Leaders of grassroots groups requested a meeting with Lawler to discuss raising wages, lowering the cost of living, tackling NY’s affordable housing crisis, protecting critical federal funds and more
NEW YORK — Yesterday leaders from Citizen Action of New York, VOCAL-NY, and Community Voices Heard visited both of Congress Member Mike Lawler’s offices to request a meeting to discuss their “Deliver for the People” agenda.
“Our communities are struggling to make ends meet while corporate profits and wealth inequality soar,” said Stephan Pampinella , Board Member at Citizen Action of New York. “Working families need real leadership that prioritizes raising wages, tackling the housing crisis, and making life more affordable. Representative Mike Lawler has a choice to make: stand with the people or continue to side with the wealthy and well-connected. We demand bold action, not empty promises.”
“New Yorkers want to thrive, but too many of us are just surviving,” said Reginald T. Brown, Board Chair of VOCAL-NY. “I can barely pay for groceries on my Social Security, and my rent is going up next year. I’m not alone. Too many New Yorkers are living hand to mouth. We need politicians to raise wages, lower the cost of living and housing. We don’t need them cutting programs we all need to get by.”
“Representative Lawler has talked about helping working families, but we need real action. Community Voices Heard Power members are tired of struggling to pay rent, working multiple jobs, and still not making ends meet,” said Sheila Vereen-Massengale, Community Voices Heard Board Member. “Our communities deserve dignity, fair wages, and a chance to truly thrive, not just survive.”
Find below the “Deliver for the People” agenda (available online here)
Deliver for the People
The election is over. We don’t need any more campaign ads. We need politicians to deliver.
From small towns to big cities, people feel abandoned by politicians – especially us, people who are poor and working-class.
- We need higher wages and a lower cost of living.
- We need housing we can afford and protection from eviction.
- Our communities need money to solve local problems with local solutions by local experts.
- We need tax relief for the poor and working class.
- And we need to know the federal government is not going to cut funding for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, education and the environment and the other things that help us survive.
We don’t believe that there isn’t enough money for these things. There’s plenty of money to deliver for what people need – if billionaires and the corporations they own paid their fair share in taxes.
Just here in New York State we have 129 billionaires with $787 billion in total wealth. Their wealth has grown 75% since President Trump and the last fully-Republican Congress passed the 2017 tax cuts for the rich, while the rest of us have struggled or moved backwards during the affordability crisis.
Many of the big problems facing our communities and our country could have been solved already if we had more elected officials who fought for everyday people and fewer politicians in the pockets of big donors. Both parties spent billions on the last election – paid for by those ultra wealthy donors.
But the election is over. Now it’s time for politicians to stop making excuses and actually deliver for people.
- Raise Wages & Protect Workers: Too many people work too hard and still can’t get by. Their pay is too low and too many billionaire bosses try to stop them from unionizing for better working conditions and pay.
- Decrease the cost of living for everyday people: The cost of healthcare, childcare and utilities are impossible for many people to cover. People don’t care about political parties, they care about surviving. They want to see the costs of things we all need go down.
- Solve the affordability, eviction and homeless crisis: People need housing they can afford, and protection from eviction. Over half of renters across New York State are rent burdened or living on the brink of eviction. Over half a million New Yorkers are living in public housing that has faced decades of disinvestment. Well over 400,000 New Yorkers are homeless or living doubled up. Over 155,000 public school students and three quarters of all New York counties saw an increase in student homelessness. Corporations have turned housing into a commodity. Politicians refuse to stop them and have created our national affordability, eviction and homeless crisis.
- Don’t cut the things we all need: The federal government provides vital funds to communities for our schools, housing and more. It also runs programs like Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act that people need to survive. It funds critical housing programs like Section 9 and Section 8 that house low income and working people. We need elected officials to stand up against corporate cutters and billionaire privatizers who will try to cut, privatize and steal from working people.
- Tax relief for working people: While corporations get tax breaks and billionaires lobby for bigger loopholes, working people struggle to get by. The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are the kinds of policies that actually give tax relief to working people.
- Fund local communities to solve local problems by local experts: Across the country and New York State there are dedicated people working inside local governments. They are experts on what their communities need. They make a dollar out of fifteen cents to solve community problems. Many communities across New York need critical funds for critical issues like mental health and substance use services.
In America, our tax code shapes whether we share wealth and prosperity equitably – or allow it to be hoarded among the few. Our tax code determines whether we invest in the things that offer everyone the freedom to thrive – or let opportunity stagnate. It’s time to make millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations pay their fair share in taxes in the upcoming tax bill.
- Raise Taxes on Wealthiest Households
- Increase Corporate Tax Accountability
- End the 2017 Corporate Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest Corporations
The priority for the 2025 tax fight must be to ensure wealthy households and corporations pay their fair share like middle-class families. This would also generate a lot of new revenue to pay for tax cut extensions for people making under $400,000 a year, provide for investments, and make our economy strong.
The money is there to pay for what New Yorkers need. The Government can work for working people, or it can keep working for billionaires to get richer. Too many politicians from both parties are in the pockets of big donors. We need elected officials who deliver for working people and the whole country.