More of our budget will have to shift to the welfare families. What Congress is doing is going to make it even harder for low-income working parents.

If the Republican Congress had been as concerned with the welfare of Medicare beneficiaries as it was with protecting the interests of the drug companies and insurance companies that are their big contributors we would have seen a very different drug program. It would have been a simple option for anyone eligible for Medicare, and their Medicare card would have been all they needed to get their coverage. Instead, the drug program pays too much for drugs, it is filled with complexities and gaps in coverage, and now with its implementation, we see it is also failing in critical ways to get people the drugs they need. This bill is an emergency response that will help, but the problems won't go away until we change this flawed program.

[Thomas Jefferson explained,] Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. ... If Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?

We're obviously very disappointed. We're hoping that Congress will see the importance of leaving the food aid budget as it is -- that 25 percent needs to stay in the U.S..

We will be losing families who have contributed to our communities, ... We will be losing part of our economic welfare, but we will continue to attempt to bolster our community in ways that will make us successful.

Concert for the Families,