Let’s Give Congress Something to Talk About
By Judith Le Blanc

The Congress is debating the federal budget   It is time to tell Congress what we want. The Senate is writing next year’s budget now. To cast your vote  take the Peace-Action New Priorities Budget Preference Poll.

The media makes it sound like there are only 2 ways to deal with the economic crisis: The President’s budget or the GOP’s, when polling shows that people want a budget that moves the money from military spending, tax cuts for the rich and subsidies to Big Business to fund human needs. The Congressional Progressive Caucus proposed a budget to do just that: the People’s Budget.

“Not a single hard news story on the proposal (the People’s Budget) ran in the New York Times, Washington Post or USA Today.” according to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Unfortunately, the mainstream media is not informing the grassroots that there is an alternative to slashing human services.

That’s why we are partnering with the New Priorities Network to launch a campaign to bring our voices into the debate.

Take the Peace-Action New Priorities Budget Preference Poll..  Cast your vote for the President’s, Ryan’s or the People’s Budget. We want to know what you think, and we will share it with your Congressional representative.

Please join Peace Action in a campaign that will
*bring tens of thousands of people into the public debate on the budget
*pressure Congress to cut military spending by hundreds of billions of dollars a year
*call for shifting funds to our communities and people in need
*put military spending on the map for the media and the 2012 elections
*Strengthen working relationships between the economic justice and peace movements

Cast your vote: take the Peace-Action New Priorities Budget Preference Poll.

If you’re an individual, you can publicize the online poll by email, Facebook, and Twitter; help organize a Town Hall Meeting in your city; and pull in organizations you know. Just put this link in your emails and on Facebook: https://PeaceActionFederalBudgetPoll.questionpro.com

The campaign offers two ways to bring the debate into our communities:

1. An online poll where people can choose between the GOP budget, President Obama’s budget, and the “People’s Budget”.

The online poll https://PeaceActionFederalBudgetPoll.questionpro.com is available and it can be installed on the website of any organization that agrees to promote it. If you would like to put it on a website, contact Judith Le Blanc at (917) 806-8775.  Poll results by state and congressional district will go to Members of Congress, Senators, and the media. It comes with a toolkit, an email message you can send to your list, a press advisory, fact sheet, and sample op-ed.

2. Town Hall Meetings on jobs, taxes, democracy – and the People’s Budget. Get groups together to sponsor a town hall meeting and invite local elected officials to hear the testimony.

If you need more information about participating, contact Peace Action at jleblanc@peace-action.org.