[Peace-discuss] Chicago Talks: Protesters urge Illinois senators to fight proposed Social Security cuts

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.chicagotalks.org/2013/04/25/protesters-urge-illinois-senators-to-fight-proposed-social-security-cuts/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHeGelFu89w

Protesters urge Illinois senators to fight proposed Social Security cuts
Posted on April 25, 2013By Madeline Reynolds

With chants of, “It’s our money, not theirs,” several dozen people gathered
Thursday at Federal Plaza to protest President Obama’s proposed cuts to
veteran and Social Security benefits,

“I was hoping to retire at 62,” said Bill Preston, an Illinois resident who
is now 60. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

The protest and a petition drive was sponsored by MoveOn.Org. The
organization is urging Illinois senators not to support Obama’s proposal to
make cuts to Social Security and veteran benefits.

“If I paid for something, I’m entitled to it,” Preston said. “The crazy
thing is they’re protecting banks. They’ll bend over backward to bail them
out but when it comes to the working people who have paid into it, they
make cuts, they raise the retirement age, and make everything positive
geared toward the 1 percent of ultra wealthy.”

Other protesters were equally outraged. “There should be no cuts to Social
Security ad veterans’ benefits,” said Barbara Murphy, a retired citizen.
“How horrendous! To think of cutting for the people who need the benefits
the most.”

The petition that the group was advocating for proposes the Government cut
the defense budget instead of  Social Security.  It was authored by Robert
Naiman of Just Foreign Policy and currently has 37,377 signatures, with a
goal of 40,000.

The petition statement reads: “Instead of cutting Social Security and
veterans’ benefits, Congress should cut the bloated Pentagon budget.”

Meg Welch, 50, one of the organizers, works for the Social Security
Administration. “For many people, this is their only source of income,”
Welch said. “It is a safety net and we just want to remind our senators
that their constituents do not support cuts to Social Security. That’s why
we’re here today.”

As two representatives brought the petition to the offices of Sens. Mark
Kirk (R-Ill.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the rest of the group remained
out  in the plaza, reciting various call and response chants such as
“Social Security! No cuts!” and “Social Security works for me!”

Meredith West, an activist, said her husband suffered from a stroke and is
no longer able to work. She said her husband’s company provides them with
disability benefits through what he paid into Social Security.

“My husband, myself, and all off us here paid for that program,” West said,
“and how dare they reduce that program because they started wars they could
not afford?”

Mary Zerkel, another speaker at the protest, talked about how much the
government spends on military and government funded programs as opposed to
social benefits.

“We just have a crisis of priorities,” Zerkel said. “We’re not putting the
money in the right places. Invest in people not the pentagon.”

Citizens who are currently are in retirement and receiving money from these
programs are feeling anxious about Obama’s proposal.

“’I’m just starting to get Social Security,” said Judy Bloom, 66, a
retiree, “and I’m not going to make it if they start cutting it…And I don’t
like cat food.”

-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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