Last Thursday while Mitt Romney became the official GOP nominee for president at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Washington CAN! members and our allies gathered in Seattle and Olympia to speak out against the Romney/Ryan budget and target AG Rob McKenna for his attacks to Medicaid.
See below for a recap of the actions:
Olympia: 26 Washington CAN! Olympia members held a rally outside the Republican Coordinated Campaign office to speak-out against the Romney economy and McKenna’s attempts to drastically cut Medicaid, in addition to the GOP’s war on women. Four Washington CAN! members shared their stories of how they rely on Medicaid/Medicare and how they would be negatively impacted by the Romney/Ryan budget plans to privatize Medicare, gut Medicaid and erode women’s health protections and benefits, all while continuing to provide huge tax breaks for the top 1%. We also targeted Attorney General Rob McKenna for threatening women’s health by attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and proposing a state budget that would drastically reduce Medicaid services for seniors and the disabled while keeping corporate tax loopholes in place. Community members attempted to deliver questions regarding the GOP’s stance on women’s health to people in the office to demand answers from Romney, Ryan and McKenna. They weren’t allowed in the office to deliver their questions. Wonder why?
Seattle: Washington CAN! partnered with Working Washington to hold a rally against the Romney/Ryan budget and fight back against cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. While outside the hospital, there was a short program highlighting the impact of the Romney economy on our health, and highlighting how the Romney/Ryan budget makes deep cuts to health care in order to preserve tax breaks for the wealthy. Mila Dolan, Washington CAN! member who relies on Medicare and has health complications spoke to how she has paid into Medicare her whole life and she doesn’t want Romney or Ryan cutting the program that provides her life-saving medication. Everyone then marched to AG Rob McKenna’s campaign office to hold him accountable for proposing drastic cuts to Medicaid, in order to preserve tax breaks for the wealthy. Washington CAN! staff delivered the hundreds of postcards they’d collected asking AG Rob McKenna to denounce the Romney/Ryan budget due to the deep cuts made to health care and social service programs that Washingtonians rely on. Although McKenna’s campaign staff were in the office, they kept the door locked and made us drop off the postcards outside the door. Take a look at our pictures from the event.
We’ll continue fighting back against attacks to Medicare and Medicaid and the other programs that keep our communities healthy. In order to get our country back on track we need to invest in the things that make our communities strong and for everyone to pay their fair share. We can’t continue to provide tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
