Two children died in a fire in Philadelphia on Tuesday – and budget cuts could be to blame. In an effort to cut spending – the city of Philadelphia “browned out” – or closed some of it’s fire stations for a day. One of those fire stations that were closed was Engine 61 – and it just so happened to be the nearest company to the fire that killed those two children – and thus would have been first on the scene. As local firefighter Mike Cane said, “Whether…that company was in service, they would have made a difference?

Nobody can answer that…what we can say is, maybe if they were there…Maybe them kids would have had a shot.” These are the real-life consequences of budget cutting.

It’s time we roll back the Reagan tax cuts instead of rolling back critical funding for firefighters who keep our communities safe. The purpose of a budget is not to give tax breaks to the rich in order to screw over everyone else.