The Budget and the Damage Done

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Hundreds of thousands of Americans depend on government funding for food, shelter, medicine and childcare. Rose Aguilar profiles three people who stand to lose the most from Bush's newest budget proposal....

The Budget and the Damage Done
By Rose Aguilar, AlterNet. Posted March 22, 2006.

The 2006 budget clipped the wings of many organizations that provide basic services to the poor. Bush's 2007 budget could ground them permanently.

Every month, 80-year-old Sally Shaver pays someone to drive her to the Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia, S.C., to pick up a box of fresh produce, baked goods, dry cereals, juice, canned goods and cheese. "It really helps me out because after paying for my rent, phone bill and medication, I barely have enough for food," she says. "If I could work, I would, but I have an artificial knee and a pacemaker, and I can't get around."

Shaver, who worked as a nurse's aide for most of her life, brings in $451 a month in social security. Her fixed income qualifies her for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which is designed to improve the health and nutrition of low-income senior citizens, pregnant women, postpartum mothers, infants and children.

Last year, CSFP provided 536,196 people with a monthly box of food. Bush's proposed budget for 2007 calls for a nationwide elimination of the entire program

Continued @ http://www.alternet.org/story/33808/

For more info on the FY 2007 Budget: http://www.chn.org

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