Yesterday, a coalition of community advocates and the healthcare workers of SEIU-UHW joined with more than 100 children to protest Congressman Drier's (R-CA) recent vote to cut children's healthcare. Rep. Dreier voted in April to support the Republican-backed budget proposal by Congressman Paul Ryan that would ration healthcare funds distributed to states.
Families from Rep. Dreier's district are alarmed by the Congressman's vote in favor of a budget that would dismantle Medicare and drastically cut Medicaid, which has played a central role in successfully reducing the number of uninsured children in California. Many working families in the district also rely on Medicaid for flu shots, hearing tests, and tackling common medical conditions such as asthma so their kids can remain healthy, grow and learn.
At the same time, the proposal provides tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, subsidies to oil companies and giveaways to special interests.
"Families are really hurting in this economy and depend more than ever on access to affordable healthcare for their kids," said Jose Calderon, a Professor at Pitzer College in Claremont and resident of the district. "Rep. Dreier is obviously out of touch and needs to understand that his priorities are misplaced--children's health should come before giving money to big corporations."
Californians are committed to keeping their kids healthy and Congress should be too.
We can't allow a budget proposal that will take such vital services and programs away from those who need it the most to move forward.
Use SEIU.org's online tool to spread the word via email, Facebook and Twitter.
Participants in Wednesday's gathering in front of the Congressman's San Dimas office included San Gabriel Valley residents and community organizations such as St. John's Well Child and Family Center, SEIU--United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), Esperanza Community Housing Corporation and Strategic Actions For A Just Economy.
Here's a slideshow from Wednesday's protest:
More photos on SEIU-UHW's Flickr page here.
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