To the editor:
It is clearly imperative to decrease the national debt; it has accumulated over decades during the administration of many presidents and congresses. To argue the blame game serves little purpose; to discuss how to reduce the debt, in what time frame and most importantly, the consequences of the methods chosen.
An excellent example of these concerns is an examination of the Republican budget proposal to cut nutritional programs such as food stamps and programs supporting woman, infants and children (WIC), which provide food and supplements for children facing “food insecurity”. There is, in fact, significant under nutrition but generally not starvation, in an astonishingly large proportion of our nation’s children.
The Department of Agriculture estimates that children facing food insecurity and undernutrition is nearly one in four nationwide, or 17 million children. Here in New Jersey there are about 20 percent or about 400,000 children in such circumstances. This nutritional deprivation has been linked, in young children (and the younger the child, the more intense is the end result),to delayed growth, attention deficit disorders (ADD), lower IQ and educational achievement. As a neurobiologist, whose research was the developing nervous system, I can say that these concerns are totally correct, and, unless fully addressed, bode ill for our children and our nation.
The Republican candidates at the Iowa debate were asked if they would accept one dollar in tax increases for every $10 in cuts to the yearly federal budget and thus the national debt. All declined such a bargain! Far right ideology triumphed over the well-being of the 17 million nutritionally deprived children.
It is important not to be involved in the blame game. It is more important to speak out against individuals and political parties who lack concern for the future of the country’s children and its young citizens.
Amedeo D’Adamo Jr.
Hillsborough
