Top 10 Reasons the Senate Budget is bad for Kids, Middle Class Families and Our Future
- 15 NEW tax loopholes; zero eliminated – The Senate plans to add 15 new tax breaks while not eliminating even one existing corporate giveaway.
- Raids school trust funds; spend the same dollars twice – Swipes $166 million of the Common School Construction Fund for the operating budget, not only is this a fund the constitution dictates must go toward school construction, but they already spent the money earlier this year. Kills jobs and community investments – Permanently removes money from the Public Works Assistance Account that creates jobs by building community projects that local governments depend on.
- Jeopardizes our seniors – Cuts care for the elderly that lets them stay in their homes, sending them to nursing homes and costing everyone more.
- Cruelly cuts the lifeline for aged, blind, disabled and homeless people – 20,000 of our most vulnerable Washingtonians will lose their lifeline ending up hungry and on our streets and homeless families would lose access to transitional housing services.
- Shortchanges our earliest learners – Cuts funding for quality childcare, eliminates early learning opportunities, and adds no funding for decreasing K-3 class size.
- Permanently Cuts Teacher Pay – Would permanently eliminate voter approved teacher salary cost of living adjustments making it harder to keep quality teachers in our schools.
- Takes the “green” out of Evergreen – Makes huge cuts in the Department of Ecology, endangering our air and water.
- Chooses corporate tax loopholes over middle-class families – Slashes programs families depend on like worker retraining and cuts childcare for thousands of working families and single moms.
- No details & imaginary solutions – Makes up $300 million in unspecified “administrative and other efficiencies” without any details and counts $40 million in made-up revisions and “future under-spending” despite the fact that it probably won’t happen.