By Janlee Wong, NASWCA Executive Director
With the passage of the GOP tax bill, look for the GOP Congress to lead in 2018 with cuts to health and social programs to offset the cost of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
While we know the theory behind the tax cuts is that corporations and the wealthy will invest and create new jobs, the reality is that this doesn’t work. We only have to examine Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts that later were not only rescinded, but new taxes were approved.
Social work should be on the alert to oppose cuts to programs where the clients (mostly children, elderly, and the disabled) can’t get these so-called new jobs and might become homeless. 2018 is an important election year, so every social worker should exercise their ethical responsibility to take political action. Look to NASW, which is organizing political action efforts across the country for the 2018 election.
Schools can also look to NASW and groups like CSWE to organize legislative advocacy. NASW’s annual California Lobby Days program is on March 11-12 this year in Sacramento. Social workers, faculty and students should participate if they can as California has been particularly singled out and our Legislature is developing policies to offset the assault.
If we work together, we could make 2018 a Happy New Year for social work.
