NATIONAL
Send a letter to the editor urging Congress to stop sequestration
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 22, 2013) — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) continues to lead the Republican charge to the March 1 deadline, when arbitrary across-the-board sequestration cuts in everything from mental health services to public safety kick in. In a cynical drive to wring massive concessions in cuts from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Boehner and the Republicans are willing to inflict hardships on working families and bring disaster to the economy.
In Washington state, Boehner’s sequester could cost 41,700 jobs and remove $3.4 billion from the economy, according to state estimates. More than 30,000 civilian Defense Department workers in the Northwest, including some 16,200 civilian employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, face unpaid furloughs that amount to a 20% pay cut.
TAKE A STAND! Thousands of union members and other supporters have already called Congress to urge against sequestration cuts. Now, we need you to click here to send a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper urging Congress to stop the senseless job-killing sequestration cuts that could send our state and national economies into a tailspin.
The International Association of Machinists, which has tens of thousands of defense-sector members who could lose their jobs or face 20% pay cuts, has been aggressively pushing this Letter to the Editor campaign to raise awareness of the damage sequestration would do.
For example, IAM’s Bobby Joe Murray recently had a letter that appeared in the (Tacoma) News Tribune:
Middle-class families in America need more economic security, not less. Our economic problems are not caused by overly generous Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare benefits. Social Security has not added one dime to the deficit, and the projected imbalance in Medicare and Medicaid over the long term is a direct result of the hyperinflation of health care costs.
Across-the-board “sequestration” simply must not be allowed to happen.
Please take a stand by sending a Letter to the Editor to your local newspaper today!
AFL-CIO Now contributed to this report.