Late Monday afternoon, over 100 fed-up constituents saying they just voted for jobs, not cuts to vital services, gathered in front of Citigroup Center – home to one of Senator Dick Durbin’s three largest corporate donors – rallied and then marched to the Senator’s office seeking a commitment from him to protect vital services such as Medicare, Medicaid, education, and child care from cuts.

Aiming to hold Sen. Durbin accountable to working people’s needs, community activists and constituents sought a commitment to create to jobs – instead of making cuts to services.

“Congress needs to focus on a fair budget that creates jobs, not cuts to vital services for working families,” said Denise Brown, a personal assistant who spoke at a rally in Federal Plaza outside Durbin’s office. “More cuts to government services will devastate our neighborhoods. There will be more foreclosures and more abandoned buildings as people will no longer be able to afford to live there.”

The Senator’s staff refused to accept the over 1,000 postcards constituents brought with them, each bearing an individual message urging the Senator to keep struggling families in mind when considering how to move the country forward while avoiding the automatic cuts to services and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff.”

“Congress needs to wake up and see how vital these services are to people,” said Brown. “I live Plainfield and people who are considered middle class are now relying on social services, mainly because they have taken pay cuts or are no longer working.”