The People's Budget - Parts 7 And 8

In opposition to the mean-spirited budgets proposed by Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has released their own budget proposal. They call it The People's Budget: A Roadmap For The Resistance. Here are parts seven and eight of that budget proposal:

7. COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND A JUST BORDER POLICY 

For years, we have spent exorbitant amounts of money on border enforcement without thoughtful consideration of our current economic and security needs, including impacts on border communities. The People's Budget provides funding for enhanced oversight, accountability and transparency in all aspects of border enforcement, including privacy protections, an end to racial and other profiling, and fundamental reform of Customs and Border Control (CBP) detention facilities. It ends funding for family detention centers that act as a misguided effort to deter Central American families and children fleeing violence from coming to the United States and prohibits detention quotas.

Our country needs an immigration system that honors our values of inclusion, diversity and equality. Today’s outdated immigration laws have failed workers, families, businesses and increasingly, our nation’s immigrants. Employers are unable to hire the workers they need. Immigrant workers are exploited. Families trying to reunite legally are separated for many years, and millions of individuals are forced to live in the shadows. Our budget adopts comprehensive immigration reform, which will generate substantial economic benefits. It’s the humane and fiscally responsible solution.

The People’s Budget helps immigrants integrate into American society and participate in the economy by becoming entrepreneurs, small business owners, innovators and future job creators. A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that comprehensive immigration reform would reduce the federal budget deficit by $197 billion over the next decade and $700 billion over the next 20 years. Comprehensive immigration reform will build a stronger society and economy. The time for reform is now.

The CPC Budget opposes any immigration policies which seek to ban people from entering our country because of their religion. Therefore, The People’s Budget explicitly prohibits funding to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency to implement President Trump’s executive order banning entry into the U.S. from six Muslim-majority nations and suspension of U.S. refugee programs.

The CPC Budget believes no funding shall be used to expand President Trump’s border wall and no taxpayer dollars shall be used to conduct immigration raids at sensitive locations, including schools, religious institutions, courthouses, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, hospitals and health clinics, community centers, and workplaces with active disputes between workers and management.
CPC stands with sanctuary cities and does not support eliminating federal funding for jurisdictions considered sanctuary cities or counties. Finally, The People’s Budget states the rights of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients must be protected. 

8. ACCESS TO HOUSING AND ELIMINATING HOMELESSNESS 

The People’s Budget makes key investments that ensure low and middle-income Americans have access to affordable housing. Currently, only 25 percent of qualifying families in need of housing assistance are receiving this essential benefit. In order for families to reach the middle class, home ownership must be within reach. The CPC Budget funds and supports programs to end family homelessness and the affordable housing crisis.

Increased Funding for Community Development Block Grants and HOME Program — Right now, extremely low-income families face an affordable housing shortage of 7.4 million apartments or homes, and this crisis continues to get worse due to the irresponsible sequester placed on federal agencies. The People’s Budget increases funding to the HOME and Community Development Block Grant programs, which allows communities to expand the number of affordable housing units for struggling families.

Sustain and Rebuild Public Housing — The CPC Budget will reverse the net loss of public and subsidized housing by fully restoring public housing operating funds to 100 percent of actual needs as determined by HUD. The budget will also provide direct capital grants to address the estimated $32 billion backlog of public housing repair needs over the next five years. 

End Family Homelessness — On any given night, 560,000 people are homeless, almost half of whom are families. In any given year, there are more than 1.3 million homeless children, up from 680,000 before the financial crisis. This catastrophe cannot continue, so The People’s Budget adopts Rep. Waters’ Ending Homelessness Act and provides $12.8 billion for several different federal programs and initiatives designed to bring homelessness in this country to zero through the creation of over 400,000 housing units.

We also fund 25,000 new permanent supportive housing units and provide 8,000 families with rapid rehousing assistance to support the efforts of cities, counties and tribes moving to eliminate homelessness in their communities. We fully fund McKinney Homeless programs and provide funds for supportive services to newly re-housed homeless people, where needed.

Fund Housing for Seniors and People with Disabilities — The CPC Budget restores full funding for Section 202 housing for low income seniors and Section 811 housing for people with disabilities. 

Restore and Increase Housing Vouchers — Our budget also restores and expands the funding of vouchers for low-income households to meet the need of millions of families who have been on
voucher waiting lists for years. We fund 400,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers over the next 10 years, with an aim to eliminate homelessness among veterans and families with children, as recommended by the Strategic Plan for the US interagency Council on Homelessness. The CPC Budget supports implementing a holistic strategy that would provide funding for outreach and case management to ensure that homeless people are effectively connected to the services that they need, as well as technical assistance to help states and local jurisdictions better align their health care and housing strategies.

Invest in New Affordable Housing — We expand investment to the National Housing Trust Fund to meet the affordable housing needs for low-income individuals and families.

Low Income Heating Assistance Program — Our budget commits to robust funding for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is critical to ensuring families can safely stay in their homes during harsh winters.