FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2012
CONTACT:
Kaine for Virginia Press Office
(804) 359-7106
press@kaineforva.com
“WE MAKE CUTS ELSEWHERE” ALLEN EMBRACES PLAN TO GUT SERVICES FOR SENIORS, VULNERABLE
Secretary of Defense Says Allen Approach Makes Sequestration More Likely
Richmond, VA – During an interview with WHSV's Bob Corso yesterday, George Allen was asked yet again for his proposal to avoid the sequestration cuts that will occur if Congress does not act by the end of the year. George Allen opted to embrace the House of Representatives proposal passed in May. As Allen said when pressed on the issue, “Well we make cuts elsewhere, and I think the cuts – well we start off with something similar, if not exactly, but something similar to what the House passed.”
Just what does Allen mean by “cut elsewhere?”
By the numbers, here’s what Allen’s “cut elsewhere” method championed by the House Republicans would mean for Virginia:
56,000 – Number of Seniors Kicked off Virginia’s Meals on Wheels Program
300,000 – Number of Federal Employees in Virginia Who are Forced to Pay More for Retirement
600,000 – Number of Virginia Children who Rely on Medicaid that would be Cut by $22.7 billion
914,445 – Number of Virginians on Nutrition Assistance that Would be Cut by $36 billion
AND
1 – Number of Secretaries of Defense that have said this proposal will increase the chance of sequestration (so far…)
“[B]y taking these funds from the poor, middle-class Americans, homeowners and other vulnerable parts of our American constituencies the guaranteed results will be confrontation, gridlock and a greater likelihood of sequester.” – Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta
Allen's support for the House plan is telling. He would stand by as hundreds of thousands of Virginians – from seniors to children – would aversely be affected by devastating cuts to social programs instead of raising a dime of new revenue, even from extraordinarily profitable big oil companies who don't need taxpayer assistance to be profitable. He would ignore the warnings of the Secretary of Defense who has said plainly that Allen's preferred approach would INCREASE gridlock and make sequestration MORE likely. All so he can keep his promise to Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist to never raise a dime of revenue. That's precisely why Virginia can't afford another six years of George Allen.
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