Peterson Fiscal Summit to be Joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Truth-Telling Session

Washington, DC -- On May 15, Sen. Bernie Sanders will join with citizen groups to protest the Peter G. Peterson “Fiscal Summit” where elite power brokers including House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), former Sen. Alan Simpson, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and former President Bill Clinton will gather inside to discuss a so-called congressional “grand bargain” budget that will mean cuts Medicare and/or Social Security -- with little attention to the damage their austerity plans would do to the struggling economic recovery and to the middle class and low-income families.

Senator Bernie Sanders, NOW’s Terry O’Neill, Social Security advocate Max Richtman and Campaign for America’s Future’s Roger Hickey will join activists on May 15 at 1:30 p.m., at 1301 Constitution Avenue NW outside the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C. to protest conservative austerity plans and cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which they suspect Democrats at the summit might embrace.

“The elite inside the Peterson summit need to hear our message: Don’t Slash spending when we should be investing in jobs,” said Campaign for America’s Future’s co-director Roger Hickey. “And while we have no objection to Democrats talking with Peterson’s conservatives, we are here to warn Democrats not to embrace a ‘grand bargain’ that dismantles or cuts Social Security and Medicare.”

The austerity protest is sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future, Health Care for America Now, CREDO, Social Security Works, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, and NOW.

What:
Protest at the Pete Peterson “Austerity Fiscal Summit” featuring House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), and former President Bill Clinton

Where:
Andrew Mellon Auditorium
1301 Constitution Ave. NW Washington, DC

When:
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. (EST)

Who:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Roger Hickey, Campaign for America’s Future
Max Richtman, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Maya Rockeymoore, President of Global Policy Solutions
Terri O’Neal, National Organization for Women