New York, NY, December 19, 2005 - National Urban League President Marc H. Morial stated today that the agreement reached over the weekend by House and Senate leaders on a FY2006 Budget Reconciliation bill is tantamount to declaring war on our nation's most vulnerable citizens - all to insure that tax breaks for the most wealthy citizens proceed unheeded.

"Our last best hope is for the Senate to have enough courage to vote down this immoral and most egregious statement of public policy," said Morial. "How can our congressional leaders in good conscience vote to impose - days before Christmas - such harmful program cuts on the poor, on low income families and individuals, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and students struggling to go to college?" asked Morial.

The agreement reached over the weekend would cut various low income programs by nearly $40 billion over five years. If this budget deal is enacted, poor and low-income families will have to pay more for their medical care and suffer reduced benefits. People with disabilities under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program will be forced to wait as along as a year to receive back SSI benefits they are owed because of slow government response. Families under the current welfare system will be subjected to harsher work requirements with inadequate funding to meet the additional child care and support services needed to meet those requirements and no provisions are included to address discriminatory practices in the welfare system that the National Urban League has long advocated. A great divide between the haves and have-nots' access to higher education will be further exacerbated by a cut of $12.7 billion over five years to student loans.

"We are a better and more compassionate nation than this," said Morial. "I call upon the Congress to defeat this immoral budget and instead make public policy choices that seek the full development, health and economic security of our citizens and especially those who need our assistance the most."

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