We're fighting hard against the lobbyists and CEOs who want Congress to cut Social Security, Mediare and Education.
Turns out we may have some strange allies. Congressional Republicans don't like them either.
The Huffington Post reports
Congressional Republicans have been furious at top corporate executives lobbying heavily for a "grand bargain" that would include tax hikes and cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to congressional GOP insiders. Republican leaders were further piqued when business executives began lobbying for certain corporate tax reforms, leading to a sharply worded letter from Camp to the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group of corporate CEOs.
One Republican operative told HuffPost that Camp's bill is political payback for the CEOs collaborating with the Fix the Debt coalition, which worked with corporate chiefs who had pressured Republicans to accept tax increases as part of a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff at the close of 2012...
Camp and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Senate Finance Committee ranking member, penned a letter to the Business Roundtable on Dec. 14, 2012, chastising executives for urging lawmakers to accept higher taxes as part of a fiscal cliff deal.
The problem, of course, is that the CEOs don't give a damn about the debt. They just want to cut programs that benefit working people. They still want their juicy government contracts. The Huffington Post further reports:
The unpopularity of the Fix the Debt CEOs is bipartisan in Washington. At one meeting during the fiscal cliff debate between a corporate CEOs and the four top Democrats in the Senate ... the executives pushed for broad cuts. But when pressed on tax breaks that benefited their companies, they defended the provisions.
As one CEO lectured the senators about fiscal responsibility, compromise and shared sacrifice, an aide to (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid passed the majority leader a note saying that the CEO's company had paid an effective tax rate of zero for the past year, according to a source in the meeting.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is sending out alerts to our corps of activists, urging them to participate in a Day of Action on Jan. 30. Events will be held across the country to send Congress a clear message: No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and education! Make the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share! To find an event in your area, please go to www.americawantstowork.org.
Teamsters are also participating in an online campaign called a Thunderclap:
It’s a new website that allows people to pledge to Tweet or Facebook a message all at the same time on the same day in order to achieve the maximum effect. Think of this action as an online flash mob in support of a reasonable fiscal policy for the nation.
Click on this link and choose either “Support with Twitter” or “Support with Facebook”—or both! Then, add your name to the Thunderclap, and that’s it! On January 30, everyone that has signed up will automatically have the same message posted on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. The message includes a link to a petition demanding Congress make the right decisions during the ongoing fiscal debate in Washington.
With your help, on January 30, thousands of people across the country will demand that big corporations and the richest 2% pay their fair share, and vital programs like Social Security, Social Security, and education will not be cut.
