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Oregon rallies tell Congress to end corporate tax breaks

Demonstrators prepare to march to the Salem office of Democratic Congressman Kurt Schrader.
Chris Lehman
/
Northwest News Network
Demonstrators prepare to march to the Salem office of Democratic Congressman Kurt Schrader.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-984355.mp3

SALEM, Ore. – Members of Congress are getting an earful from their constituents during their summer recess. This week, a coalition of left-leaning groups is holding a series of rallies across Oregon.

The demonstrations are targeting members of Congress from both parties.

In Salem, a group marched toward the office of Democrat Kurt Schrader. The march was sponsored by an alliance of public employee unions and liberal activist groups.

"Wall Street and the huge companies don't need the breaks that they get," says Kirk Leonard, a Salem area organizer with MoveOn.org. " And so why do we persist when so many of us worker bees, middle class folks, are totally struggling."

Marches were also planned in Medford, Hood River, Bend and Portland. The message comes as members of a so-called congressional "super committee" prepare to meet in mid-September to find more than $1 trillion in budget savings.

The 12-member panel includes Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray.

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Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.