Re: Act NOW to Stop Cuts!

[Mike Hersh]

View as Web Page, share on Facebook and Twitter | Tell a Friend Act NOW to Stop Disastrous Cuts! The Maryland General Assembly is about to decide. A special 3-day legislative session will start today, Monday, May 14th. Maryland has wonderful schools, high quality public services, and is a great place to live. Unfortunately, a lack of resolve in Annapolis could undermine all of this. The expected budget and revenues deal will not protect programs that keep our state prosperous. Failure to invest in our future will be catastrophic. Unless our legislators vote to raise needed revenues, Maryland will suffer deep cuts. Currently, Maryland faces a $1 billion projected budget shortfall. The budget deal that will be voted on in the special session would raise less than $250 million--only 1/4 of the needed revenues. The rest would be made up through cuts, shifting costs to counties, and other measures. We must demand that our elected officials act responsibly to address the impending fiscal crisis without risking catastrophic cuts to services and programs. Contact your elected officials and tell them you want sufficient revenues, not damaging cuts. To avoid catastrophic cuts, legislators must raise sufficient revenues. We call upon Governor O'Malley and all State Legislators to raise needed revenues to avoid the deep cuts threatened by the "doomsday budget," more than $500 million taken from healthcare, education, public safety, and other essential services. We also call upon them to go beyond the deal currently under consideration, and raise at least $600 million in additional revenues per year to help restore our fiscal stability. It's time to stand up and speak out to protect our way of life in Maryland. According to Governor O'Malley, although Maryland has the highest median income of any state in the country, our residents “now pay the third-lowest state and local taxes as share of income.” We can clearly afford to support the high quality services and programs that make Maryland a wonderful state. If we don't support them, they will degrade and our prosperity will decline. Please use this action alert to find the Governor's phone number and email address--and those for your senator and delegate(s) by typing in your zip code. Emails are helpful, but phone calls are much more effective. Ask to leave a quick message. Say that you're a voter, and mention your town or city. Discuss any or all of the points made above. If you choose, you may say you're willing to pay a bit more in taxes to prevent disastrous cuts which threaten our quality of life, and you believe that the very wealthy should pay their fair share to help keep Maryland strong. Ask your friends and contacts to join you taking this action to protect Maryland's high quality programs and services. Share this action alert link on Facebook, Twitter, in email, etc.: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1987/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7671 Thank you for taking action, Mike Hersh PDA Maryland State Coordinator Find out more about Progressive Democrats of America You are subscribed to Progressive Democrats of America as mi...@pdamerica.org Privacy Policy Follow PDA