Take 23 Seconds to Send a Message

Cheryl says: It took me just 23 seconds to use this link to read and send a message to President Obama, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. Won't you take 23 seconds to let these decision-makers know what you think?

A message from Feminist Majority:

President Obama and Congressional leaders are entering a critical phase in the negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and prevent default on the Nation's legal obligations. Feminists must speak out loud and clear.

Please sign our letter and tell President Obama and the Congressional leaders they must not balance the nation's budget on the backs of women, children, the elderly, and the disabled.
Whether the Republicans like it or not, the budget deficits cannot be reduced by cutting spending alone. Revenue must be raised by increasing taxes on the wealthy, closing loopholes for major corporations, and ending federal subsidies to profit-bloated oil corporations.
The Republicans are refusing to raise taxes on the wealthy or major corporations even though House Republicans passed, in a straight party line vote, the 2012 Ryan budget which eliminates Medicare for future generations. Plus it both cuts drastically the Medicaid program by $750 billion and converts it to block grants to states. This means instead of eligible poverty-level people (such as pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled persons) having rights of access to benefits, they will be at the mercy of individual states.

Nor can we let our national leaders eliminate or drastically cut vitally needed women's programs such as both domestic and international reproductive health and family planning programs. This has nothing to do with cutting the budget. Every $1 spent on family planning saves the government some $4.
Now national media are reporting that the President may put Social Security on the table and that the Cost of Living adjustments could be reduced by a new calculation based on the Chained Consumer Price Index. This would result in a smaller cost of living adjustment (COLA) despite the fact that seniors' medical costs have been increasing at a rate higher than inflation. The average Social Security monthly payment to women is $1000. President Obama and Congressional Democrat leaders have stood strong for Social Security; this must not change now. Retired women need real COLA increases.
We must stand strong for family planning, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Let President Obama and Congressional leaders hear from you now.

For women's lives,

Eleanor Smeal
President
Feminist Majority

1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801, Arlington, VA 22209 | 703.522.2214 |femmaj@feminist.org