Press Releases | Budget, Taxes, and Public Investment

News from EPI Discretionary spending cuts would reduce jobs, hurt social programs

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

Before President Obama gives his State of the Union address, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution to cut non-security discretionary spending back to 2008 levels for the last seven months of this fiscal year. Focusing on deficits now is not only a distraction, but it actually undermines what should be the top priority—generating more jobs. If enacted, such cuts would worsen state budget crises and kill almost 600,000 jobs in our economy through forced reductions in federal health, education, environmental, and transportation programs.

For more analysis on the impact of these cuts, see EPI’s new Policy Memo.