WASHINGTON - The largest association and union of registered nurses in the U.S., with 185,000 RNs, put a stamp today on the national debate surrounding the so-called “fiscal cliff” with an ad campaign in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere across the country.   Don’t Push Seniors Off The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – Tax Wall Street – appears on billboards and buses (see graphic, attached, and photo of D.C. bus, below)  as part of a stepped-up effort by National Nurses United to protect communities and to call for a Wall Street tax to put the country on the  road to a real recovery.  Candlelight vigils by nurses and supporters will also be held in 20 cities on December 10 as part of the nurses’ campaign to heal America.

Having seen first hand the enduring effects of the financial collapse on communities where they work and live, nurses are alarmed at the prospect of any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security-- all programs upon which the poor, working families and retirees rely.

“Millions of Americans have yet to recover from the financial collapse of 2008 and to take anything away from them will do serious injury,” said Jean Ross, RN and co-president of NNU.  “Too-big-to-fail policies were used to bail out Wall Street when they gambled away our futures.  It is time for Wall Street to pay us back.  They can well afford it.  Cuts to communities and to social services are the wrong way to heal this country.”

Ross is referencing the Robin Hood Tax Campaign, whose goal is a small sales tax on Wall Street speculative trading expected to raise up to  $350 billion a year—revenue to rebuild communities, say nurses and other supporters.  Together with more than 100 groups-- consumers, unions, religious organizations, healthcare coalitions and others, with total memberships in the millions— the Robin Hood Tax Campaign is growing swiftly with its message that austerity is the wrong approach to the country’s problems..  Robin Hood supporters want a program of jobs at living wages, support for quality education, housing and healthcare, the rebuilding of infrastructure, commitment to a clean environment, secure retirement with dignity for all Americans, as well as funds for international efforts to treat HIV/AIDS and in climate change.

NNU and fellow members of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign support legislation introduced this fall, The Inclusive Prosperity Act, H.R. 6411,  that would put in place a Wall Street sales tax.

Scores of economists and policy experts agree that austerity is exactly the wrong direction for this nation to take and that a sales tax on speculative trading, which exists in some form in more than 40 countries, will provide meaningful revenue and direction to put the nation on  course to real recovery.

On December 10, nurses and others from the Robin Hood Tax Campaign will hold candlelight vigils in 20 cities across the country to reinforce their message that a tax on Wall Street can help heal Main Street.