Citizen Action protests Sequestration, Schumer outlines plan

2/20/2013 (Updated 10:58:06 PM)

As the March 1st deadline for Sequestration is fast approaching, Southern Tier residents are making their voices heard.
 
Citizen Action gathered outside Congressman Richard Hanna's office in the Metrocenter to protest the proposed cuts.  Sequestration would mean job layoffs, cuts in education and highway aid, and an estimated 0.5% drop in the GDP.

The effect could be felt here in the Southern Tier in the enrollment and employment numbers at Binghamton University.

"They're going to depreciate the enrollment in universities because people are going to say 'listen, if I go to college like a lot of friends that are similar to me that don't have the funding to pay for college, you're going to accumulate a massive amount of loans," said Jon Jones, BU graduate student.  "Why put myself in the position that I'm going to accumulate loans that I will no longer be able to pay off because I know that in the end I may not have a job."

"I think these guys really need to understand the impact that their policies are having," said Ron Deutsch, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.  "How many people out here right now are suffering, whether they be unemployed, whether they be hungry, whether they be homeless.  These are things we need to pay attention to and invest in and make sure that we curtail, but instead we're moving in the opposite direction."

After leaving the Metrocenter, Citizen Action moved the rally to the Broome County Public Library for a more informative presentation about what Sequestration means.

While Congressman Hanna was not in town this afternoon, Senator Charles Schumer spoke about Sequestration during his visit to Chenango Memorial Hospital.  Schumer says the proposed cuts would negatively impact the area.

"The good news is, there is an alternative," Schumer said.  "What a bunch of us have proposed is closing some of these tax loopholes that never should have been there to begin with.  These benefit a small, narrow group of people and we could eliminate those and not do the cuts of sequestration."

Schumer propses ending the tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, ending the huge federal subsidies to the oil companies, and implementing a 30% tax rate for individuals that make over $1 million dollars per year.

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