Public Comment

We are familiar with the recent tragic decision, mainly engineered by the Republican Party, to reduce the supplement to unemployment insurance from $600 per week to $300. The supplement has not only provided more purchasing power to unemployed workers. Economists generally agree that the spending power of millions of workers has played a critical role in sustaining the economy, So the 50 percent reduction is certainly bad news. Even the $300 weekly check will be expiring soon. By depriving almost 30 million workers of millions of dollars to spend is deepening the economic decline,

Moreover, the new legislation, in addition, reduces the number of workers who would benefit by excluding from eligibility those whose weekly unemployment checks are less than $100. For example, in Colorado, 28,000 jobless workers cannot collect the supplement because the checks they receive are regarded as too small. Isn’t this incredible! Since unemployment benefits these workers receive is small, they should be receiving a large supplement rather than none at all.

For those of you who are interested in learning about the budget in each state google the following: “State Budget Cuts in the New Fiscal Year Are Unnecessarily Harmful”. Among the discouraging problems we learn about is the assault on affordable health care,`which is especially a problem for the poor. So far, at least 20 states have made deep cuts in health care programs. These cuts impact low income children, seniors and adults with disabilities. 

The cuts in California have been brutal. California is cutting state funding for Med-Cal (the state’s Medicaid program) by over $1.6 billion. Among those adversely affected are an estimated 565,000 children. 

In addition, at least 12 states so far, including California, have cut taxes on behalf of the corporations and the business community. Several states, including California, in a less visible way have reduced their budgets by allowing taxes to expire without taking formal action. When budgets are reduced jobs are often cut as well. In about 16 states cutbacks in public programs have resulted in substantial layoffs. Within the last decade, state and local government have eliminated almost 600,000 jobs, 

Also worrisome is the possible termination of the Affordable Care Act. As you know, the purpose of the law is to reduce the cost of health insurance for low income individuals and families. As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, California could lose as much as $25 billion a year in federal aid that makes it possible for more than 5 million low and moderate income residents to obtain health insurance, 

Since Ruth Bader Ginsberg is gone. President Trump is most likely to appoint a judge that would allow a majority of the Supreme Court Justices to abolish the AffordableCare Act. Obviously, we must do whatever is possible to prevent this from happening, 

President Trump, Do Not Attempt To Appoint a Supreme Court Replacement Until After The November Election!