Posted: March 19, 2009 03:59 PM
A laundry list of Virginia activist groups are coming together to support President Barack Obama's budget.
Jewel Royal is one of those supporters. She works at a Virginia nursing home as a certified nurse's assistant. She hurt her back on the job and doesn't have insurance.
"I have no medical coverage," she said in an interview. "I have a bunch of bills, a bunch of doctor bills."
With more than $100,000 in medical bills, Royal tried to get insurance on her own.
"I've talked to a couple agents about health care, getting it on my own. There's no way I can afford that," she said.
So Royal is lobbying for the president's proposed budget, which includes money to help people in her situation. She's part of a growing list of Virginia advocacy groups pushing Congress to vote for the Obama spending plan.
"His proposal is a transformational blueprint for how to move this country forward," said Jessica Lee, of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, at a news conference Thursday in Richmond.
Lee's group joins the AFL-CIO, the National Education Association and the Sierra Club in pushing Congress to adopt the budget.
The groups plan to tap into volunteers who supported Obama's goals on the campaign trail.
"This is the very first step in seeing them accomplished," Lee said.
Volunteers will spend this weekend knocking on doors across the Commonwealth, trying to get you to sign petitions to send to Virginia's congressional delegation.
Royal says she hopes the hard work will pay off because it's her only option.
"Nobody else has tried to give us a shot," she said. "Nobody else is thinking about working people; nobody else is thinking about the middle class people."
Reported by Adam Rhew
