War Room To Counter Bush Social Security Blitz

5-State Rallies Against Privatization [1]

See Expected Benefit Cuts In...

» Michigan [2]

» Arkansas [3]

» Florida [4]

» Montana [5]

» Nebraska [6]

» North Dakota [7]

Rally News Coverage [8]

WASHINGTON — The Campaign for America's Future today outlined plans to counter President Bush's Social Security blitz this week, beginning with his State of the Union address tonight. The Campaign for America's Future is coordinating the efforts of labor unions and advocacy groups for civil rights, women, senior citizens and people with disabilities to fight the president's proposal to privatize Social Security.

The Campaign for America's Future has set up a war room a couple of blocks from the White House to provide real-time response to the president's State of the Union remarks tonight and to provide media representatives with dozens of spokespeople on Social Security from its partner groups. The war room is also feeding information to citizen groups in North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas and Florida to prepare for the president's visits to those states in the next two days.

State leaders and advocates will hold separate news conferences in Bismarck, N.D. and Helena, Mont. today to release a new report about how much President Bush's plan will cut benefits for a typical beneficiary. Leaders and advocates in Omaha, Neb., Little Rock, Ark. and Tampa, Fla. will hold news conferences Thursday. Hundreds of local residents will rally in Fargo and Bismarck, N.D. and Great Falls, Mont. on Thursday and Omaha, Neb., Little Rock, Ark. and Tampa, Fla. on Friday.

The Campaign for America's Future promotes and informs the efforts of more than 20 groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans, USAction, ACORN, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and others. The AFL-CIO organized thousands of activists to picket the offices of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. in Boston and San Francisco last week and generated more than 400,000 e-mails to the company.

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**NOTE: Producers and bookers interested in spokespeople on Social Security should contact Jon Romano at romano@ourfuture.org [9]. For local event planning details, please contact Andrea Miller at miller@ourfuture.org [10].**

   The Institute for America's Future (IAF) is a center of non-partisan research and education. Drawing on a network of scholars, activists and leaders across the country, IAF develops policy ideas, educational materials and outreach programs. IAF focuses on kitchen-table concerns such as economic security, retirement security, health and safety on the job, clean water and safe food. IAF provides a growing network of progressive writers, leaders and activists with facts, ideas, and arguments through an active web page and email network.