Congress Cuts Aid For The Poor While Boosting The Defense Budget
Highlights of the $1 trillion-plus 2012 spending legislation (How much money is one trillion? It’s over half a football field two pallets high of 100 dollar bills) in Congress:
- $518 billion for the Pentagon’s core budget, a 1 percent boost ( to a budget that already makes up 20 percent of the country’s total budget) , excluding military operations overseas which would add up to $662 billion.
The Senate voted 86-13 for the sweeping bill. The bill would authorize money for military personnel, weapons systems, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and national security programs in the Energy Department. The legislation is $27 billion less than Obama wanted for the Pentagon and other accounts (Source, Dec 15).
- $3.5 billion for low-income heating and utility subsidies, a cut of about 25 percent. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has become increasingly vital for American families affected by the recession, and it is utilized more and more by military families. One of every five families using LIHEAP is a military family, a 156 percent increase from 2008 (Source, Dec 16).
Poverty in America is only getting worse, with data showing rising income inequality and the startling fact that half of all Americans are now either in poverty or considered low-income. Here are some shocking economic numbers (Source, Dec 16):
- A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
- Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
- The number of children that live in poverty: 53.6% in Detroit; 52.6% in Cleveland; 40.1% in Atlanta; 36.4% in Philadelphia. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.
- Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
- Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7%) than has ever been measured before.
Were it not for the government programs that comprise the social safety net, those numbers would be even worse. More than a quarter would live in poverty without the safety net, according to one study, and Social Security alone kept 14 million out of poverty last year. Despite that, Congress – and particularly Republicans in Congress – have made cuts to various programs meant to aid the poorest Americans.
END TIMES TRUTH
Soon, all programs will be cut, and when no money is being used to quell those on hard times, the people will take to the streets and follow the pattern set by Egypt, because EGYPT is the setting for the reflection of the past when Moses delivered Yahweh’s children out of slavery.
