The National Organization for Women will hold an emergency rally on Friday, June 24, outside the Tampa office of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to protest proposed cuts in the 2012 budget. Hundreds of grassroots feminist activists from around the country will participate in this action — many of them in town for the National NOW Conference taking place that weekend at the Embassy Suites Tampa (USF).
This action is an urgent appeal to stop “slash-onomics” as Congress prepares to vote on the 2012 federal budget. The version passed in the House of Representatives would dismantle the economic safety net for women by block-granting Medicaid, privatizing Medicare, and fast-tracking cuts to Social Security. In addition, that budget would take away billions from programs that disproportionately serve and employ women, including Head Start and Pell Grants.
Sen. Rubio stands as a prominent symbol of radical right-wing “Tea Party” politics, which aim to lower taxes on the wealthiest while waging a war on women. He also represents a faction that oddly forgets what home rule means when it comes to the District of Columbia. This budget proposes to once again overrule D.C.’s local decision-making authority to direct its own dollars toward providing abortion care for women who would not receive health care without government assistance. By calling on Congress to stay out of D.C., the NOW rally will stand in solidarity with a demonstration organized by national civil rights leaders, which takes place the following day outside the White House.
Who: NOW national officers, leaders and activists from across the country
What: Emergency Rally for Women in the 2012 Budget
When: Friday, June 24, 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Where: Sidewalk outside of Senator Rubio’s Tampa Office (3802 Spectrum Blvd.)
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