A group of union members, community activists and business owners told Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) there is one thing they and most Americans don’t have on their holiday gift list—a tax hike for the middle class and benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, especially as a result of a congressional Republican refusal to make the wealthy pay their fair share that sends the nation over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Anyone who wants to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits to finance massive tax giveaways for the rich must have a heart two sizes too small. 

Today, we're tweeting at House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling them to stop holding working people hostage just so the wealthiest 2% can receive more tax giveaways. 

Click here to send this message to Boehner and McConnell: Don’t “steal Christmas” by passing GOP benefit cuts.

UPDATE: With a large number of House Republicans refusing to back asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) pulled his “Plan B.” from the floor last night and adjourned the House. No negotiations between Republicans and the Obama White House on the expiring middle class tax cuts and automatic spending cuts set to go into effect Jan. 1 are scheduled.  But a White House spokesman said, “The president will work with Congress to get this done, and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”  

If House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) “really wanted to address the true causes of our long-term budget imbalance, the last thing he would ask Congress to do is pass more wasteful tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans,” AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director Bill Samuel said in a letter to House members today.

"Republicans are once again demanding benefit cuts to pay for tax cuts, and threatening to harm the economy unless they get their way," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement today. 

Amid reports that negotiations over the so-called “fiscal cliff” include possible cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vital lifelines that families count on, worker activists are rallying on Capitol Hill today. They are calling on Congress to fight back against cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and to insist that lawmakers ensure the nation’s wealthiest pay their fair share in taxes.

Aspiring artists have only until Wednesday, Dec. 19, to submit original works of art to Artstrike, the day of action put together by CultureStrike, 5D Stories and the Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund. So far, numerous artists have contributed dozens of images, songs and videos to the project, all with the message directed at Congress that working families oppose benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and want the richest Americans to pay their fair share of taxes, which includes letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% expire.

Even a heartless Grinch should understand that cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits is a really bad idea.

A recent poll confirms what a growing number of politicians, community leaders and mainstream news media already suspected: Most Latinos, like most other Americans in battleground states, support a plan to reduce the deficit that includes more revenue from tax increases for the wealthiest people.

Are you an artist or graphic designer? Do you oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other lifelines? Then Artstrike wants your submissions by Dec. 17. Artstrike is a collaboration among CultureStrike, 5D Stories and the Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund to create original art that fights back against the most extreme proposals being floated as a response to the fiscal bluff.

"Deficits, Deceit, and the Body Politic" was originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is an excerpt:

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the foundations for the well-being of scores of millions of middle- and low-income Americans. Without Social Security, 14 million more low-income Americans would be living in poverty. Because of Medicare, 33 million older people live longer, have access to quality careand are not driven into poverty by rapidly rising health care costs. Medicaid is a health care boon to Americans not yet eligible for Medicare, which covers some 60 million Americans.