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House Republicans have called for nearly $1 trillion in cuts to vital
national services to pay for Katrina. But we can fully rebuild the
Gulf Coast without cutting services Americans need just by ending
Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. Please tell Congress today:
http://www.political.moveon.org/rebu...vKHzVq9CmA&t=1
]

[
Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, congressional Republicans responded to Hurricane Katrina by
proposing to cut nearly a trillion dollars from vital national
services, like health care for the poor and elderly, student loans,
Amtrak, and eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(again!).1 Republican leaders in Congress are now gauging the public's
response to see if they can get away with their plan. We need to show
them the answer is "no."

The cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast, while huge, is far less than
what President Bush has given away in tax cuts to the wealthiest one
percent.2 National crises like Hurricanes Rita and Katrina are times
for all Americans to stick together and put in our fair share.

So today we're launching an urgent petition to Congress to fully
rebuild the Gulf Coast and pay for it by ending Bush's tax cuts for
the very wealthy, not by slashing vital services that Americans need.
If we can gather a quarter million signatures this week, we can show
them that this destructive plan just won't fly.

Please sign today:

http://www.political.moveon.org/rebu...vKHzVq9CmA&t=3

The Republican proposal, titled "Operation Offset," was authored by
the Republican Study Committee, a group of over 100 influential
members of Congress, including powerful committee chairs and members
of the Republican leadership.3 The proposal starts with support from
at least these 100 representatives, and they are looking to quickly
build momentum.

A full reconstruction of the Gulf Coast region is generally estimated
to cost around $200 billion.4 We could more than meet this cost by
rolling back Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for just the wealthiest one
percent of the country, which would save us an estimated $327
billion.5

"Operation Offset," however, calls for an astounding $949 billion
dollars in cuts over 10 years to vital national services.6—almost five
times the full cost of reconstruction. To further put that in
perspective, it's also more than 4 times what we've spent in Iraq.7

This plan is not about "offsetting," or rebuilding—it's about
exploiting this crisis to push their longstanding goals for America.
As conservative movement leader Grover Norquist has often put it, the
goal is to get government "down to the size where we can drown it in
the bathtub."8 This proposal is their latest attempt to drown the
public sector.

The excess of the Republicans' proposed cuts is almost unbelievable.
You can read the full proposal he


http://www.political.moveon.org/imag...vKHzVq9CmA&t=4

Here are just some of the most egregious cuts:

$225 billion cut from Medicaid, the last-resort health insurance
program for the very poor.

$200 billion cut from Medicare, the health care safety net for the
elderly and the disabled.

$25 billion cut from the Centers for Disease Control

$6.7 billion cut from school lunches for poor children

$7.5 billion cut from programs to fight global AIDS

$5.5 billion to eliminate all funding for the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting
$3.6 billion cut to eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and
Humanities

$8.5 billion cut to eliminate all subsidized loans to graduate
students.

$2.5 billion cut from Amtrak

$2.5 billion to eliminate the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative

$417 million cut to eliminate the Minority Business Development Agency

$4.8 billion cut to eliminate all funding for the Safe and Drug-Free
schools program
And the list goes on and on.

Which and how many of these cuts move forward in Congress depends
largely on the public response this week.

As the reconstruction begins our country faces a basic question: Will
we respond to Katrina by banding together to solve national problems,
or by helping the wealthy and powerful cut and run while those left
behind fend for ourselves?

The radical Republicans have spoken up loud and clear with their
answer, and we must respond with ours.

Please sign today:

http://www.political.moveon.org/rebu...vKHzVq9CmA&t=5

Thanks for all that you do.


–Ben, Tanya, Matt, Justin and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, November 26, 2005


1 "Lawmakers Prepare Plans to Finance Storm Relief," The New York
Times, September 20th 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/na...al/21cong.html
Note: the $500 billion referred to this article only covers section 1
in "Operation Offset". The full proposal has six sections and calls
for total cuts of $949,674,000,000 over 10 years.
See the full proposal he
http://www.moveonpac.org/images/oper...vKHzVq9CmA&t=6

2 Center for American Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/22/...sive-spending/

3 The Republican Study Committee

http://johnshadegg.house.gov/rsc/about.htm

Some examples of prominent RSC members include:

RSC Founder Rep. John Doolittle (AZ), Republican Conference Secretary

Rep. Eric Cantor (VA) Chief Deputy Majority Whip

Rep. Richard Pombo (CA), Chair, House Committee on Resources

Rep. Joe Barton (TX), Chair, House Committee on Energy and Commerce

4 "How to spend (almost $1 billion a day)" Time Magazine, September
26th, 2005
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...106310,00.html

5 Center for American Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/22/...sive-spending/


6 Operation Offset, RSC Budget Options 2005
http://www.political.moveon.org/imag...vKHzVq9CmA&t=7

7 Based on a $196 billion dollar cost for the Iraq war to date.
National Priorities Project
http://costofwar.com/

8 "Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan", The Nation, May
14th 2001
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010514/dreyfuss


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Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
]