With the approaching “fiscal cliff” less than a month away, there’s been a large amount of controversy over tax cuts and the perceived economic fallout for many Americans. Local constituents and representatives of Bay area liberal groups and unions gathered Monday in the office of Representative Bill Young in Seminole to argue against increased tax cuts for the top two percent, leading to the Congressman getting into a confrontation with a protester — more on that later.

The protestors set up inside the floor of the office, passing around pizza and singing the usual staples as well as “fiscal cliff carols,” Christmas songs modified to reference the crisis in Washington. In keeping with the season, one man was dressed in a full Santa Claus outfit, and after a rousing speech on elves’ rights in the North Pole attempted to have one of the staff members pass on a gift-wrapped piece of coal to the 21-term Representative.

Kofi Hunt, a community organizer with Awake Pinellas, hopes that the event Monday raises awareness about the hard times facing middle class Americans and the economic impact these cuts would have.

“We think the importance is that the middle class right now is being squeezed, they don’t have the money to pay their basic bills. For the wealthy they've done better than they've ever done, there’s record numbers in terms of profits. They don’t need tax cuts like the middle class does.”