Rep. Steven Kulik, as quoted in the State House News Service

, said his constituents are not calling for tax cuts:


"I think it's a little unusual that in the two weeks since the House Ways and Means Committee released the budget, the taxpayers I've been hearing from have not been calling or emailing me to say lower our income tax rate. They haven't been calling to say cut revenue. They've been calling to say please increase spending on services that matter to me. Whether that's on clothing allowance to poor children, local aid."

Senator Clark Malden Office Hours

Posted by Katherine Clark |
Where: 6 Pleasant St Ste 210, Malden, MA 02148
Date: Weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Time: 9:00am–1:00pm
Next on: Thursday, April 28, 2011


State Senator Katherine Clark's Malden district office is staffed on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-1:00. Please feel free to drop by or call 617-722-2016 for an appointment.

Features: Families, Open to All, Seniors, Volunteer
Website: http://www.katherineclark.org

State Budget Cuts

State budget-watchers say this year’s cuts will be painful. They expect the House to cut local aid and other vital programs even more deeply than Governor Patrick proposed. Children’s programs, mental health, libraries, city budgets, and a long list of human services will take hard hits on top of the hits they have taken over the last few years.

Why is this happening? After all, state tax revenues are gradually recovering from the worst of Wall Street’s crash. The state balance sheet should be looking better. But as we start to climb out of our state budget hole, Washington is pushing us back down. Federal stimulus funds, which saved vital services and jobs last year, have dried up. And now, Congress and the White House are slashing more of the programs that most of us use and which are absolutely critical for some of our citizens


Read more: Newton Dialogues: Fund our communities, cut military spending - Newton, Massachusetts - Newton TAB http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/archive/x528722978/Newton-Dialogues-Fund-our-communities-cut-military-spending#ixzz1KXu8TzOT

Medicaid

In recent years Washington has taken an obsolete program, which covers health care for low-income Americans, and made it worse through restrictive rule-making that defies common sense. It is biased toward caring for people in nursing homes rather than in their own homes and neighborhoods. It lacks the flexibility to help patients who require some nursing services, but not round-the-clock care.

What Is a Veteran?

A 'Veteran' -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or
reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check
made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and
including his life.' That is honor, and there are way too many people in
this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

Ten Top Taxpayer Tyrants

— Citizens for Limited Taxation — have released a list of the Ten Top Taxpayer Tyrants. These are the elected officials who inspired our state’s nickname Taxachusetts and why Beacon Hill has been renamed Bacon Hill.

Who are these legislators that habitually reach for your wallet? Reps. Ellen Story, Angelo Scaccia, Byron Rushing, Gloria Fox, Frank Smizik, Elizabeth Malia, KathiAnne Reinstein and Benjamin Swan, and Sens. Steven Tolman and Patricia Jehlen are the top 10 offenders. Runners-up include Reps. Lou Kafka, Theodore Speliotis, Jay Kaufman, Cory Atkins, and John Keenan and Sen. Fred Berry.

aPPEALING TICKET VIOLATIONS

Also, our recently-enacted Municipal Relief Act is now in full-effect. Residents who were issued ticket violations were able to appeal to our Municipal Hearing Officer thus avoiding both parties being tied up in court...

Cuts to Budget

here's one thing we can be pretty sure of: the pain will fall mainly on poor and middle-class Americans, whilebillions in tax breaks, loopholes, and handouts for corporations will remain untouched.

Those same billions could keep food in the mouths of hungry women and children, fund critical medical research, and do theactual work of reducing our deficit.

But nothing will change until we tell that story. Congressional Republicans won't listen to the man and woman in thestreet until we take to the streets—thousands of taxpayers and voters in their states and home districts calling outthe billion-dollar corporations that pay little or nothing in taxes.

The GOP blueprint shift to medicaire

The GOP blueprint, unveiled last week by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would slash federal spending by $5 trillion or more over the coming decade and repeal Obama's signature health care law. It would leave Social Security untouched but shift more of the risk from rising medical costs from the government to Medicare beneficiaries. It also calls for sharp cuts to Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled and to food aid for the poor.

Borrowed Social Security

Of the nearly $14.2 trillion in debt, roughly $5 trillion is money the government has borrowed from other accounts, mostly from Social Security revenues, according to federal figures. Several major policies from the past decade when Republicans controlled the White House and Congress — tax cuts, a Medicare prescription-drug benefit and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — account for more than $3.2 trillion.