LISTEN TO LINDA LEAKS
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Today at 1:00 PM, a group will gather at the Russell Senate Office Building (Constitution Avenue and 2nd St, NE) to deliver Valentine’s Day cards to senators which ask them to “Have a Heart” and reject the Republican-controlled House of Representatives’ proposal for cutting $100 billion in non-military federal spending. (See Friday’s piece for more on the proposed cuts).
In Part Two of TheFightBack’s interview with Linda Leaks, lead housing organizer for Empower DC, she said, “[When] I see those visions of the Great Depression and I see those long lines and the long faces of people, I can see that now… These cuts are the deepest cuts in the history of the U.S.A. This is what [House Speaker John] Boehner and those folks tell us. They brag about it. But for me, it’s nothing to brag about because people are going to be hurt so badly that I just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Today’s action focuses on the House’s proposed 21 percent cut to Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This cut could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of Section 8 units, as well as the loss of $1.5 billion for public housing, which is already severely underfunded.
Leaks said, “If people don’t have stable housing they can’t work. There’s a big push right now on employment, federally. That’s great. But if people don’t have stable housing then they cannot hold down a little job, even a minimum wage job, which is a problem in itself… Stable housing is a critical component [to] keeping people well… and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. If we don’t have that I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s going to explode. It’s just going to be a mess.”
Leaks said that when those in power determine where to make cuts “they always go after the lowest income people, the people who make the least amount of noise, and that’s what we see happening… The critical point is [that] we have to get people who are directly impacted involved. We have to connect the dots… ’cause if these folks can [severely cut HUD] then all those people that work there are going to lose their jobs. They’re going to be looking for work. They’re not going to be able to patronize the Giant or the Safeway or any other place. And then there goes the Safeway and the Giant laying people off. So we have to look at it in that way as well.”