Budget for All Referendum: Let's Vote our Values on November 6!
Let's get the Budget for All Referendum question on the ballot! (May 24th alert)
Shall the state Representative (or Senator) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon the Congress and the President to:
1. Prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans benefits, or to housing, food and unemployment assistance;
2. Create and protect jobs by investing in manufacturing, schools, housing, renewable energy, transportation and other public services;
3. Provide new revenues for these purposes and to reduce the long-term federal deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, ending offshore tax havens, and raising taxes on incomes over $250,000; and
4. Redirect military spending to these domestic needs by reducing the military budget, ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home safely now.
___________________________________________
The American people and D.C. are far apart on their priorities. In an important new survey, Americans overwhelmingly support big cuts in
military spending over cuts in Social Security or Medicare. The average they’d cut was $103 billion, almost twice the level of cuts under automatic deficit reduction (“sequestration”) next year and far more than President Obama has called for.
Meanwhile in Congress: On May 7, the House of Representatives passed a Republican bill which included large cuts to food stamps and Medicaid
to fund useless weapons even the Pentagon doesn’t want! And last week the House of Representatives passed a military spending bill that exceeded
deficit reduction targets by $8 billion and President Obama’s budget request by $4 billion.
We need to keep finding ways to say publicly: cut the military budget so we can survive! One way we are doing this in Massachusetts
is by gathering signatures to put a ‘Budget for All’ public opinion question on the November ballot: save vital services, create jobs, make taxes fair, and bring the war dollars and the troops home! (See the question below and find more information at http://www.budget4allmass.org/)
We need to collect 200 verified signatures as soon as we can in both Rep. Sean Garballey's and the former Rep. Will Brownsberger's districts.
Then we'll all have a chance to vote our values this fall!
Please let us know if you can help get this question on the ballot on Arlington's two districts. Particularly, now, we need more help
in Rep. Sean Garballey’s 23rd Middlesex district (Middlesex 23rd covers all Arlington precincts except 2,4, 8, 10 and 12).
CAN YOU HELP?:
-collect signatures, 10 or more – from friends, neighbors, at meetings, or with another person at Stop and Shop or Trader Joes.
-recommend places or meetings with people traffic over the next few weeks where we can collect signatures.
-sign the petition if you haven’t.
To find out more, volunteer, or respond to this e-mail, you can write to Susan Lees, swlees@earthlink.net (Arlington 25% Solution)
or Barbara Boltz, baboltz@verizon.net (Budget for All Referendum coordinator in Arlington).
With much appreciation to the New Priorities Network, www.newprioritiesnetwork.org, for providing ongoing information and resources, and much of the wording of this message.
Shall the state Representative (or Senator) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon the Congress and the President to:
1. Prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans benefits, or to housing, food and unemployment assistance;
2. Create and protect jobs by investing in manufacturing, schools, housing, renewable energy, transportation and other public services;
3. Provide new revenues for these purposes and to reduce the long-term federal deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, ending offshore tax havens, and raising taxes on incomes over $250,000; and
4. Redirect military spending to these domestic needs by reducing the military budget, ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home safely now.
___________________________________________
The American people and D.C. are far apart on their priorities. In an important new survey, Americans overwhelmingly support big cuts in
military spending over cuts in Social Security or Medicare. The average they’d cut was $103 billion, almost twice the level of cuts under automatic deficit reduction (“sequestration”) next year and far more than President Obama has called for.
Meanwhile in Congress: On May 7, the House of Representatives passed a Republican bill which included large cuts to food stamps and Medicaid
to fund useless weapons even the Pentagon doesn’t want! And last week the House of Representatives passed a military spending bill that exceeded
deficit reduction targets by $8 billion and President Obama’s budget request by $4 billion.
We need to keep finding ways to say publicly: cut the military budget so we can survive! One way we are doing this in Massachusetts
is by gathering signatures to put a ‘Budget for All’ public opinion question on the November ballot: save vital services, create jobs, make taxes fair, and bring the war dollars and the troops home! (See the question below and find more information at http://www.budget4allmass.org/)
We need to collect 200 verified signatures as soon as we can in both Rep. Sean Garballey's and the former Rep. Will Brownsberger's districts.
Then we'll all have a chance to vote our values this fall!
Please let us know if you can help get this question on the ballot on Arlington's two districts. Particularly, now, we need more help
in Rep. Sean Garballey’s 23rd Middlesex district (Middlesex 23rd covers all Arlington precincts except 2,4, 8, 10 and 12).
CAN YOU HELP?:
-collect signatures, 10 or more – from friends, neighbors, at meetings, or with another person at Stop and Shop or Trader Joes.
-recommend places or meetings with people traffic over the next few weeks where we can collect signatures.
-sign the petition if you haven’t.
To find out more, volunteer, or respond to this e-mail, you can write to Susan Lees, swlees@earthlink.net (Arlington 25% Solution)
or Barbara Boltz, baboltz@verizon.net (Budget for All Referendum coordinator in Arlington).
With much appreciation to the New Priorities Network, www.newprioritiesnetwork.org, for providing ongoing information and resources, and much of the wording of this message.
Two Budgets, The Choice is Ours!
March 24th
Last week, two budget proposals were presented, one by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan; the other by the
Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). The choice for our future is clear.
Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's future, writes in The Ryan Budget vs. 'A Budget for All':
"The CPC would invest in jobs, preserve Social Security and Medicare, and call on the banks and the wealthy to pay a hefty share for getting us out of the hole we are in. Ryan's Republican budget would impose austerity, lavish benefits on the rich, end Medicare as we know it and send the bill for the mess to working families, the poor and the elderly. The CPC would invest in rebuilding the country and reviving the American Dream. Ryan would invest in policing the world and protecting the tax havens of multinationals, and turn the Dream into a fantasy. The Ryan budget stands with the 1%. The CPC with the rest of us. You get to choose."
According to figures in a Congressional Budget Office analysis: “House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget plan specifies a long-term spending path under which, by 2050, most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would cease to exist, released today.” Click here to see the rest of CBPP’s analysis and click here to see many more facts, sources, and commentary.
Op-eds by community leaders and letters to the editor from us are critical at this moment. Please go to the New Priorities Network site for talking points and resources on the GOP budget.
Last week, two budget proposals were presented, one by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan; the other by the
Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). The choice for our future is clear.
Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's future, writes in The Ryan Budget vs. 'A Budget for All':
"The CPC would invest in jobs, preserve Social Security and Medicare, and call on the banks and the wealthy to pay a hefty share for getting us out of the hole we are in. Ryan's Republican budget would impose austerity, lavish benefits on the rich, end Medicare as we know it and send the bill for the mess to working families, the poor and the elderly. The CPC would invest in rebuilding the country and reviving the American Dream. Ryan would invest in policing the world and protecting the tax havens of multinationals, and turn the Dream into a fantasy. The Ryan budget stands with the 1%. The CPC with the rest of us. You get to choose."
According to figures in a Congressional Budget Office analysis: “House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget plan specifies a long-term spending path under which, by 2050, most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would cease to exist, released today.” Click here to see the rest of CBPP’s analysis and click here to see many more facts, sources, and commentary.
Op-eds by community leaders and letters to the editor from us are critical at this moment. Please go to the New Priorities Network site for talking points and resources on the GOP budget.
Fund Our Communities Campaign
With the U.S. facing devastating economic and environmental crises, with our states and cities forced into layoffs and cutbacks, now is the moment to demand a shift in our country's priorities. Military spending -- now more than $700 billion per year -- is bankrupting our country and draining the life blood of our communities.
 Town Day, 2010 Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, in calling for a 25% reduction in military spending, has put the issue clearly -- "If we are not able to get military spending under control...we will not be able to respond to important domestic needs."
We support a reduction of at least 25% in military spending, with the savings put toward meeting urgent needs, including the funding of jobs in housing, health care, education, clean energy and infrastructure repairs -- and preventing the layoff of State and local public workers in the Commonwealth.  April 16, 2011 Broadway Plaza What Not to Cut from the Military BudgetPay and benefits for servicemen and women and veterans
Health care for servicemen and women and veterans Protective gear for active duty personnel We can cut the military budget dramatically without harming veterans or active-duty members of the armed forces. The best way to protect our service members—while saving billions of dollars—is to stop engaging in unnecessary wars. Let’s support our troops by reducing the number of them in harm’s way and by ensuring their access to medical and mental health services. (See Peace Action: A Modest Proposal) Congressman Markey
October, 2011: Congressman Markey signs on to Lee-Campbell Bipartisan Letter to Super Committee on Military Spending:
Dear Colleague, As the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or the ‘Supercommittee’, seeks out savings and works to end wasteful spending throughout the federal budget, it is critical that all federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, are subject to the same level of scrutiny and consideration. Significant savings can be realized without compromising our national security. One of the main drivers of our deficit is military spending and it must be on the table for the committee to consider as they seek to reduce our deficit. Please join us in calling for the Supercommittee to consider savings opportunities throughout our defense spending. Please note that the letter specifically rejects any cuts that would compromise the security of American troops in the field, as well as any cuts in services and increases in fees for our veterans and military retirees. October, 2010: MA Congressmen Capuano, Delahunt, Markey, McGovern, Olver and Tierney signed onto the Frank/Paul Dear Colleague letter calling for serious cuts in military spending. In all, 52 Congressional representatives and 5 Senators signed on to the Dear Colleague letter by the October 7 deadline. The letter has been delivered; there has been good press coverage and much debate seems now in progress in D.C. See the final letter with signatures here Local Elected Officials
Our thanks to State Senator Ken Donnelly and State Representatives Will Brownsberger, Jay Kaufmann and Sean Garballey for indicating their general support for cuts to military spending to fund urgent domestic needs. Thanks, also, to School Committee chair, Joe Curro, for signing onto the Fund Our Communities sign-on letter.
For a list of eastern MA elected officials supporting the campaign, please see: http://www.25percentsolution.com/endorsers.html |
We the People - a monthly column
Click here to read the first We the People column in the Arlington Advocate, initiated by Arlington 25% Solution.
MBTA: Join April 4th at the Statehouse
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Arlington's Maggie Zhou reports from Cancun
Press Release:
Militarism as Cause and Consequence of Climate Change ........The US military is also the world’s largest institutional source of greenhouse gases (equipping, manning, training, and transporting for military operations and bases, patrolling oil shipping routes for what’s dubbed “oil protection service”, etc.), while causing massive ecosystem destruction worldwide..... |
