This week West Virginia’s U.S. House members, Carol Miller and Riley Moore, both voted to advance a budget resolution that will take Medicaid and food assistance from millions of Americans and increase the deficit—all to pay for huge tax cuts for ultra-wealthy households and businesses.
Kelly Allen, the WVCBP’s executive director, issued the following statement.
“Representative Miller and Representative Moore’s votes to advance the House budget resolution are out of step with the needs of their constituents. The tax cuts they voted to advance would give $1.1 trillion to the top 1 percent, paid for by deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP totaling roughly the same amount. While West Virginia has few ultra-wealthy individuals and zero billionaires, one in three West Virginians rely on Medicaid for health care and one in six receive federal food assistance.
The deep cuts to services their budget calls for would increase costs for households, increase poverty, make West Virginians less healthy, and shift Medicaid costs onto state policymakers whose budget is already stretched thin.
As this process continues, we urge our House members and Senators Capito and Justice to stand up for West Virginians and oppose cuts to vital health care, food assistance, and education programs, and we will ensure their constituents are aware of the consequences of cutting these popular and vital programs that support West Virginians’ economic security and our broader economy every day.”
