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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Joseph Rendeiro
(202) 776-1566
jrendeiro@nclr.org
LATINO LEADERS CALL ON CONGRESS TO AVERT ECONOMIC CRISIS AND RESTORE INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Today, leaders of member organizations of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) called on Congress to end the government shutdown and pass a federal budget that invests in our future and creates jobs. The government is in its tenth day of shutdown and lawmakers have made little progress toward a deal to reopen it before the nation reaches its borrowing limit on October 17.
As part of NHLA’s “Latinos United for a Fair Economy” campaign, Latino leaders at today’s press conference warned that the shutdown and the looming fight over the debt ceiling will only hurt the economy and worsen the harm that sequestration and previous budget cuts have already inflicted on Hispanics.
“After suffering some of the worst effects of the Great Recession, such as higher rates of unemployment and foreclosure than most of the population, Latinos were hit again as budget cuts and sequestration took effect, eroding the programs that provide Latinos opportunity and important basic services. Now the shutdown is making a difficult situation even worse,” said Hector Sanchez, Chair of NHLA and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. “The votes are there in Congress to end this shutdown. Speaker Boehner and other congressional leaders need to simply allow a vote to reopen the government with no strings attached.”
“Over the last two elections Latino voters have sent a clear message to our lawmakers that we need to focus on jobs and fixing our economy,” said Eric Rodriguez, Vice President of the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at NCLR (National Council of La Raza). “Yet over the past two years, Congress has dithered on the budget, deepening already painful cuts that hurt families and stifle economic growth. To continue aggressively pursuing an agenda that is at direct odds with the interests of the Latino community has political and economic ramifications. Lawmakers must change course soon to avert an economic crisis, stop the cuts and restore investments in children and working families.”
The government shutdown comes on top of the irrational and arbitrary budget cuts known as sequestration, which took effect earlier this year and have gutted critical health, education and housing programs for struggling communities. As many as 21,000 Latino children may be kicked out of Head Start, 1.2 million low-income public school children could be cut off from reading and math help due to cuts in Title I funding and almost 300,000 adults and youth could lose out on job training and employment services.
“October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which makes it all the more tragic that we find ourselves in the midst of a government shutdown where many domestic violence service programs will need to lay off staff and reduce services to those in critical need,” said Rosie Hidalgo, Director of Public Policy for Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network. “Congress needs to pass legislation that restores access to funding for these lifesaving services as well as funding for many other important services for vulnerable populations.”
The Latino leaders insisted that there is a way out of the current predicament—pass a federal budget that invests in our future and creates jobs.
“First, House Republican leadership should allow members of Congress to vote on a clean funding bill to reopen the federal government. Second, both parties should work together to replace the sequester with investments in education, job training and other programs that provide opportunity and put our economy on a solid path toward growth well into the future,” said Brent Wilkes, NHLA Vice Chair and National Executive Director of the League for United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
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