CHICAGO – On Friday close to  one  thousand Chicagoans turned out at the Illinois State Office Building hopping mad about planned federal budget cuts proposed for HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development). Their anger overflowed into civil disobedience as they blocked traffic at one of downtown’s busiest intersections during rush hour. (see video below)

The demonstrators drew cheers and applause from people hurrying to get home after work. Even some of those stranded in their cars by the action got out and cheered the protest. Some took pictures and videos on their smart phones.

The Republican members of Congress are proposing to cut two-thirds of HUD’s budget. Like many other of the cuts proposed by the extreme right-wing Republicans in Congress, these will have virtually no actual impact on the deficit. In fact when you factor in additional costs to Medicare and Social Security to pay for nursing homes and extra medical attention for the disabled, the cuts will probably increase the deficit.

 


CONTRIBUTOR

Scott Marshall
Scott Marshall

Scott has been a life long trade unionist and was active in rank and file reform movements in the Teamsters, Machinists and Steelworkers unions in the 1970s and '80s. He was co-chair of the Save Our Jobs committee of USWA local 1834 at Pullman Standard in Chicago and active in nationwide organizing against plant shutdowns and layoffs. He was a founder of the unemployed organization Jobs or Income Now (Join), in Chicago, and the National Congress of Unemployed Organizations in the 1980s. Scott remains active in SOAR (Steelworkers Active Organized Retirees). He lives in Chicago.

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