Vote Yes on #BudgetDeal
The bipartisan budget package that is being considered today represents significant progress for hard-working American families. This budget demonstrates Democrats' unity and is a testimony to our strength at the negotiating table. Seniors, budget, education, public health, environmental, disabilities, medical, labor, and other groups continue lining up in support of the agreement. As the groups write:
AARP:
On behalf of our 38 million members and as the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing the interests of Americans age 50 and older and their families, AARP strongly supports the bipartisan agreement you have reached to avert deep reductions in Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 2016, and to address the imminent spike in Medicare Part B premiums which many older Americans would otherwise experience…By finding a sensible solution to keep premiums manageable for over 16 million beneficiaries, Congress is helping to prevent financial hardship for many beneficiaries at a time when there is no Social Security cost of living adjustment…Finally, AARP appreciates that the agreement modifies sequestration for discretionary programs for fiscal year 2016.
Alliance for Retired Americans:
The Alliance for Retired Americans is relieved that this budget deal would protect millions of seniors from significant increases to their Medicare Part B deductibles while preventing a 20% cut to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits in 2016. The reallocation between the Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and SSDI trust funds would prevent a massive cut in benefits for the disabled. The transfer would not impact the long-term solvency of Social Security.
Tell #Congress to vote YES on the #BudgetDeal and support our seniors.
This proposed budget agreement would reduce an expected spike in the Medicare Part B deductible and premiums for 2016…We are glad people who rely on Medicare can breathe a bit easier – knowing that premiums and deductibles will not skyrocket next year.
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities:
The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Fiscal Policy Task Force commends the House and Senate leadership for negotiating the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA). … We commend the negotiators for reaching a deal that provides relief from sequestration and raises the budget caps for discretionary programs in Fiscal Year 2016 and 2017. The package provides welcome stability in the appropriations process and avoids a devastating 20% benefit cut in 2016 for Social Security Disability beneficiaries and their families.
Federation of American Hospitals:
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 agreement, which accomplishes these goals, includes Medicare cuts as offsets…The FAH understands that Congressional leaders did their best to minimize the effects of these cuts on the hospitals that care for the nation's seniors. By extending without increasing the overall effect of the Medicare sequester and focusing a limited payment change on certain physician-hospital arrangements, the bill is carefully crafted to meet its objectives.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights:
We applaud the White House and congressional leaders who negotiated the budget deal introduced late last night for their hard work in crafting a bipartisan, two-year bill that will raise the caps on spending for both defense and non-defense discretionary spending and provided needed relief for underfunded programs that serve our communities.
Association of Mature American Citizens:
On behalf of the 1.25 million members of AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens, I write to congratulate Congressional leadership on their bipartisan effort to eliminate looming Medicare Part B premium increases and to avoid the exhaustion of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) next year…We applaud efforts of Congress to eliminate the 52 percent premium increase currently facing 7 million Medicare Part B recipients next year. AMAC has been an outspoken leader in seeking this direct support for America's fiscally responsible older Americans.
American College of Physicians:
The American College of Physicians is pleased that today's proposed bipartisan budget agreement will provide two years of relief from existing ‘sequestration' level spending caps that could result in cuts to programs that are vital to the nation's healthcare, including the National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Primary Care Training Programs authorized by Section 747 of Title VII of the Public Health Service Act…We [also] strongly support the proposal to ensure all new hospital acquisitions of private physician practices would only be eligible for Medicare payments equal to those for the same care services provided in the freestanding, community-based setting.
Easter Seals is encouraged by the framework presented in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA). This compromise is designed to restore order to the federal budget and appropriations process, and will allow for much needed investments in people with disabilities. A functioning, effective federal government is critical to people with disabilities who disproportionately rely on government services to live, learn and work in their communities. We commend the negotiators for reaching a deal that provides partial relief from sequestration and raises the budget caps for discretionary programs in Fiscal Year 2016 and 2017 and provides stability.
National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO):
The National Association of County and City Health Officials, representing the 2,800 local health departments across the country, supports the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 and urges you to do the same. Federal funding is essential to governmental public health agencies – federal, state, and local – to protect and improve health every day in our communities.
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy:
#Congress should get down to business…and vote YES on the #BudgetDeal.
#Sequestration hurts #lunghealth. Tell #Congress to vote YES on the #BudgetDeal…
Cuts in funding will be devastating for Americans from all walks of life. It's time Congress unites to vote YES on the #BudgetDeal
The Coalition for Health Funding—a group of 100 nonprofit organizations advocating for investment in the public health continuum—supportsthe Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and urges you to do the same.
