Congress Must Act. National Call-In Day, Social Blog-a-Thon, Local Events to Stress Need for Unemployment Insurance, Ending Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- USAction today is demanding that Congress renew unemployment insurance, make permanent tax cuts for middle-income Americans, and end additional tax giveaways for the wealthy.

USAction is using a number of different vehicles to carry its message to Congress:

• Using the latest click-to-call technology built by USAction and AFSCME, USAction members are flooding  Members' offices with calls demanding that Congress act.
• Led by the National Employment Law Project and Moms Rising, USAction is participating in  a "Blog-A-Thon," which will feature stories of real Americans suffering during this all-too-real Great Recession and "jobless recovery."
• Across the country, USAction affiliates are organizing events, ranging from protests to press conferences to put pressure on members. Events include unemployed workers, who outnumber the number of available jobs in this country by a ratio of five to one.
• A poll just released by the National Employment Law Project shows Americans strongly support continuing unemployment insurance. Of those surveyed, nearly three out of four Americans say it's too early to begin cutting UI benefits. Support for unemployment insurance transcends geographic, racial and even partisan boundaries, with even a majority of Republicans in favor.

Alan Charney, USAction Director of Strategy and Policy, said Congress must act immediately on both unemployment insurance and the Bush tax cuts this year and not wait until January.

"If Democrats pass massive tax giveaways for the wealthy and leave the unemployment out in the cold, they cannot claim to be the party of the working people," Charney said. "A crisis is looming in our country. We have to help people now and we have to realize that helping people now also means helping the economy as we enter the holiday season."

SOURCE USAction