Back in January, House Speaker John Boehner was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article claiming Republicans have leverage in the fiscal showdown fight because they're willing to use sequester cuts to extract massive concessions in the form of cuts to vital lifelines, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

It's back. No matter how many times working people reject the Bowles-Simpson "B-S" budget plan that cynically claims it would "promote economic growth "—but would actually snuff out the recovery and cut lifelines for working families—it keeps coming back to the table. 

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released another tired plan today that would cut Social Security COLAs to pay for lower tax rates for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, among other things. 

Working families rallied on Capitol Hill last week, calling on Congress not to make any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They also told Congress to close tax loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest 2% and to prevent the sequester from going into effect and harming the country. 

Another Republican-manufactured fiscal crisis is fast approaching and it threatens the fragile economic recovery with the automatic, across–the-board sequestration budget cuts scheduled to kick in on March 1. Republicans have indicated they will block any attempt to stop the sequester unless there are benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

But a majority of House Democrats late last week signed a House Progressive Caucus letter to President Obama opposing benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Don’t forget today is the National Call-In Day to tell Congress to stop another manufactured fiscal crisis that would put the fragile economic recovery in jeopardy and cost as many as 1 million of America's workers their jobs.

Call 888-659-9401 and tell your lawmakers:

• Protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts.
• Repeal the “sequester” and close loopholes for Wall Street and the wealthiest 2% of Americans instead

Your voice needs to be heard because the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts in sequestration are scheduled to kick in on March 1.

Do you want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts? Do you want to close tax loopholes for the wealthy and corporations so they pay their fair share? Do you want to stop another Republican-manufactured fiscal crisis that would imperil the fragile economic recovery and cost as many as 1 million of America's workers their jobs?

Then join us in a National Call-In Day to Congress and tell your lawmakers:

When Medicare Part D was introduced in 2003, the goal was to provide seniors with cheaper prescription drugs, writes Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in an Op-Ed for the Duluth News Tribune. But, with the Part D "donut hole" and the clause that prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices, the burden of prescription drug costs has been a hardship for many of America's seniors over the past decade. 

More than 1,500 people rallied Tuesday on Capitol Hill in support of working families and to tell Congress not to make any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They also told Congress to close tax loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest 2% and to prevent the sequester from going into effect and harming the country. Throughout the rally, working families spoke with a unified voice calling for "jobs, not cuts."

A new article from the Economic Policy Institute busts several of the myths relating to the deficit and the national debt and shows that the focus of many politicians and policy analysts is misguided and could undercut the fragile economic recovery. 

As Congress gets ready for “Round 2” of the Fiscal Showdown—yet another manufactured budget crisis that will unfold during the month of March and over the course of this year—Republicans are resisting proposals to make this crisis go away once and for all by closing tax loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans.