By Doug Cunningham

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees is defending the poor against billions of dollars in cuts to social services like Medicaid, housing and food stamps that Congress will act on in December. Ron Kent with Wisconsin AFSCME says as much as $50 billion could be cut while providing $21 billion in tax relief for the wealthy.

[Ron Kent] : "Things that are being cut for children are things like eyeglasses, hearing aids, dental care and even crutches for children who are disabled. This is from the Congressional Budget Office. So if people don't believe us they can check with the CBO and they will confirm that the budget reconciliation bill is doing exactly that. It's a cruel and almost Scrooge-like set of cuts."

AFSCME will be going to members of Congress over the Thanksgiving holiday break trying to persuade them to do the right thing and rearrange their budget priorities. AFSCME is urging anyone who hears this to appeal to members of Congress NOT to cut Medicaid and the other social services that will be hit by this budget bill. A final decision on these budget cuts will be made when Congress returns to session in the first week of December.