AGAIN with the fiscal cliff?! Working families oppose cuts

Yet another so-called “fiscal cliff” showdown looms in Washington, D.C. as the Tea Party-controlled Republicans continue their reckless, harmful crusade to stonewall any reasonable legislation to fix the economy.

Congressional Republicans — including some from right here in Washington state — are again threatening to make dramatic job-killing “sequestration” cuts in all federal programs and to default on their obligation to pay the nation’s bills. The same Congress that authorized this spending and racked up these bills is now threatening to not pay them. It’s another manufactured crisis. Republicans are holding the U.S. economy hostage and it is already costing jobs in our state.

There are serious concerns that Congressional Democrats will negotiate with these hostage-takers and give in to demands to cut what the Republicans call “entitlement programs.”  The rest of us know them as Social Security and Medicare, the safety nets that we have been paying for all of our working lives.

This Wednesday, Jan. 30, working families in Washington state and around the country will be delivering a message to Congress:

— Oppose benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid!

— Close tax loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans, and cancel sequestration!

In Seattle, all are invited Wednesday to join Washington CAN and others for a game of Corporate Dodgeball at the Wells Fargo Bank on 3rd and Madison. Wells Fargo is one of the “Dirty 30,” the giant corporations that pay NOTHING in federal taxes while lobbying for permanent tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Wednesday’s participants will play a real game of (injury-free) dodge ball and demand that Wells Fargo — and our members of Congress — take action. To participate, meet at noon at the Working Washington office, 215 Columbia St. (the entrance is on 3rd & Columbia), in downtown Seattle. Participants will walk two blocks to the action and then one block from there to the Federal Building to deliver a letter to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell urging closure of corporate tax loopholes.

Also Wednesday, delegations organized by AFL-CIO central labor councils will be delivering this message at the district offices of U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen in Bellingham, Denny Heck in Lacey, and Adam Smith Derek Kilmer in Tacoma.

If you live in a state other than Washington, check out the nationwide list of events at AmericaWantsToWork. org.