05 | April | 2012 | Be a Seed for Change

Yesterday our President had a few choice words for the radical Republican budget championed by Rep. Paul Ryan. He called it “so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal.”
From Medicare to Social Security, health care to education, the GOP is ready to cut to the bone some of our most basic government services — while not asking for a dime more from the wealthiest Americans.
President Obama called it what it is: “A Trojan horse… Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.”
This isn’t just Paul Ryan’s budget — it’s also Mitt Romney‘s platform.

Let’s fight it. Add your name alongside mine to reject the Ryan budget. WWW.democrats.org

Here’s just a few of the things that would happen to Americans with the budget the GOP is backing.
Medicare? They’d throw it out the window, and give seniors a voucher that would amount to the second-cheapest health care plan in their community. Education? This plan would lay off thousands of teachers nationwide, and drastically cut financial aid — actually making college more expensive than it currently is. Investments in clean energy? Cut by a fifth.

WWW.democrats.org
In the President’s words: “Gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training, research and development — it’s a prescription for decline.”

Perhaps even more telling are the things they’re fighting to protect: four billion annually in taxpayer-funded subsidies for giant oil companies that don’t need it; increases in defense spending completely beyond what the Pentagon even asked for; and even more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
So let’s break it down. This budget isn’t for the 98% of Americans making under $250,000 a year.
Who is it for? It’s laden with special interest kickbacks and protections to keep the status quo going for those on top.
Yesterday, the President said he’s going to fight against this budget until the other side starts listening. It’s our job to back him up.

WWW.democrats.org
Send a strong message to Ryan and the Republicans pushing this budget. Reject it outright today:
Thanks,
Patrick

Patrick Gaspard
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

The USDA wants to cut corners and risk putting unsafe chicken on the market and on your kitchen table with their new “dirty chicken” rule—all to save a quick buck. Meanwhile, billionaires and corporations are getting tax breaks. It’s shocking.

Click here now to sign the petition against the “dirty chicken” rule.

I hope you don’t mind a little salmonella and E. coli in your chicken. Because if the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gets its way, chicken contaminated with disease, feathers and other really disgusting stuff could be on its way to your dinner plate within the year.

We count on USDA inspectors to help us keep our families safe and healthy. But the USDA wants to save money by throwing about 1,000 of them out of work.

Hurry: Sign our petition against the “dirty chicken” rule today, and tell the USDA inspectors they can count on us, too.

About 3,000 Americans die from food-borne illnesses each year. But instead of doing more to protect our families, the USDA is taking budget cuts out on the inspectors we need. Not only would about 1,000 get the boot—the inspectors who keep their jobs would be told to inspect 175 chickens per minute. That’s more than three chickens per second!

Working people like us, and like USDA inspectors, take pride in our work. We work hard and make a difference. USDA’s “dirty chicken” rule would take that away while endangering our families.

Sign the petition against the “dirty chicken” rule TODAY.

This week, food inspection workers (members of the AFGE) rallied outside the
USDA to oppose this frightening measure—but a rally alone won’t stop this plan. We need massive public pressure.

This new inspection system for poultry slaughter plants is another example of attacks on everyday working people while billionaires and corporations are getting tax breaks. And this time, it’s putting our kids and families at risk while taking jobs away from people we count on. It’s shocking.

Tell the USDA you won’t settle for dirty chicken. Sign the petition today.

Only by standing together can we save the jobs of hundreds of federal workers who we count on to protect our families.

Thanks for the work you do.

In solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. In his new book, Rebuild the Dream, Van Jones, a former Obama White House adviser on green jobs and an award-winning human rights activist, maps out how to turn Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s and the American Dream into reality.

Click here to learn more and order your copy.