(CNSNews.com) - Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, and Heidi Hartmann, president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, are urging the federal government not to cut funding for social programs.

CNSNews.com asked both activists if they would support cuts to social programs and entitlements given that the federal government faces a national debt of over $14 trillion.

“No, we need increases in the social programs and here’s why. First of all, the social programs at the state and local level are being decimated because states, unlike the federal government, states can’t run a deficit. The federal government can and should in order to support these social programs,” O’Neill told CNSNews.com on Friday after the National Council of Women's Organizations’ briefing on "Challenges and Opportunities in the 112th Congress: Women's Economic Security” held at the Capitol.

“The social programs mostly benefit women – these are things like childcare and after school programs and anti-violence programs and training programs. Those things are for women but the interesting thing is a lot of them employ women. So from my point of view, we really need those social programs enhanced - not cut. The thing that should have been done is that the abusive tax cuts for the wealthiest people in this country should not have been extended. That money could have been used to help middle class people either stay in the middle class or move out of poverty and into the middle class.”

CNSNews.com asked O’Neill if she is disappointed in President Obama for extending the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000 annually.

“President Obama is a centrist legislator. When he was in the Senate, he was a centrist,” she responded.

“We did not like the extension of those tax cuts, it’s a bad idea, it’s bad policy and frankly it was bad politics. The notion that a Democratic leadership would ever get behind cuts to Social Security benefits is terrible policy and even worse politics. The idea that you would choke off the dedicated funding stream of social security, which unfortunately is exactly what has happened with the so-called payroll tax holiday. Social Security is strong precisely because since it’s inception it has been funded by a dedicated funding stream – it has been cut off from the rest of the budget and that is what allows it to be strong. That was a terrible idea. We hope it gets reversed immediately next year.”

Hartmann said there should be no cuts to social programs, specifically Medicare and Social Security.

“Specifically Black and Latino communities are really suffering and they need those services,” she said.

She continued, “I think if you looked at each social program, you would find a fair amount of willingness to pay for particular social programs. So, I think the idea that people want social programs cut, is, you know, probably a false idea. They certainly don’t want Social Security and Medicare cut, as was shown in the poll released today by the New York Times.”

Hartmann added, “If we take away the tax cuts and we take away the wars and we continue to have government stimulus to build up the economy so the effects of the recession will eventually recede, we’re not out of balance in the long term so we don’t need to cut social programs.”