Lawmakers, Citizens Ask Super Committee To Wake Up

U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) led an event on Thursday in which hundreds of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries gathered together to ask the Super Committee to “wake up” and take entitlement programs off the table.

“This country in fact does have a serious deficit problem but the reality is that the deficit was caused by two wars unpaid for, it was caused by huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country, it was caused by a recession as a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street,” Sanders declared at the event.”If those are the causes of the deficit and the national debt, I will be damned if we will balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor. That’s wrong.”

Along with the lawmakers who called on the Super Committee to stay away from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cuts, community leaders related their personal stories and struggles and how Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cuts would affect them.

“I want a country that rich people can care about people and not only about profits and that means not cutting Social Security, not cutting Medicare and not cutting Medicaid,” Vermont native Virginia Humphrey passionately stated before the crowd. “I want Congress to wake up.”

As the event ended audience members began to chant, “We are the 99%”  and revealed their plan to deliver alarm clocks to Super Committee members’ offices to symbolize their campaign for Congress to wake up.

PICO National Network led a group of around 50 individuals to Super Committee member Senator John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) office with alarm clocks ringing in their hands as they chanted “Hey Kerry, Wake Up.” 

The Super Committee’s deadline to cut $1.2 trillion from the nation’s budget by November 23 is fast approaching.

Bernie Sanders Calls For Shared Sacrifice

Vanessa Remmers

During a press briefing Tuesday, Sen. Sanders (I-VT) touted a stack of papers listing the names of 100,000 Americans who support for tax hikes for the wealthy as evidence of American opposition to Republican plans to balance the budget soley through cuts.

“By overwhelming numbers, based on every single poll that I have seen, the American people do not agree with Republicans who say that deficit reduction should be based on savage cuts to working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the most vulnerable people in this country while not asking the weathiest people in America and the largest corporations to contribute a nickel,” Sanders said. 

With the budget deadline drawing near, Sanders said he believes the President could make better use of his bully pulpit.

“Do I think the President has fought as hard as he should in making it clear to the American people that he is going to stand tall in defending Medicare, Medicaid, education, nutrition, and community health centers? … No, I do not think he has,” Sanders said.

According to Sanders, it is an economic and moral imperative to fight against budget cuts to certain programs.

“From an economic point of view, you’ve got corporate America sitting on trillions of dollars in cash that they are not investing because working people do not have enough money to buy it. So I think from both a moral perspective for what is fair and an economic perspective of how we create jobs in this country, I am very worried about any proposal that will make devestating cuts to people who are already hurting,” Sanders said.

New Bill Would Limit Role Of Private Military Contractors

By Laurel Brishel Prichard University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would limit the work the U.S. does with independent military contractors.

“Our footprint in places like Iraq and Afghanistan is really masked by the heavy dependence of contractors,” said Schakowsky during a morning press conference.

The Stop Outsourcing Security, or “SOS,” bill would stop private security companies from being employed by the government for sensitive issues, such as training the Afghanistan police, which is one of the contracts that Xe services, formerly known as Blackwater, is currently lobbying for. The SOS bill would also require contracts over $5 million to undergo Congressional review.

“When push comes to shove private contractors answer to corporate CEOs, not a uniformed commander,” said Sanders.

In addition, both Schakowsky and Sanders believe that the use of private contractors not only hurts the morale within the armed forces, but could drive Americans away from traditional roles in armed services in pursuit of higher pay.