Shifting the Focus Away From Tax Cuts

The New York Times ran an editorial on Saturday, "Katrina's Assault on Washington," which highlighted the fact that our political leaders are often more interested in promoting an agenda full of tax cuts than in promoting responsible investment and shared national sacrifice. This approach, the editorial argues, must change. The editorial says, "If [political leaders] respond by passing a few emergency measures and then falling back on their plan to enact more tax cuts, America will have to confront the fact that it is stuck with leaders who neither know, nor care, how to lead." The recent disaster should be a wake-up call that it pays to invest money in our communities. This administration's focus on tax cuts over investment has left agencies and programs underfunded, and has, in a way, made it more difficult for us to respond to the what has happened on the Gulf Coast. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities expands upon this in their recent statement on the challanges Congress faces now in the wake of the hurricane.
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