For a year, my husband was unemployed as a result of his company downsizing.

If he didn't have unemployment insurance, we would have lost our ability to pay our mortgage and would have lost our house.  If not for Medicaid, our children would not have any healthcare as we wouldn't be able to afford to take them to the doctor.  Of course, my husband and I didn't qualify for Medicaid because our house was an asset. If not for food stamps, we wouldn't have had enough money to keep our family fed.

We have a 2 year old and 9 year old and without these safety nets, I don't know what we would have done.

My husband is now employed again at his old job (but the company said they would have to lower his pay because they can't afford his previous salary) so he can once again contribute to the tax rolls.

We are very thankful that the safety nets were there to help us survive this bad economy, and without the dedication of  President Obama, Democrats, and activists' daily fight to keep the nets in place - we and millions of others would be out in the street.

It is extremely important to end the Bush tax cuts!  The wealthy are not paying their fair share. If the tax cuts for the rich end, we can be assured that the programs will always be there to help the needy families and individuals, and they in turn will be able to survive when they lose their job, when their health fails, or when their senior citizen income can no longer support them.

Dian Berger is a MomsRising member and mother of two living in Idaho.