WHEREAS:

The Reagan Administration's proposed FY 86 budget would inflict a $13.8 cut in federal aid to state and local governments. This follows on cuts in many of the same programs totalling $59 billion enacted during the first Reagan term; and,

WHEREAS:

President Reagan proposes to eliminate entirely such needed and effective programs as General Revenue Sharing, Community Services, the Job Corps, and Economic Development Administration programs. The budget also proposes partial cutbacks in virtually every other domestic program, a shortsighted neglect of the basic building blocks of a productive society: education, health, nutrition, and public infrastructure; and,

WHEREAS:

The Reagan budget also proposes a $4.6 billion cut in direct payments to needy and elderly individuals, following on cuts in these programs totalling $29 billion during his first term. Also under serious consideration in Congress is an additional $6 billion to be cut from the Social Security program by freezing the cost-of-living adjustment; and,

WHEREAS:

Contrary to Reagan Administration claims, state and local governments are still in quite precarious fiscal health. These jurisdictions will be unable to make up proposed cuts in federal aid from the surpluses that only a handful of them are running. Federal aid cuts will force untenable choices between additional state and local tax increases or massive service cuts. Low and middle income people will pay in either case, as service recipients and as the victims of state and local tax systems that are less progressive than the federal tax system; and,

WHEREAS:

The problems that these domestic programs were established to address remain as pressing as ever. In the case of General Revenue Sharing, for example, the disparities between local governments' abilities to fund a basic level of vital services have widened since the program was established, not narrowed. In the case of Federal student loans, putting children through college is a growing financial burden for middle-income families even with this form of Federal assistance; and,

WHEREAS:

The Reagan Administration justifies its proposed domestic spending cuts as necessary to address the Federal deficit crisis. Yet these cuts will not really make a contribution toward reducing the deficit. Instead, they will provide the wherewithal for President Reagan to continue his reckless and unnecessary military build-up. All but $1.6 billion of the $33.5 billion (in nominal dollars) to be cut from domestic social spending next year will be eaten up by increased defense spending. The remaining $1.6 billion will be more than offset by increased interest costs resulting from previous Reagan deficits.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will vigorously oppose the Reagan Administration's proposed cuts in grant-in-aid and entitlement programs. AFSCME will insist that these programs, which have already borne more than their fair share, be spared from further cuts. AFSCME will press for a balanced deficit reduction program that addresses the fundamental causes of the Reagan deficits — excessive military spending and corporate tax breaks.