Posted by Admin • January 2011 • Category: Members •
From OUR Melissa Stone “on April 6th I drove a bunch of my fellow members from Marysville to Olympia to demand closing tax loops holes for big banks and a fair budget
A shower of flowers for public workers and a
shower of shame for corporate tax breaks
“Thanks for everything you do.”
“We support those who support us.”
These aren’t the typical sounds of a sit-in at a government office, but the sit-in carried out by the Organization United for Reform - Washington (OUR Washington) on Monday March 21, 2011 was anything but typical. Timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of historic health care reform and themed as a response to the draconian budget cuts coming from Olympia, the action was much more of a love-in than a traditional sit-in.
Carrying flowers and a message of hope, 40 OUR Washington members marched into the office and applauded as Crystal Blanco from Marysville handed the 10 flowers out to 10 different workers, praising them for their unsung work delivering quality health care to Washingtons’ working families. Then she made a more telling point as she took on the budget cutters,
“Who caused this mess? Did you Lauren? Nope! Wall Street banks, right?! Well, guess what? It’s time for them to step up and pay their fair share. It’s time for banks like Chase and Wells Fargo to give up their $110 million in tax breaks and restore funding for Basic Health, so my fellow members – here with me today – can have access to affordable health care.”
“The state currently has 567 tax breaks on the books that cost taxpayers billions of dollars every year. Instead of cutting vital services, like Basic Health, the legislature should be cutting the billions in wasteful corporate tax breaks that aren’t even being reviewed.”
OUR Washington member Dan Dooley chimed in by saying, “I might have cancer and I don’t have health insurance. What will I do if I have cancer and I don’t have insurance? In one of the riches states in the wealthiest nation – I go broke. I go broke while Big Banks like Chase and Wells Fargo get $110 million tax break. Is this fair?!”
Finally, Deana Knutsen of the Washington Community Action Network spoke, “This week is the one year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and we are getting closer to realizing the promise of health care for all. Still, 800,000 Washingtonians don't have health insurance, including my sons. The last thing we should be doing is cutting Basic Health, one of the most successful health care programs in our state's history.”
Together the speakers and action participants had made their point about the inequity of providing hundreds of millions in tax breaks to corporations while cutting hundreds of millions from programs investing in working families. At a time when we should be celebrating the biggest reform of the health system in 40 years, instead we’re debating how much support to withdraw from vulnerable residents while blaming public sector employees and their unions as if they were the ones who crashed the economy.
But working families will have another opportunity to push elected officials to do the right thing on April 6th, when OUR Washington and its allies descend on Olympia to demand investment in people, not in Big Banks.
Save OUR Services!
DID YOU KNOW?
Form OUR member Mariel Amundsen “Did you know that big, out of state banks get over 110.3 million dollars in tax breaks every year! 110 million and they cant even keep track of OUR paper work so we can get a modifications we deserve. Is that fair?
What would 110 million pay for? Nurses in schools that my kids need to be healthy, Basic Health plan for tens of thousands of families, no cuts to in home care… the list goes on….”
FROM OUR MEMBER!
From OUR member Cedomir Iovanovici “On January 17th I went to Olympia for the first time to try to save my home and the homes of 40000 of my neighbors. Also, to force massive corporations to pay their fair share. 110 million in tax breaks for out of state banks is unjust! Not in OUR Washington!”
STOP CUTS!
On December 9th 2010 OUR Washington members joined with Washington Federation of State Employees to stop cuts in vital public services like Interpreting services.
The state has proposed total elimination of medical interpreter services on March 1, 2011! Last year, 243,000 Medicaid and DSHS appointments in WA state required spoken-language interpreters. These clients are unable to communicate with their providers without interpreters. Elimination of the program would mean that medical providers could not understand clients, and clients could not understand providers. Elimination of the program would also mean that many medical providers would stop accepting Medicaid clients - whether or not they speak English - to avoid lawsuits. The state would be saving $3.3 million dollars, but forfeiting over $12 million in federal funding, and it would be open to costly lawsuits. Funding interpreter services is the right thing to do for financial reasons, for civil rights reasons, and for human rights reasons.
Press Links
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Bank of American Stalls on Mortgage Help
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OUR Washington Hits
Bank of America -
Joining Forces to Fight Foreclosure
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On Borrowing Time
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Bank Sit In
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Just Heard: Down at the Bank
