Dear Friend,
The coronavirus crisis has shown that our country fails to adequately protect the health and economic well-being of working families. This moment calls for us to reassess our priorities as a state and put the needs of our communities before the profits of billionaires and corporations. Instead of taxing the wealthy to fill the $6 billion budget gap, Governor Cuomo has decided to push his plans ahead and cut Medicaid which provides low-cost comprehensive care for working families. This is irresponsible and wrong. Join us in demanding the state to tax the rich and invest it where it matters: critical healthcare services, public education, and a strong social safety net for working families.
We are calling on Governor Cuomo and state legislative leaders to stand up for working families and the most vulnerable New Yorkers in this budget:
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Include a tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers to raise revenue for the many instead of cutting the budget on the backs of Black, brown, poor and working-class communities;
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No devastating cuts to healthcare funding while doctors, nurses, and front-line healthcare workers are risking their lives to contain this pandemic;
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No rollbacks to bail reform that will only send more New Yorkers into our overcrowded jails that are becoming hotbeds of this disease;
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Fully fund public education so that our children and their heroic teachers and staff are cared for;
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A moratorium on rent;
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No attacks on democracy or other unrelated policy initiatives that have no place in a budget during a crisis like this.
Governor Cuomo has an opportunity to take the necessary action in the state budget to protect working people and the quality care that they need. The conditions are ripe for building a stable, thriving, and healthy future for working families. Stand with us and take action to demand bold, transformative action to create a new economy that will be better, stronger, and fairer.
In Solidarity,
Maritza Silva-Farrell
Executive Director
ALIGN NY
