Consumer Figure Calls ’87 Budget ‘Heartless,’ Expects More Poverty

The head of the nation’s largest consumer organization charged Thursday that President Reagan’s proposed 1987 budget is heartless and will lead to more poverty.

The budget, which includes cuts in many social programs, “will increase hunger and homelessness . . . it’s heartless,” said Rhoda H. Karpatkin, executive director of the Consumer’s Union.

Karpatkin told the annual convention of the Consumer Federation of America that the dominant issue in America today is the rising number of poor and the failure of society to provide them adequate food and housing.

And she urged consumer groups, as well as business and industry, to push for more government money for poverty programs.

“I ask business to add the poor to their agenda, and not just through charitable contributions,” Karpatkin said.

This is the time to join the fight against hunger and homelessness, “to use those finely honed lobbying skills to help the poor get adequate federal funding,” she said.