Labor & Community Groups To Travel The State Demanding Preservation of Social Safety Net Programs

ALBANY, NY (07/19/2011)(readMedia)-- With the August 2nd deadline to raise the national debt ceiling fast approaching, and the adoption of a radical, federal budget in the House of Representatives last April, a large coalition of labor, community, senior, and consumer groups, along with concerned New Yorkers, are embarking on a "Restore the American Promise" statewide caravan.

The caravan will stop and rally throughout New York congressional districts to urge elected officials to protect, preserve and strengthen America's "social safety net," including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The caravan will stop in Buffalo, Corning, Pittsford, Syracuse, Utica, Saratoga Springs, Kinderhook, Southampton, and Somers. The tour will culminate at a final stop in Hyde Park at the FDR Presidential Library and Home.

The push to destroy Medicare and Social Security is the latest in a series of maneuvers by politicians in the past few months in Washington and those favoring corporate special interests across the country, to push an agenda of overreach. Instead of creating jobs and fixing our economy, Congressional Republicans voted to give massive new tax cuts to Wall Street and the rich and pay for them by cutting deeply into services for seniors, children and working families. The New York State AFL-CIO's 2.5 million members across the state will not sit silently by and watch them dismantle the infrastructure that we all depend on.

The federal "debt ceiling" must be raised by August 2nd, but some congressional leaders are threatening to take no action unless radical cuts are made to historic social programs. New Yorkers are being encouraged to show up at these rallies and let the elected officials know that these programs should not be cut.