SILVER SPRING, Md. – No public service cuts to pay for billionaire tax cuts.
That was the message to Congress from public service workers who keep Maryland running.
Members of AFSCME Maryland Council 3 were joined by AFSCME President Lee Saunders, Council 3 President Patrick Moran and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin at a town hall on Monday. They are fighting plans by anti-union extremists in Congress and the White House to slash public services just so their billionaire buddies can enjoy even bigger tax cuts.
Almost 30% of Maryland’s total revenue comes from federal funding. A significant portion of that comes from the federal Medicaid program, which supports Maryland’s efforts to provide health coverage and services to low-income workers, children, people with disabilities, veterans and senior citizens.
Town hall participants warned that if this funding is cut, essential public services from education to health care to infrastructure will be on the chopping block, affecting all Marylanders.
“What we are witnessing is Project 2025 come to life. These billionaires are determined to kill our jobs, crush our freedoms and raid public services to enrich themselves. And let’s face it: too many in Congress are doing their bidding,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said. “We can’t let Congress line the pockets of the rich and force working families to pay the price. We have to fight back. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with AFSCME GO: our Get Organized campaign.”
Moran thanked pro-worker lawmakers for their support.
“We are grateful to have leaders like Congressman Jamie Raskin who are standing up for Maryland’s working people in the face of continuous attacks on our civil service and the essential public services our communities rely on,” he said. “Our communities can’t afford to see worsening staff shortages, unsafe workplaces, and longer wait times, and our union will do everything we can to fight for our jobs, our rights, and our public services.”
Raskin said he will fight to restore government “as an instrument for the good of the working-class majority, not the theocrats, kleptocrats and oligarchs.”
“In the 21st century, there’s no labor movement without democracy and there’s no democracy without the labor movement,” Raskin said. “What a pleasure to join constitutional patriots — AFSCME International President Lee Saunders, Maryland President Patrick Moran and their members — for a conversation on how Trump and MAGA’s cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are a betrayal of American democracy and will devastate our families.”