The Congressional Progressive Caucus Has Plan to ...

Put America Back to Work!

MORE AUSTERITY WON'T BRING MORE PROSPERITY

Thank you for supporting the Jobs Not War campaign. Your support with thousands of other signers has helped to make it clear to Congress that everyday people across the nation are tired of war. That we want more than waste and fat trimmed from Pentagon spending. We want new budget priorities that create good jobs with living wages and invest in our communities and our people.

When we initiated the JNW Campaign, its primary focus was the petition. The Campaign succeeded in collecting signatures from more than 36,000 people. Over 1,500 more signed on after we delivered the petition to more than 20 members of the Congress in Washington on February 13th. (See a report and photos at http://www.jobs-not-wars.org/jobs-not-wars-delegation-with-abe-lincoln-on-capitol-hill and http://www.jobs-not-wars.org/jobs-not-wars-on-capitol-hill-feb-13-2013-the-information-packet/ .) However as you know there is more work to do.
Since our petition was submitted, Congress failed to reach agreement and sequestration was triggered, cutting current spending by $85 billion. Unless sequester is repealed, or an alternative compromise is enacted, the cuts will be made as mandated by sequester, across-the-board divided equally between security and non-security discretionary spending.
Today the House Budget Committee will convene to consider 2014 budget proposals. Rep. Paul Ryan will submit the GOP budget and the Democratic leadership will submit its budget. The GOP budget is pure austerity, protecting the wealthy and corporate elites by shifting all the burden of cuts onto the backs of working people and the poor. The Democratic Party budget might be considered "austerity lite". It will close some loopholes to compel some of the very rich and biggest corporations to pay a bit more, but for the vast majority, cuts remain the order of the day, including likely cuts to such basic safety net programs as Social Security and Medicare in the name of "entitlement reform".
But there is a third way much closer to what the Jobs Not Wars Campaign's petition demands. The Congressional Progressive Caucus is proposing a "Back to Work" Anti-Austerity Budget" - a clear alternative to the GOP and Democratic leadership austerity plans.

It will create 7 million jobs in the first year, bring in revenue by closing tax loopholes for corporations and the rich, impose a transaction tax on securities speculation, end subsidies to Big Oil and Agribusiness, preserve services people depend on for survival, and balance the budget. If fully implemented, it is expected to reduce unemployment to below 5% within three years, and over 10 years will reduce the deficit by $4.4 trillion.
It allows the government to negotiate prescription drug prices and makes no cuts to Medicare or Medicaid. (It does not even mention Social Security because it makes the point that SSA is not a source of the deficit, has its own funding from payroll taxes and is not part of the discretionary budget.)
It follows the basic outlines of last year's "Budget for All" in cutting the bloated Pentagon budget by $897 billion over ten years by implementing proposals made by the Project on Defense Alternatives. It will end the Afghanistan war, close unnecessary foreign bases, reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons, and trim wasteful boondoggles like the F-35 and the V-22 Osprey.

The Back to Work Budget is a solid, well researched alternative to the austerity House Republican budget and weak compromises being considered by some Democrats. It makes no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or other vital social programs. It cuts things we don't need to fund the things we do.
The Back to Work Budget provides a broad progressive agenda to turn away from the disastrous course our country is on. It reflects the budget priorities advocated by most of the organizations involved in the JNW Campaign and the priorities of a large majority of people of all political persuasions.
We hope that you will join us in organizing support for repeal of sequestration and adoption of the CPC anti-austerity budget alternative. A vote on it will likely be taken next week. That provides a very short window of opportunity in which we propose to join with other progressive organizations and coalitions to do two things:

Get as many organizations as possible to formally endorse the Back to Work Budget, and
Get as many people as possible to contact their member of Congress to ask that they support and vote for the CPC budget alternative and reject any austerity budget, whether proposed by the GOP, the Democratic Party leadership or the White House.

Thank you once again for your efforts and support of this campaign. Don't forget to visit our website at www.jobs-not-wars.org, our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter (@JobsNotWars. Let's keep up the pressure for Jobs Not Wars!