DES MOINES – AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan released the following statement regarding the “sequestration” cuts that went into effect Friday:
“The massive and arbitrary budget cuts known as sequestration will seriously hurt Iowa. People will lose jobs, vital services will be cut and our state economy will slow – all because Representatives Tom Latham and Steve King decided to put politics before the people of Iowa.
“Thanks to sequestration, 500 Iowa children will be kicked out of Head Start, 300 Iowa children will lose child care, there will be fewer first responders to answer 911 calls, lines at Iowa’s airports will be longer, 1,320 children will not receive vaccines, food will go uninspected, teacher and teacher aide jobs will be at risk, and our communities will suffer. Job search assistance, which has already been slashed in Iowa over the past few years, will receive a further cut of $376,000. This will leave unemployed Iowans with even less assistance as they work to get back on their feet.
“Representatives King and Latham threw Iowa under the bus. They should have gone to Washington to create jobs – instead they are gutting the services that make our communities run and killing thousands of good, middle-class jobs.
“Representatives Latham and King would rather make the people of Iowa feel the pain of these cuts instead of closing one single tax loophole or ending any of the special tax breaks that let millionaires and billionaires pay lower income taxes than working families.
“There is too much at stake for vicious political games that leave Iowa in the dust – we deserve real solutions that will strengthen our middle class and move our country forward.”
