Americans United for Change
November 10, 2016

Statement from Americans United for Change

Washington DC – Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse released the following statement on the election. 

"In 2005, the union movement and the Democratic Leadership founded Americans United for Change to stop a newly re-elected Republican President and a Republican Congress from dismantling the most important social program in our nation’s history, Social Security.  We won that battle, and after the successful fight to protect this cornerstone of FDR’s legacy, progressives united to oppose the war in Iraq, elect a Democratic Congressional majority and win two monumental presidential elections while racking up historic achievements like health care and Wall Street reform for the American people.  We’re not about to back down now.

"America has moved forward substantially under the Presidency of Barack Obama, and the idea that we are going to sit by and allow a Republican President and a Republican Congress, both of which received fewer votes than the other side, to dismantle that legacy is unthinkable.  It simply will not happen without a fight.

"Our commitment as an organization is this: we will defend with all our energy the legacy of Barack Obama and all the progressive initiatives that have come before that have already made America great including Social Security, Medicare, women’s rights, civil rights, immigrant rights, equality for the LGBTQ community and the protection of our environment and our planet from the destructive effects of climate change.

"Donald Trump won an election; he did not win a mandate.  We will fight tooth and nail to stop him from rolling back programs and policies that have improved people’s lives, put our economy back on the right track and made America a fairer place for people and communities that have been traditionally left behind.  However, if Republicans succeed at ripping away the health care of more than 20 million Americans, at privatizing and dismantling Social Security and Medicare, and at letting their friends on Wall Street run wild once again, we will make sure there is a heavy political price for them to pay for taking America backward."