Fiscal Cliff Protestors To Picket Social Security Offices Nationwide
WASHINGTON -- Progressive and labor groups plan to picket outside a hundred Social Security offices around the country on Wednesday, telling lawmakers to keep Social Security out of the "fiscal cliff" negotiations on Capitol Hill.
According to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a federal worker union opposed to Medicare and Social Security cuts, the protests will take place in at least 22 states and will involve left-leaning groups such as Common Cause, the American Federation of Teachers, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the AFL-CIO union federation.
"Cutting Social Security’s budget or making modifications to Medicare and Medicaid should not be part of a grand bargain to reduce the deficit," Witold Skwierczynski, the head of AFGE's Social Security council, said in a statement.
Severe automatic cuts are set to hit the federal budget shortly after the new year, unless lawmakers can hammer out a deal to reduce the deficit and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. Progressive groups and labor unions are concerned the deal will include cuts to "entitlement" programs like Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, which they say are vital to working people and shouldn't be part of the discussions. (The AARP, too, has warned lawmakers not to reform Social Security as part of a fiscal cliff deal.)
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