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Congress Please Keep Your Hands Off Our Social Security and Medicare

Hands off our Social Security and Medicare, Travis AFB protesters will urge Wednesday

Demonstrators upset that Congress voted $640 billion for new defense and war funding but are considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare will hold protests here at the front gate to Travis Air Force Base on WEDNESDAY (July 20) from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Travis Air Force Base has been the focus of protests for a year by many activists including Codepink, Veterans for Peace, Grandmothers Against War and other advocates for peace.

"The recent budget deal in D.C. cut billions from social programs for the young, elderly and the needy - but added billions for more wars. Real Americans want healthcare, not warfare. We want to kill the drones, not our Medicare," said Toby Blome of Codepink.

She said that, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the total cost of each U.S. service member stationed in Afghanistan runs about $1.2 million per year - which is to say, for every soldier withdrawn from the country, the taxpayers could recover $1.2 million. With nearly every U.S. state facing budget shortfalls for FY 2012, here's an excellent look at how bringing those soldiers home - along with the war dollars paying for them - would immediately free up the funds necessary to close these gaps, which would eliminate the pressure to cut public services, added Blome. -30-