AFSCME Urges Bush Administration and Congress to Reorder Misplaced Priorities

Challenges Bush to use Thursday's Presidential Address to Announce New Priorities

Washington — On the eve of the president's address to the nation about Hurricane Katrina, AFSCME challenged the Bush Administration to abandon plans to give more tax cuts to the wealthy and immediately implement a comprehensive plan that would both prepare for another Katrina-like disaster, and bolster relief efforts.

"I challenge the President to announce a real disaster preparedness and relief plan — not a cynical attempt to gut worker salaries to reward Big Business," said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee. "Hurricane Katrina showed us what happens when tax cuts for the wealthy are made a priority over critical infrastructure needs. We can't afford to make that mistake again. The president should make suspending these tax cuts priority number one so we can afford to pay for real relief."

According to McEntee, the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was a disaster marked by poor decision making before, during and after the crisis. But instead of trying to right their wrongs, the Bush Administration's misplaced priorities are resulting in bad decisions now. For example, they've suspended the Davis-Bacon Act for hurricane recovery efforts and have exempted private contractors from developing affirmative action programs.

McEntee added, "The president should announce he is reversing his proposed Draconian cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, two of the very programs many of the hurricane victims will need the most."

AFSCME calls on Congress to promptly move ahead with a comprehensive preparedness and relief plan:

Immediately suspend tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and use the money to provide relief to evacuees and rebuild the Gulf Coast. No new tax cuts should be considered.
Create a WPA-like jobs program for the nearly half a million workers who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, putting evacuees to work rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Guarantee prevailing wages for the men and women rebuilding hurricane-torn areas.
Provide health coverage to every evacuee, by enrolling every evacuee in Medicaid, and don't cut this vital program.
Give immediate relief to states housing evacuees. If we don't provide some relief, these states will have to cut programs that serve the people hit hardest by this tragedy.
Make the investments in infrastructure necessary to protect against future disasters, such as a major earthquake in California or a devastating hurricane in Florida.
Give emergency responders the tools they need and set up funds for public employees and relief volunteers. After 9/11 these highly valuable workers got a lot of lip service but not enough action.

AFSCME has also developed a comprehensive relief effort to help our 3,000-plus members in Louisiana, more than 800 of whom work in the hardest-hit city of New Orleans. These dedicated public service employees have been on the front lines helping get their fellow citizens to safety, often while coping with the personal losses they themselves have suffered.

AFSCME's relief efforts include:

Putting $100,000 for Katrina relief into an established fund. We are also soliciting on-line donations from members across the nation via our web site, www.afscme.org. This money will be used to help feed and clothe hurricane victims.
Deploying a team of union staff to provide support on the ground. We have staff working out of AFSCME Council 17's office in Baton Rouge and the Harris County Central Labor Council. We have set up a toll free number to reach them: 1-800-272-8368.
Starting an "adopt a family" program under which our members would agree to house or find and fund housing for an AFSCME family, help an AFSCME member find a job or provide other basic necessities.

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American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
1625 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-5687
Telephone (202) 429-1145
Fax (202) 429-1120

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