Chicago, IL – Corporate-backed alderpersons pushed through an unbalanced budget to avoid taxing big businesses on Saturday, December 20, but conceded important measures after sustained pressure from working-class Chicagoans.

The final budget package, championed by conservative council members, promises to sell to private debt collectors nearly $100 million debt from water bills, parking tickets and ambulance fees. It also increases liquor and gambling taxes and sells city spaces for advertising. These measures, which have been assessed as fiscally irresponsible by the city’s budget experts, are the last ditch effort by the group of oppositional alderpersons who have fought to avoid instituting a corporate head tax, in which the largest 3% of corporations would pay less than a thousandth of a percent of their profits based on the number of workers they employ.

“If aldermen really listen to the solutions that the people got, we would be in a better Chicago,” said Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

This wave of reactionary economic policy in Chicago mirrors the sweeping economic cuts to SNAP, health care and public transportation imposed by Donald Trump in his spending plan. Companies like McDonald’s and Google that would have been asked to contribute to the corporate head tax are the same companies that saw record tax breaks from Trump.

“Our federal government is led by a money hungry, immoral, unaccountable exec branch, a bloodthirsty Department of War, and a cowering judicial branch,” said Itohan Osaigbovo, an organizer with the Chicago Black Voter Project who knocked hundreds of doors to talk with Chicagoans on the South and West Sides about the budget. “This is not your typical budget year in Chicago,” she said.

“This alternative budget treats poverty as a business model,” said Rocio Garcia, a leader with the Grassroots Collaborative and the People’s Unity Platform. “You cannot fine your way to financial stability.”

Avoiding the tax on corporations in favor of predatory and irresponsible alternatives will likely lead to a budget crisis halfway through the year, according to leaders of the Public Health and Safety Coalition (PHS).

Countless hours of knocking doors, making calls and pressuring alders created the conditions for Mayor Brandon Johnson to propose a budget that included a tax on large corporations, cuts to CPD vacancies, year-round funding for the youth job programs that have brought Chicago crime to historic lows, funding for the Chicago Department of Public Health, and funding for non-police crisis response and mental health centers, PHS organizers said.

When corporate interests and the alderpersons that represent them came forward with their original alternative proposal on December 15, they sought to slash youth jobs and increase the city garbage tax in order to balance the budget. Working-class and oppressed Chicagoans responded, making thousands of calls and knocking doors in the winter cold to fight back against these regressive measures.

Within days, the alternative budget was amended to remove the garbage tax increase and restore funding to youth jobs. Additionally, the alternative budget still includes cuts to 500 vacant Chicago Police Department positions, funding for public health and non-police crisis response.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #CAARPR #Housing #SNAP #Transportation

Billings, MT – On November 6, People United Billings (PUB) rallied outside the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Billings to protest the “Liberty Dinner” put on by the Mountain States Policy Center, a local right-wing think tank. The event was headlined by former Trump cabinet member Ben Carson, with Montana Governor Greg Gianforte listed as one of the featured guests.

PUB promoted the protest with the slogan “Gianforte dines while Montanans starve!” highlighting the hypocrisy of the governor's refusal to assist SNAP recipients during the federal government shutdown, while attending a dinner event with plates costing from $80 to $150.

The protest was sparked by a statement released from the governor’s office on October 29, which read, “While the governor believes these benefits are vital for vulnerable Montanans, he has been clear that the state cannot fund this federal program, which is funded by federal dollars, without promises of reimbursement.”

Danny Choriki, the president of People United Billings, responded saying, “Montanans can’t survive on half-rations and political excuses. Winter is coming fast, and every day of delay means empty cupboards and cold homes. Governor Gianforte must act now – not when it’s convenient, but when it’s critical!”

Shortly after the rally began, protesters learned that the governor would not be attending the dinner in person, appearing via Zoom instead. Gianforte’s office claimed that this was due to “scheduling conflicts,” but the organizers view it as an act of cowardice. Just as the dinner’s attendees avoided the entrances where protesters were positioned, the governor avoided facing his outraged constituents.

“Stamp out hunger! Stamp out thirst! Greg’s gotta grow a backbone first!” PUB member Dan Schaeffer chanted as he stomped with rally goers, calling out the governor's complicity with Trump's agenda.

