Boston City Council Debates Impact of Proposed Federal Cuts

Members of the Boston City Council debated on Wednesday whether it should formally oppose cuts to federal programs or let voters weigh in on the issues in the form of ballot questions on Nov. 8.

Congress will likely cut $1.2 trilliion dollars by Thanksgiving to reduce the federal deficit. City Councilors Charles Yancey and Tito Jackson say those cuts would harm Boston residents who depend on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, they said, cuts would shrink the city’s budget for housing, education, job training and other programs. 

Yancey and Jackson want to put the issue before voters. On Wednesday they sponsored an order that would put four "appeals" on the city's municipal election ballot. These would essentially give voters a chance to send to the state's federally-elected officials. The appeals would be:

1) Oppose any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other vital domestic programs that serve Boston residents.

2) Provide new revenues to eliminate the deficit by closing large corporate tax loopholes, and by raising taxes on billionaires and other wealthy households who make more than $250,000 a year.

3) Create new jobs in Boston and nationwide by infrastructure, manufacturing, schools and housing.

4) Reduce military spending by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bringing our troops home to rebuild America. 

But Council President Stephen Murphy suggested that instead of introducing a non-binding referendum on the ballot, the council should pass a resolution urging Congress to listen to and act on Yancey and Jackson’s appeals.   

Murphy and several other councilors agreed that the majority of Bostonians would vote “yes” to the four appeals and that a resolution would more effectively show federal legislators the views of the city before they begin making cuts.

Yancey, however, rejected the amendment to his order. The council voted to move the matter to one of its committees.

Other notable business this week

• District 6 Councilor Matt O’Malley suggested creating a “silver” alert system so that residents and police could quickly find people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease who have wandered away from home. The council delegated the matter to its committees on Environment and Health and Women and Healthy Communities.
• The council plans to hold a public hearing on idling tour buses after At-large Councilor Felix Arroyo and District 1 Councilor Salvatore LaMattina said that exhaust from the buses was harmful to those who have asthma.
• At-large Councilor John Connolly and District 7 Councilor Tito Jackson proposed a hearing to discuss raising the age at which students could drop out of school to 18, from 16.