Democrats and Republicans have to reach an agreement to keep the government operating.
Right now, President Obama is calling on both sides to come to the table and reach a reasonable solution — a plan that builds for the future while eliminating wasteful spending in the present. A plan where cutting spending is done judiciously — not recklessly. A plan with investments that create jobs — not cuts that eliminate them.
But the current Republican proposal is packed with extreme cuts that are clearly serving a political agenda — cutting billions from Head Start, slashing Pell Grants and other programs that help students pay for college, and completely eliminating funding for Title X family-planning services.
It’s not a responsible plan to cut spending — but a set of policy prescriptions intended to appease the most extreme wing of their party.
And while cuts like these make the Republican plan objectionable — it’s the fact that it puts nearly 1 million jobs at risk that makes it absolutely unacceptable.
So we’re standing with President Obama in a very public way — with an open letter calling on Republicans to work with him and Democrats in Congress to pass a commonsense budget that works for the American people. Supporters will hand-deliver the petition, with your signature, to House Republicans — making sure our combined voices ring loud and clear.
Right now, the debate surrounding our budget should be about one thing — people.
An out-of-work father of three isn’t concerned with advancing the Republicans’ social agenda. All he’s thinking about right now is getting back to work so he can pay his mortgage and his gas bill.
A single mother who relies on Head Start for her four-year-old isn’t thinking about the political sound bite of the moment — she is concerned with making sure her daughter can keep up when she enters kindergarten next year.
The American people don’t care about political back-and-forth or partisan ideology. They want their government to do right by its citizens.
And that’s where the Republican plan falls short.
They would close more than 16,000 classrooms, lay off 55,000 teachers, and cause 218,000 children to be kicked out of early-childhood education programs.
They would slash homeland security investments and lay off thousands of police officers and firefighters, leaving our communities less safe.
They would defund health insurance reform, doing away with the cost savings and vital patient protections relied upon by millions of Americans around the country.
They would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, ending thousands of health center jobs across the country and leaving millions of women without access to preventive care.
Now, President Obama knows that this must be a shared sacrifice, and that some cuts must be made — and he stands ready to work together to find a commonsense solution.
But the current Republican plan would knock this country down just as we’ve begun to stand back up.
The American people deserve better — and it’s up to us to demand it.
Add your name to call on congressional Republicans to stand down from their irresponsible proposal and work with the President on a reasonable plan that we can all support: www.democrats.org
Thank you,
Patrick
Executive Director
Be a Seed for Change 
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