Lain Dorsey, a member of PUB and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, addressed the crowd of around 40 community members stating, “Gianforte donated 25% of his salary – $20,694 – to Montana’s 77,000 SNAP recipients. That amounts to 25 cents per person! The governor had an estimated net worth of $190 million in 2018 and can only muster a quarter per Montanan that he has been elected to represent? Shame!”

In addition to the rally, PUB and another local group called Montana Resistance set up a food drive for rally goers to donate items to help food-insecure Billings residents. Billings Family Service, Fellowship Baptist Church, Billings Food Bank, and Peace Lutheran Church have more resources for community members that may be in need.

People United Billings meets every Thursday at the local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 6 p.m. To get involved in the fight against Trump’s agenda in Billings, attend a meeting or visit peopleunitedbillings.org to see the group's events calendar.

#BillingsMT #MT #PeoplesStruggles #SNAP #PUB #Feature

San José, CA – On Friday, July 4, President Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to health insurance and food stamps for the poor, and more attacks on immigrants.

The tax cuts are so large that, despite historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps), the federal government will be borrowing more than $300 billion more each year for the next ten years.

The new law cuts taxes about $450 billion a year over the next ten years, mainly benefiting higher income households. Using adjusted gross income, we can see the richer a household, the more money Trump and the Republicans’ new law gives to them.

Those in the top 20% of income, over $120,390 per year, get a $5753 tax break. The ones in the top 1%, over $649,005 per year, get a $29,585 tax break. And those in the top 0.1% highest income, over $3.3 million, get over a $100,000 tax break.

On the other hand, low-income households will actually pay more taxes and receive fewer and lower benefits from the federal government. The new law takes from the poor and gives to the rich, Robin Hood in reverse.

Those in the lowest 20% of income, under $13,350, will lose $695 by paying taxes and/or losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits. The next lowest 20%, those from $13,350 to $36,475, will pay $125 more in taxes and/or get less in government benefits.

The biggest cut to government funded health care is a $85 billion a year cut to Medicaid under the Trump/Republican Party law. More than 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance because of these cuts, and millions more will have to pay more for their health care.

Many rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid payments for their patients will fold up shop, creating more “health care deserts,” where patients have to travel an hour or more for hospital care. More than 25 million people in the United States do not have any health insurance and the cuts will make the situation even worse.

$30 billion a year will be cut from SNAP, and there are more cuts to programs supporting local food banks. Similarly, more than 40 million Americans are considered “food insecure,” meaning that they are not sure of feeding their household throughout the month, and the cuts to SNAP and aid to food banks will force more to go hungry and/or rely on unhealthy foods.

The new law also hits hard with almost $170 billion more funding to ICE and Border Patrol, meaning that they can expand their raids and terrorization of Chicano and Latino communities and workplaces in particular. At the same time, the new law limits families of immigrants, including U.S.-born citizen children, from accessing government-funded health insurance and higher education. It also makes immigrants pay more to apply for court proceedings and to send remittances home to their families.

Last but not least, the new law will require hundreds of billions of dollars more borrowing each year. The federal government budget deficit is already at $1.9 trillion this year, the largest ever outside of times of war or economic crisis. The law could lead to the deficit growing to more than $3.2 trillion a year, even assuming that there is no recession or major war for the next ten years. This will lead to higher interest rates, which will tend to slow down economic growth in the longer term.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Trump #BigBeautifulBill #ImmigrantRights #HealthInsurance #FoodStamps #SNAP #Medicaid #Feature

Minneapolis, MN – Members of the Twin Cities-based Welfare Rights Committee held signs and banners during rush-hour, Nov. 12, in front of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office, telling her to undo the November Food Stamp/SNAP cuts, and to stop further cuts to Food Stamps.

Senator Klobuchar sits on the Agriculture conference committee in Washington D.C. that will decide the fate of the Food Stamp (now known as SNAP) program. Both houses of Congress are proposing cuts to this basic survival program. Now, people across the country are reeling from November’s across the board cuts to Food Stamps (the result of an expiration of a part of the federal stimulus program).

According to the Welfare Rights Committee’s Loretta VanPelt, “It seems that when budgets need to be ‘balanced’ it is balanced on the backs of the poor and working class, and we are the ones who have to pay the price for these budgets. We ask that Senator Klobuchar, as a member of the Ag Committee, to use her influence to undo all cuts to food stamps.”

#MinneapolisMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #lowincomeFamilies #foodStamps #SNAP