Senator
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: After Katrina--get economic priorities straight!

Dear Senator ,

Beyond the devastation, the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina has left in its wake many troubling questions about federal budget and policy priorities and about the capacity of the federal government to carry out its primary function -- to "establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare..."

I very strongly urge you to take immediate action to change the dysfunctional course of misplaced federal funding priorities by:

1. Ensuring full funding for the health care, housing, nutrition, employment and education needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina..
2. Abandoning all plans to extend or grant additional tax breaks to wealthy individuals and corporations.
3. Abandoning the budget reconciliation plan to cut health care and nutrition programs for low-income families.

The disaster has laid bare the devastating impact of decades of misplaced priorities that have favored the rich over the poor, marginalized communities of color, failed to address a growing energy crisis, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on war and preparations for war.

I urge you to shift federal budget and policy priorities away from a bleak future of perpetual war toward the peaceful prevention of deadly conflict by meeting basic human needs at home and abroad, advancing human rights, and reducing the U.S. and the world’s dangerous, harmful dependence on oil.

This is no time for more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans nor for cutting spending for the poorest Americans. Providing sufficient resources for Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs that serve the poorest and most vulnerable people in our communities should replace tax cuts. I urge you to oppose tax cuts for the wealthiest and spending cuts for the poorest in all present and future budget reconciliation bills.

The people of the Gulf Coast need the federal government's help now. So do the millions of people elsewhere around the country who live in deepening poverty and without health care coverage. The deep economic disparity and dismal poverty revealed in New Orleans in the wake of the hurricane can be found in cities, rural areas, and Indian reservations across this country.

Please take immediate action to correct these disastrous inequities. I will join many millions of Americans in closely following the actions of our government in the coming months in dealing with these life and death issues.