November 9, 2012

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

The undersigned, representing 146 national organizations, understand the urgent budget decisions we face as a nation over the next few months. As you work to craft a resolution to these economic and fiscal challenges, we urge you to embrace the call of the American people to focus on job creation and avoid any actions that would cost jobs; oppose benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; protect our nation's safety net; and oppose any extension of the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans.

Despite some important steps, the economy still has a long way to go to achieve a full recovery. More than 20 million people are in need of full-time work, and unemployment continues to hover around 8 percent. Given the current state of the economy, we have serious concerns that many of the proposals under consideration would require substantial reductions in federal investments, removing even more money from the economy and burdening many of the same working families that have already borne the brunt of our nation's deficit reduction efforts.

With these pressing concerns in mind, we urge that any budget agreement adopted must include:

Creating jobs and growing the economy. While our economy is still struggling, we urge you to prioritize job creation and economic growth in any agreement adopted. It must include steps to spur private investment and to create targeted investments in infrastructure and education that will grow the economy and create quality jobs. There are proposals available to that end, including the American Jobs Act. It is imperative that the administration and Congress address this urgent need.

No cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security benefits or shifting costs to beneficiaries or the states. Millions of seniors, children, people with disabilities, and others, depend on these vital programs and they must not be cut. They are a cornerstone of our nation's health care and retirement systems, and a promise made to future generations.

No cuts to the safety net and vital services for low-income people. We should not allow the fiscal burden to be shifted to poor and working families who have already borne a disproportionate share of the nation's economic pain in recent years.

Stopping the sequester. We share the concerns of economists, small business owners, state and local governments, and the millions of individuals we represent, that sequestration will harm our fragile recovery, will result in a substantial loss of jobs in both the public and private sectors, and will make harmful cuts in vital services needed to promote health, development, and economic security for people and communities nationwide that have already sustained $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction losses. We urge Congress to stop the sequester with a responsible solution that includes new revenue.

Requiring the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share, starting with ending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent. We urge you to allow tax cuts that benefit only the richest 2 percent to expire on schedule, which would save nearly $1 trillion in revenues and reduced interest payments. While a wide range of programs have been cut in recent years, the very wealthy and corporations have so far not been required to contribute a penny in additional revenues toward deficit reduction. Securing substantial new revenue from those with the greatest ability to contribute will allow us to meet deficit reduction goals, chart a more sustainable fiscal path forward, invest in the job creation measures our economy needs, and protect the programs and services that families depend upon.

Thank you for your consideration...

Will the president take notice?  Because labor is paying attention, and there's a lot more foundation under Occupy now than there was a year ago - and it's not going to take much to see organized, focused presence.

A week ago I was wondering why on Earth this was such a close race when the "brilliant politician" Obama should have been able to walk backwards to victory against any of the jokers the Republicans put up.

Then I read this stuff and remember... oh yeah... that's why...

I hate this.  For the next 4 years those programs are going to have to be protected.  From the Democratic President.  And I expect that he will eventually succeed at weakening them.

Oculus has been here for much longer, though, so let's see what she has to say.

In other words, it's a regional dialect thing.