Community, Labor Groups Urge Buerkle to Abandon Her Support for Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Paid for by Raising Taxes on 25 Million Working Families
Syracuse, NY – Community and labor groups along with constituents of Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle spun the “Wheel of Misfortune” in Hanover Square in downtown Syracuse today, inviting passersby to take a spin of the wheel to find out what Buerkle’s voting record means for them and their family.
Spots on the wheel represented how various programs would be cut, including Social Security, Medicare, education funding and Head Start, along with other aspects of Buerkle’s platform, including spots that represented her support and votes for Bush-era Tax Cuts.
“Everything about the Romney/Ryan/Buerkle vision for this country runs completely counter to the day-to-day struggles that working families face. Under their plan, they would raise taxes on 25 million people and gut crucial programs that these families rely on,” said Rosemary Rivera, Organizing Director for Citizen Action of New York. “Her constituents have continuously urged her to listen to their concerns and abandon her endorsement of this destructive agenda and we will continue to rally against her until she heeds their call.”
For weeks, Citizen Action of New York along with its various partners in the community have worked to bring awareness to Buerkle’s voting record. During her tenure in Congress, Buerkle has endorsed the Romney/Ryan plan and voted for $1.1 trillion in tax cuts paid for on the backs of 25 million working families nationwide who would have their taxes raised.
“Congresswoman Buerkle’s ongoing support for the Ryan budget and the Romney/Ryan Plan in general not only erases all the progress we’ve made in the past four years but it has detrimental effects on women,” said Mary Ann Secpitello, a member of Women’s Initiative Now. “Under the Romney/Ryan/Buerkle plan, they would repeal landmark health care reform legislation that would provide access to 19 million women previously without health care. It’s shameful and disgusting and it’s time for Buerkle to abandon her support for this proposal.”
“Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, no vital program is safeguarded against the disastrous budget Paul Ryan is proposing and that Congresswoman Buerkle has consistently voted in favor of,” said Marilyn Chambers, a constituent of Ann Marie Buerkle. “She would gut these programs or reshape them entirely to pay for $1.1 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%. It’s immoral and it’s wrong. It’s time for Congresswoman Buerkle to listen to her constituents and stand up for working families not CEO campaign contributors trying to buy the policies that benefit them and only them.”
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