To the editor:

The sequester will affect our communities, including senior citizens.

Nationally, nearly 300,000 senior households will be denied The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program assistance paying their heating bills and literally be left in the cold. Also, more than two million senior transportation rides that allow seniors to get to the pharmacy, doctor and other critical stops will be lost.

Times are tough. Seniors are grateful the sequester did not slash our bread and butter — Social Security and Medicare — but we remain concerned that these programs will be targeted in the next round of budget negotiations.

Federal programs are scheduled to receive $85 billion in automatic cuts through the sequester. Last week, the U.S. Senate voted on a bill to replace the sequester cuts with a balanced plan that includes revenue raised from closing tax loopholes.

Instead of asking the wealthy to pay a little more, conservatives opted to allow these cuts to our schools, healthcare, law enforcement, and protections for our children and seniors to take effect. I am very disappointed, but not entirely surprised, that this measure did not pass.

Going forward, we can’t continue to ask only the middle class and seniors to sacrifice — Wall Street, the wealthiest Americans and corporations need to pay their share.

Crystal Keithley

Suffolk