Why doesn't President Obama ask America to call their Rep's and DEMAND taxes be raised on the RICH?

[freshwest]

28. So is this a rhetorical question? Here's a sample of my OFA emails encouraging me to call:

Megan Allen is a fifth-grade teacher in Tampa, Florida. At her elementary school, 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Many live in poverty, with unstable home lives -- some have parents in prison, others go hungry over the weekends. But at school, they're winning science fairs, challenging themselves, and eating two hot meals a day.

For Megan's 36 fifth graders, school is a safe place. The budget cuts known as the sequester could change that.

In the county where Megan teaches, 142 schools stand to lose $3 million in funding. The sequester could also slash as much as $2 million in federal funding for special education.

When those cuts kick in, Megan's students could lose teachers that help them every day -- for example, the folks who coach them through tricky arithmetic, or give those who are having reading trouble the special attention they need. The Head Start programs that got these students ready for kindergarten will be dramatically cut down. Their class sizes could go up, leaving less time for individual attention.

The sequester isn't a list of numbers made up to scare you. It's a very real thing that will negatively impact real people -- like Megan's 36 students and their families.

Congress needs to hear those stories. They need to know that their inaction has consequences -- that's the only way we'll put an end to these cuts.

Share your story right now on how the sequester is affecting your community:

http://my.barackobama.com/Share-Your-Sequester-Story

Thanks for speaking up.

Lindsay

Lindsay Siler
National Director of Issue Campaigns
Organizing for Action

Another one asking me to forward and repost:

Sami Rahamim was 17 when his dad was killed in a mass shooting in Minneapolis.

His story will break your heart -- and inspire you.

Watch it, pass it along, and help put pressure on Congress to act now:

http://my.barackobama.com/Why-Sami-is-Fighting

These will be passed on to people in D.C. I get OFA emails frequently on calling my reps, and then they write me back. Here is one sample:

This month, Congressional Republicans pushed America over the cliff -- yet again -- by refusing to help Democrats avert the so-called "sequester."

Their choice was clear for all Americans to see: Rather than ask millionaires and billionaires to pay the same tax rates as their secretaries, Republicans decided they would punish the middle class with deep and devastating budget cuts -- threatening 750,000 jobs, cutting pay, and damaging our fragile economy.

It doesn't have to be this way. It's not too late for Republicans to do the right thing by joining Democrats in a balanced solution, before the worst of the sequester takes effect.

But you -- and tens of thousands of Americans -- need to stand up and make your voice heard before the Republicans will listen. Will you speak out, right now?

Sign our petition to Speaker John Boehner, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and the national Republican Party right now: Urge them to reverse course and join Democrats in a balanced solution to the "sequester."

As members of the Senate leadership, we helped Democrats develop a balanced plan -- a plan that continues to grow the economy by replacing the indiscriminate cuts in the sequester with equal parts new revenue from the Buffett rule and new, targeted cuts to reduce government waste.

Unfortunately, the Republicans refuse to listen to reason. They're putting the interests of millionaires and billionaires ahead of the jobs and incomes of middle-class families.

And make no mistake about it, these sequester cuts hit close to home for all of us:

Washington State will lose millions in nutrition funding for seniors and in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality.

Thousands of New Yorkers will be furloughed or lose their jobs outright. Tens of thousands will see their services cut, such as job search assistance and meal programs for seniors.

It's the same story in state after state after state throughout the country -- to say nothing of longer wait times at airports and reduced resources for food safety, national parks, and economic development.

We can stop the sequester -- but only if the Republicans join us.

Sign our petition to Speaker John Boehner, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and the national Republican Party right now: Urge them to reverse course and join Democrats in a balanced solution to the "sequester."

By not asking the wealthy to pay a little more, Republicans are forcing our children, seniors, and the entire middle class to bear the burden of deficit reduction.

There are too many jobs -- too many lives -- at stake. The choice should be simple.

Thank you for your support,

Patty Murray
U.S. Senator

Chuck Schumer
U.S. Senator

Another one, unfortunately I've discarded most after contacting my reps, which Obama's organization begged me to do the day after the election and since then there have been more.:

I just walked out of the hearing room after chairing a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee -- and I'm pleased to report that our committee passed a good, fair, pro-growth, pro-middle class budget plan!

It's a great start, and I thank everyone who shared their ideas and priorities with me as we painstakingly crafted our budget proposal over the past few weeks.

But we still have a lot of work to do -- first, to get our budget passed by the full Senate, and then to continue to make the case to House Republicans that smart deficit reduction protects seniors, middle-class families, and our most vulnerable.

And I could really use your help, right now.

Click here to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of our Democratic Senate budget proposal now -- so I can show my colleagues the strong grassroots support behind our bill!

Budgets are much more than pieces of paper; they're statements of our values and priorities.

And the differences between the Democratic Senate budget proposal and Paul Ryan's GOP House proposal -- and our values and priorities -- couldn't be clearer.

The top priority in our Democratic Senate budget is to keep our economy growing, now and for the long-term. So we'd replace the sequester's harsh and indiscriminate cuts -- that jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs -- with a balanced mix of targeted cuts and increased revenues raised from the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations. And we invest in job training, education, and infrastructure to set our country up for success for many years to come.

Second, our budget reduces our deficit by almost $2 trillion more over the next 10 years, for a total of over $4 trillion in deficit reduction since 2010. And we do that in the balanced, commonsense way that the American people loudly endorsed in last November's election -- by closing tax loopholes and eliminating wasteful tax breaks that currently help the wealthy, as well as making responsible spending cuts.

Third, we do all of this while still upholding our nation's promises to our communities, our seniors, our veterans, and our families. That means saying NO to privatizing Medicare, NO to slashing Social Security, and NO to cutting veterans benefits.

I'm proud of the work we've done on our budget, and I hope you'll stand behind it too.

Click here to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of our Democratic Senate budget proposal now -- so I can show my colleagues the strong grassroots support behind our bill!

Unfortunately, Paul Ryan and the House GOP are proposing a different approach in their budget -- by refusing to ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a penny more toward their fair share, and instead slashing Medicare, Social Security, and other crucial investments that we need to keep America's economy growing for the long-term.

The choice is clear: We don't want to go back to the same old failed, trickle-down economics of the past. Instead, we want to reduce our deficit responsibly, invest in the future, and keep our promises to the American people.

I hope you agree, and that you'll stand with me in this important fight.

Click here to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of our Democratic Senate budget proposal now -- so I can show my colleagues the strong grassroots support behind our bill!

Thank you for your support,

Patty Murray
U.S. Senator

Everywhere it says 'click here' leads to this link to contact. Over 10K signers:

http://www.democratsenators.org/o/45/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=782&track=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&tag=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&utm_source=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&source=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&sc=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&ms=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&refcode=ema_2013-03-14_budget_bk36365&utm_campaign=budget&utm_medium=ema

I hope you will sign on and call your reps. If you want to get these notices from the OFA and White House urging to call your reps, just sign up. Many of us have been getting these pleas from Obama for months. The media won't give him air time, instead the GOP gets all of that - and they're poised to get a lot more air time with more progressive radio being shut down. So it's up to us. But then, it always was.