Investing in America’s Priorities
On Feb. 24, 2009, the president introduced a budget plan that balances long-needed investments in our future and sensible budget savings. Taken as a whole, it prioritizes the concerns of the public over those of Washington’s entrenched special interests.
We called upon Congress to follow and build upon the President’s lead in crafting its Budget Resolution, recognizing that there is no time to waste in meeting the nation’s long-deferred needs.
AKPIRG joined with the Renew and Rebuild America Coalition to push for the president’s budget with all of its public interest priorities intact. AKPIRG organizing a coordinated campaign, hosting events and reaching out to the media to make sure congress does not miss this important opportunity.
On April 29th 2009, Congress marked President Obama’s 100th day in office by passing his transformational plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system, make college more accessible, and eliminate wasteful subsidies and abusive tax shelters and loopholes.
The budget resolution passed by Congress prioritizes students over banks, consumers over insurance companies and taxpayers over entrenched special interests. It speaks to the key concerns that all Americans share, and provides a roadmap to a strong, stable economy.
On health care, the budget resolution sets the stage for fiscally responsible health care reform legislation later this year to address sky-rocketing costs.”
For too long, unrestrained growth in health care costs has fueled the profit margins of insurers, drug companies, and other special interests, while American families and small businesses suffered. In today’s struggling economy, our country simply can’t afford another year of higher health care costs.
For higher education, the resolution includes a significant reinvestment in the Pell grant, the nation’s primary need-based student aid program, which could be achieved by cutting excessive subsidies from banks and lenders.
By redirecting wasteful bank subsidies to increased aid for students, the budget resolution underscores just how deeply our federal government is committed to making college more affordable.