The Hill News

A pair of liberal advocacy groups are organizing pushback efforts against President Obama, should he decide to endorse cuts to Medicaid and Medicare as part of his deficit reduction plan.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and MoveOn.org are organizing efforts to protest the cuts which President Obama may endorse in a deficit reduction speech on Wednesday.

The PCCC emailed supporters Tuesday calling on them to sign a petition pledging to withhold donations to Obama's reelection campaign if he endorses the cuts.

"The level of grassroots enthusiasm will be determined by whether the President fights for bold progressive change -- and takes cuts that hurt grandparents, the disabled, and kids firmly off the table," the PCCC email reads. "Please sign today -- then, pass it to others who worked to elect President Obama in 2008."

According to the PCCC email, in just over two hours more than 40,000 supporters signed the pledge.
Similarly, MoveOn.org emailed supporters Tuesday encouraging them to call the White House and say that the president "needs to lay out a truly progressive proposal that strengthens the middle class and makes the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.”

The group's efforts are in case Obama endorses cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

MoveOn.org Executive Director Justin Ruben also released a statement saying Democrats let Republicans hold "the nation hostage" to benefit millionaires.

"We hope that tomorrow the President will stand up and use the power of the bully pulpit to make a strong and clear case that Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid need to be protected, and that he will not allow the American Dream to be held hostage again by Republicans in Congress,” Ruben said.

Obama is set to lay out his plan to reduce the deficit in a speech at George Washington University on Wednesday. The Wh! ite House has kept a tight lid on the policy details of the sp! eech. Wh ite House press secretary Jay Carney said only that the speech will introduce Obama's "vision" for deficit reduction.

Obama's speech comes after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced a Republican proposal that would cut $5.8 trillion in federal spending over the next ten years. On Tuesday Carney criticized the Ryan proposal arguing that its cuts would hurt middle class, poor, and elderly Americans.