Backroom Deals = Bad for Communities of Color

On Friday Night, three Democrats joined the Republicans in taking over the State Senate to pass a budget that would devastate critical services and is balanced on the backs of low-income communities of color, including immigrants and refugees.

The budget was passed without a public hearing and ignores hours of public testimony on how devastating additional cuts to our social safety net would be. The proposed cuts in the state Senate budget to immigrant and refugee communities would close access to the American Dream, create more hungry families and kids, and leave many families without access to affordable childcare, among other cuts. The cuts include:

• Elimination of the Washington New Americans Program
• Elimination of the State Food Assistance Program, which provides food to very low-income families and their children
• $44 million in cuts to K-12 education, including programs that provide essential supports to kids and families
• $57 million in cuts to health care programs, including the elimination of Disability Lifeline

Alternatively, the Senate budget proposed by Ways & Means Chair, Senator Murray, protected programs serving immigrants and refugees from further cuts and made no more cuts to education.

Please contact your legislators and let them know you want a final budget that will create stronger families and communities, not a budget that is balanced on the back of low-income communities of color and immigrants and refugees. Send a letter now!

OneAmerica, formerly Hate Free Zone, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that advances the fundamental principles of democracy and justice by building power within immigrant communities.

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