CLEVELAND, Ohio-A coalition of Cleveland area grassroots activists and labor advocates dubbed "The No Cuts Coalition" will host a stop-cuts-to-food-stamps rally and march at 4 pm on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 on Public Square in downtown Cleveland at the northwest quadrant by the Tom Johnson statute, community activists said Monday. (Editor's note: For more information on the rally and march contact the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor at 216-881-7200 or 216-321-6277)
Proposed federal cuts to the budget, the infighting in Congress that could cause a second government shutdown in under two months, include $39 billion over 10 years by the U.S. House of Representatives, and $4.1 billion over the same period by the U.S. Senate.
"One in six families don't know where their next meal will come from, and $1.8 million Ohioans live in poverty," said community activist Valerie Robinson, whose activists group, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, is among the coalition groups of the No Cuts Coalition.
Other coalition groups, said Robinson, include the American Friends Service Committee, Peace Action, and the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor, which is led by executive secretary Harriet Applegate.
Robinson said that Congress should not "balance the budget on the backs of the hungry."
