities in Congress.

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
1213 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 563-7110

Feminist Majority Foundation
1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 801
Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 522-2214

Women's Actions for New Directions (WAND)
691 Massachusetts Avenue
Arlington, MA 02174 (617) 643-6740

National Welfare Rights Union
10 Glendale, Suite 109
Highland Park Community College
Highland Park, MI 48230 (313) 868-3660

Endnotes:

1. Converting the American Economy (Employment Research Associates, 1991).

2. Sources for investments were: US Federal Budget, FY95 (Office of Management and Budget); Converting the American Economy; State of America's Children (Children's Defense Fund, 1995); The Women's Budget (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1991).

3. McNamara/Korb Statement, 1992; Forsberg in Boston Review (1992); Wiesner, Morrison, Tsipis, Beyond the Looking Glass: The United States Military in 2000 & Later (MIT, 1993); Employment Research Associates, Converting the American Economy (1991); Economic Policy Institute, Converting the Cold War Economy (1992); Military Spending Working Group, 1995.

4. Center for Defense Information, 1992.

5. New York Times, 8/14/95.

6. United Nations Development Program, 1994.

7.World Military and Social Expenditures, 1993.

This resource was written by Jane Midgley and produced by the Women's Budget Project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, in conjunction with the organizations listed above.

Women's Budget Intro | How Is the Pie Sliced? | What Do Women Want? | Military Budget Cuts Overdue
What Are the Trade-Offs? | What You Can Do