Failure of this deal would mean a continuation of all of the harmful sequestration cuts that…undermine programs that prevent disease, disability, and injury; assure food and drug safety; protect and respond in times of crisis; educate the next generation of scientists, health care providers, and public health professionals; discover new cures and prevention strategies and ways to optimize their delivery; and provide our nation's most vulnerable access to care. In sum, failure of the Bipartisan Budget Act would be bad for Americans' health.
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors:
It's time to make #publichealth funding a priority again by passing the #budgetdeal…
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby:
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby is encouraged to hear that a budget deal has been reached that will surpass sequester budget caps for the next two years and raise the debt ceiling to prevent a default on our nation's financial obligations…We are encouraged by the White House and Congressional leaderships' work on the proposed budget deal that lifts the caps on non-defense spending. Unaddressed, sequester would have caused hardship for many hardworking and vulnerable people in our nation.
National Education Association:
On behalf of the three million members of the National Education Association (NEA) and the students they serve, we urge you to Vote Yes on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015…We applaud the bipartisan leadership exhibited to craft a bill that takes needed steps toward ending harmful sequester level funding so that necessary investments can be made in programs that will grow our economy and our future.
Committee for Education Funding:
The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of 122 national education associations and institutions spanning early learning to postgraduate education, writes to express our support for the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015. The bill will eliminate most of the harmful sequester spending caps for nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 and FY 2017, thereby providing room for critically important investments in education programs through appropriations.
Passing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 is a critical first step in funding the federal government after the December 11th continuing resolution deadline.
League of Conservation Voters:
We commend Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid, and President Obama for negotiating a deal free of ideological attacks on our environment that finally ends the cuts that hamper investment in our economy and the priorities of our families. We urge Congress to pass this budget deal and then pass a clean spending bill free of anti-environmental riders that fund all federal agencies at a level that allows them to continue protecting our air, water, lands and wildlife.
NDD United – an alliance of more than 2,500 national, state, and local organizations working to protect investments in core government functions – strongly supports and urges you to support the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA). This deal, brokered by all four corners of Congressional leadership and the President, restores critical funding equally to both defense and nondefense spending that keeps Americans healthy, safe and secure and ensures that we do not risk the full faith and credit of the United States by suspending the debt ceiling through March 2017.
Congressional leaders and the President successfully eluded the traps set by a conservative faction in Congress who have tried to hold our economy hostage to achieve their radical agenda. The full faith and credit of the United States will be preserved as we pay our bills on time – preventing brinksmanship over the debt until 2017. Tight budget caps on defense and non-defense spending will be eased, restoring funding for vital programs and stimulating the economy…It reduces the spike in [Medicare] deductibles for everyone and avoids a sharp increase in premiums for many. It ensures that 11 million Americans on Social Security Disability Insurance continue to receive full benefits through 2022.
This deal makes significant progress in eliminating some of the extraordinary hardship and uncertainty associated with the sequester – as well as helps to head off a catastrophic government shutdown…
Robert Greenstein, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:
…The package would effectively eliminate about 90 percent of the sequestration budget cuts for non-defense discretionary programs in fiscal year 2016, and about 60 percent of them in 2017…extend the solvency of Social Security Disability Insurance through 2022, thereby avoiding across-the-board cuts of nearly 20 percent in disability benefits starting in late 2016, which will otherwise occur, and avoid, for Medicare, an estimated 52 percent increase in deductibles for physician and other outpatient services in 2016, and a 52 percent increase in Part B premiums that roughly 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries otherwise would face…The deal is a major, multi-faceted package that addresses a number of contentious issues…Overall, the deal is a significant achievement that includes an array of sound policies and policy reforms and accomplishes important goals.
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America:
Voting no on the #BudgetDeal means cutting funding for important health research! Vote YES…
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology:
We are pleased that the congressional leadership and President Obama were able to reach consensus on a path forward…After years in which research funding did not keep pace with rising costs, increasing funding for research is vital to maintaining the United States' historic global leadership in science and technology and to developing new treatments for the diseases and disorders affecting our families and communities. This agreement will allow proposed increases for the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation to become a reality.
National Black Farmers Association and EWG:
The reforms included in the budget deal strike the right balance between taxpayers and crop insurance companies, who have enjoyed underwriting gains of more than $12 billion over the last decade.