[NFBMT] Federal Budget Cuts

[Jim Marks]

Great, thanks much, Travis.  I just learned that the bill passed the Senate
committee approval and is headed to the Senate floor for a vote within just
a few hours.  Please act right away by asking Senators Daines and Tester to
oppose the bill.  I believe it's the tax bill, folks.  However, one can just
ask Daines an Tester to vote against the budget cuts for programs like
vocational rehabilitation.

Jim Marks
Blind.grizzly at gmail.com
(406) 438-1421

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMT [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Travis Moses via
NFBMT
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2017 3:42 PM
To: NFB of Montana Discussion List <nfbmt at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Travis Moses <travissmoses at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBMT] Federal Budget Cuts

     
 

 Done thanks Jim for the info.  
 

 
 

 
 
>  
> On Nov 28, 2017 at 3:28 PM,  <Jim Marks via NFBMT
(mailto:nfbmt at nfbnet.org)>  wrote:
>  
>  
>  
>  I just received the following information from the Council of State 
> Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation. It says that the proposed 
> federal budget cuts will severely damage public VR programs, including 
> Montana Blind and Low Vision Services. Other important government 
> programs are on the same chopping block. The current federal budget 
> expires on December 8, so there is very little time to provide our 
> input. We should each contact Senators Daines and Tester asking them 
> to oppose this frightening development. Joy, would you once again send 
> out their contact information? Calls and e-mails are best. Here is the
info:
>
>  
>
> This evening, Hill staff shared with us that if the Senate tax bill is 
> passed as is with the PAYGO, VR and many, many other programs will all 
> be zeroed out. The link below has a list of programs that will be gone 
> but we are asked to ignore the numbers and percentages as they are 
> old, which we learned tonight:
> <https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/sequestrati
> on_rep orts/2018_jc_sequestration_report_may2017_potus.pdf/>
> https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/sequestratio
> n_repo rts/2018_jc_sequestration_report_may2017_potus.pdf/. Hill 
> staffer says it is pretty unlikely the Senate tax bill passes as even 
> with the elimination of every program on the list, OMB will still be 
> short the money necessary to cover the deficit. It is also absolutely 
> possible this could happen but unclear how it would actually be 
> implemented. Again, VR isn't eliminated in the tax bill itself, but 
> the PAYGO would be devastating to just about every program in the 
> country - including financial aid for higher education, Centers for 
> Disease Control, Department of Justice, etc.
>
>  
>
> CSAVR staff will be drafting a letter tomorrow to the House and Senate 
> leadership, but we also think it is time for State Agencies to write 
> letters and to have your advocates write letters, just to be on the 
> safe side. We will be reaching out to other disability advocates in 
> the beltway tomorrow to see if we can join forces to respond. Stay tuned.
More to come!
>
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> Jim Marks
>
> Blind.grizzly at gmail.com  <mailto:Blind.grizzly at gmail.com>
>
> (406) 438-1421
>
>  
>
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