Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-TX) accused Republicans of using scare tactics in negotiations over the budget and raising the federal debt ceiling.

"You can't go home without constituents asking you about the debt ceiling," she said at a press conference early Thursday morning. "To my Republican friends, stop scaring the American people. Stop using the tactics of intimidation. That's what's going on."

The press conference was held to unveil a letter sent to President Barack Obama by twenty-four members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). The letter demands that any final budget deal create significant revenue and avoid cuts to social programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

"The middle class has experienced enough pain during the last three years," the letter states. "Republicans are willing to inflict even more. We will not join them."

Watch excerpts of the press conference, uploaded to YouTube on July 7, 2011, below:

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