“The report released Wednesday by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform puts in stark relief the Commissioners’ views that drastic measures are needed to reduce spending and the deficit. But as the Commission moves forward, and the Obama Administration and Congress consider these recommendations, we urge them to make their paramount consideration the well-being of working families whose economic security has been undermined by the recession, and people who are impoverished, low-income and in other ways vulnerable.

This recession has left countless working families, single-parent households, older women and people with multiple health problems in or near poverty. They are one rent hike, layoff, illness, or prescription drug price increase away from economic catastrophe.

Now more than ever, we must protect the services they rely on, and ensure that our most vulnerable citizens do not bear a disproportionate share of the burden of balancing our federal budget.

The decisions that lie ahead go to the very essence of who we are as a nation and the kind of country we want to leave for our children and their children. It is imperative that we protect our most vulnerable citizens — including older women, people with health problems, and working women and families — as we chart the way forward.”