Update, 3/7/2012: See pictures from the event!

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United will join the California Alliance for Retired Americans  and other community activists Tuesday to picket the Oakland appearance of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson who will be in town promoting their call for a deficit plan that features sweeping cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Bowles and Simpson, co-chairs of the 2010 President’s Deficit Commission, which failed to get its plan through Congress, are on a national speaking tour intended to continue pressure for their proposals, which include raising the retirement age, taxing benefits, and other cuts. 

When:                        Tuesday, March 6

Time:                          7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where:                      Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland

“Social Security and Medicare are not ‘entitlements’, they are basic building blocks of a civil society that working people have earned and paid for through over the years of their working lives,” said CNA Co-President DeAnn McEwen, RN.

“Our elected leaders should stop pandering to the Wall Street interests and the politicians they fund who favor privatization and unwarranted cuts in these crown jewels of American democracy,” said McEwen. “At a time of ongoing economic suffering by working people across this country, the worst message that could be sent is cuts in Social Security and Medicare.”

CNA and NNU have worked with advocates across the country for several years to oppose the attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

“If Washington is really concerned about the future of these programs, they should raise the cap on Social Security payroll contributions, and strengthen the risk pool of Medicare by expanding it to cover everyone,” McEwen said.

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