To my family of Advocates and YOU, too. (Smile)…
It’s been a long time since I have been regularly connected to my BIA family, but I have not forgotten you. It is time to step up to the front line on the battle field again with the climate of budget cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and most important, the need for – Jobs, Jobs, JOBS!
I had the pleasure of attending a teleconference on the Joint Select(Super Committee) and how we can advocate for the Jobs Creation Act and get the United States (US) back to work. The Super Committee is mainly focused on agreeing on recommendations to give to Congress on moving US out of the recession. Therefore, we need a national strategy to make sure that the recommendations by the Super Committee reflect the average American who is out of work, in foreclosure, homeless, cannot feed our families, etc. due to the economy.
We have heard about the Super Committee. We know about the recession, unemployment, budget cuts, and nothing being passed in the House of Republicans for jobs. We hear about President Obama being a bad President and we hear President Obama pleading with the House of Republicans to pass the Jobs Creation Act. This will put US back to work. Unfortunately, we have politics of unfounded and unsubstantiated accusations against President Obama and hop-scotch efforts for a 2012 Campaign Republican victory. Unfortunately again, not one person in the US can afford to wait another year without a job! The current US jobless rate is a very serious matter that hurts low-income and middle-class families the most!
In the midst of all of the delays with committees and subcommittees and muck-racking and mud-slinging, the average person has been struggling to keep a roof over the head of his/her family or him/herself, food on the table, medicine, clothes, etc. Folks are literally holding on by the skin of his or her teeth. One false move will mean a foreclosure, loss of job (lay off), bare table, repossessions, homelessness, and declining health (worry, stress, fear, etc.). However, there is a way to change this situation with a unified and strong message with your support. WE did it before and we can do it AGAIN!
The Super Committee needs to hear from YOU urging it to make recommendations that will support the Job Creation Act immediately!! There have been enough delays already! Did you know that the Manufacturing It In America Act is a component of the Jobs Creation Act that can put millions of people back to work or employed? If you have not seen the full video about the Manufacturing It In America Act, please take a few moments to watch it at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBIUyKM6G4w&feature=player_embedded]. Then share it with your neighbors, co-workers, family, church members, etc. This is important because if we only hear the sound-bites from the House of Republicans and news media, we cannot make a good and informed decision that will, will affect our livelihood. It is also heartbreaking to know, know the job possibilities are out there, but politics is the invisible BARRIER.
After you view the video, please join Health Care For America and SEICU and various other organizations to contact the Super Committee members with a letter advocating for the urgent recommendation that the Job Creation Act be passed with PRIORITY. It is being delayed unnecessarily and people are hurting unnecessarily and the US cannot prosper at this rate.
Visit
www.house.gov to locate your Representative’s contact information. Below is a sample letter that can be copied and used. This letter can be e-mailed, faxed, or mailed. However, in the essence of time, please e-mail or fax it if you can. And for my fellow advocates, let me know how it went. Let me know if you get a response and share this accomplishment with others.
Did you know that one letter from you represents 1,000 people in your congressional district? If your neighbors, co-workers, church members, etc. each write a letter urging for the Jobs Creation Act to be a priority in the recommendations for debt reduction, that is several thousand “voices.”
Elected officials pay close, very close attention to the voices of their constituents! Every member of the Super Committee must be held accountable to represent the voice of the people who want to go to work and get his/her life back.
Finally, in your letter, please emphasize that the Super Committee strongly recommend shared sacrifices for debt reduction. This means that the wealthiest people and corporations, pay a fair share of the deficit reduction plan including closing tax loopholes and ending tax give-aways. Of course, we want to join hands firmly that there should be NO changes that undermine the Affordable Care Act; further federal health spending by shifting costs onto state Medicaid programs and onto Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries; and prematurely reducing public sector spending during a time of slow growth and high unemployment that would undermine existing employment and health security.
Be mindful that your Representative may suggest making cuts to Social Security in making an alternative option. Kindly suggest that the Super Committee stay focused on the key principles above for deficit reduction only.
**************************SAMPLE LETTER********************
October XX, 2011
The Honorable
Dear _________,
We are writing to ask for your leadership in crafting a debt reduction package that protects the most vulnerable Americans, creates and protects jobs and does not roll back the progress we have made in providing health security to the American people. As organizations working to promote health security and economic justice for America’s working families as well as for the unemployed, people with disabilities and older adults, we watched the debate this summer over raising the debt ceiling with great concern.
The agreement that was ultimately reached made cuts to the budget without asking millionaires, billionaires and big corporations to pay their fair share, a goal strongly supported by the American people. Instead, it embodies a single-minded focus on budget cuts that will disproportionately affect those of modest means without any shared sacrifice from the wealthiest households and corporations, many of which benefit from generous federal tax subsidies. Perhaps even worse, the greatest immediate threat to the well-being of average Americans—the persistent high rate of unemployment and underemployment—was utterly ignored. As members of the Super Committee develop proposals to submit to Congress, we urge you to support key principles for any plan for deficit reduction. Specifically we urge you to:
Insist on an approach that demands real shared sacrifice: The debt reduction plan must be based on progressive revenue increases such as closing corporate tax loopholes and ending tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans.
Reject approaches to further debt reduction that seek to reduce federal health spending by shifting costs onto state Medicaid programs and onto Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Health care savings should be achieved in the short run by stepping up our efforts to weed out low-value spending such as improper payments, preventable errors and excess payments to pharmaceutical companies. In the longer run these efforts to reduce public sector spending must be accompanied by additional steps to reduce the cost of health care and improve the health of the American people.
Reject approaches to further debt reduction that would undermine the Affordable Care Act including provisions that will make health insurance more affordable and those that will promote the overall health of the population. The Affordable Care Act represents a long-overdue commitment to health security for the American people and will help reduce our deficit and constrain rising health care costs. Now is not the time to turn back.
Avoid further undermining employment and health security by prematurely reducing public sector spending. At a time of slow growth and high unemployment, the last thing we need is to pull money and jobs out of our economy.
The American people understand that our nation is facing a massive unemployment crisis. They want their elected leaders to fight to create jobs. They want affordable, high quality health care. By large margins they oppose austerity policies like those imposed on the country through the debt ceiling agreement.
We are united in opposing any new agreement that hurts low-income and middle-class families and small business, destroys jobs, increases poverty, or undermines Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act or Social Security. We urge you to oppose any deficit reduction agreement that does not meet these common sense criteria to ensure that the final outcome will have the support of the American people.
Sincerely,
Visit Healthcare For America Now at
www.hcan.org Halleluia! If you have never done this before, YOU are now officially an advocate. Each one, teach one. Amen, Amen? AMEN!
Passing the peace,
Posted By: agnes levine
Sunday, October 9th 2011 at 1:46PM
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