This budget alternative offers 'common sense' ideas

Dear editor,

While members of the Republican majority are competing to see who can make the deepest cuts, there is a budget proposal before Congress that would boost the economy for all of us while cutting the number of people in poverty in half.

It’s The People’s Budget, proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The People’s Budget invests in safe and productive infrastructure, education, affordable housing, health care and nutrition, child care and working family tax credits. It calls for increasing the minimum wage.

These investments will create 3.6 million jobs, and set us on a path to cut poverty in half in 10 years. The People's Budget invests $2 trillion in infrastructure spending, expanding rural broadband, universal Pre-K and free college tuition at state and community colleges.

Every year without fail our elected representatives give over half of the discretionary budget to the Pentagon, leaving less than half to be divided up to fund education, health care, environmental spending, infrastructure, and everything else.

These are common sense ideas that the vast majority of Americans support because they are in their own best interests. If you take the Democrat and Republican labels off and just consider the ideas, one can see that common sense wins here.

Randy King

Crestview

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: This budget alternative offers 'common sense' ideas