Daily Archives: 03/21/2012

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MEDICARE MADNESS – Republicans plan to end Medicare


 
 
Republicans plan to End Medicare as we know it … Get the Facts  –   Tell your Legislators to Put PEOPLE before Party and Profit
 
 
 

They’re back at it again. Today, GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan launched his campaign to re-brand the Republican plan to end Medicare.

Don’t fall for it — and don’t let your friends and family fall for Ryan’s smoke-and-mirrors either. Get the facts:

  • Paul Ryan’s new Republican budget will still replace the Medicare guarantee with vouchers for seniors. When your voucher runs out, it runs out. Seniors are left on the hook to pay any additional health care costs. (1)
  • While seniors pay more (2), the Republicans’ budget protects tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and Big Oil companies. (3)

Forward this e-mail to 3 friends right now so they have the facts.

Then, join the fight at our Medicare Madness 2012 Action Center: Help us reach 100,000 strong demanding that Republicans stop putting Millionaires before Medicare >>

You can also share your Medicare story, write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, and share the facts on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Budgets are about priorities, and the Republicans’ priority is that millionaires come first and seniors’ Medicare comes last.

The American people rejected Republicans’ extreme scheme last year. With your help, they will do it again.

http://MedicareMadness2012.com

Thanks for standing strong.

Steve

Rep. Steve Israel
DCCC Chairman

(1) LA Times: “[Republicans’ plan] would still give future seniors a fixed amount, but it would allow them to use the money to stay in the traditional Medicare program. They would have to pay out of pocket if the costs of the program were higher than the government subsidy — or buy an alternative plan.”

(2) Center for Budget and Policy Priorities: “[Republicans’ plan] would shift substantial costs to beneficiaries rather than protect them from such cost increases, could lead to the demise of traditional Medicare over time rather than preserve it and likely would produce few savings.”

(3) LA Times: “Now Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, is returning to center stage as the GOP doubles down on his conservative budget priorities — including tax cuts for the wealthy and a new version of his plan for major changes in Medicare.”
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Don’t let Congress double the student loan interest rate … Murshed Zaheed, CREDO Action


Tell Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: FIGHT to stop Republicans from doubling the interest rate<br /> on student loans
            Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to      Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:
            “Do not let the interest rate double on federal student loans. Extend the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, keeping college education affordable for the 99%.”            
      Automatically add your name:     
Take action now!      Learn more about this campaign

CREDO Action | more than a network, a movement.

Stop Republicans from doubling the interest rate on student loans.

Dear Friend,

This is unbelievable. The interest rates on federal student loans will double this summer if Congress doesn’t take action.1

Urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: FIGHT to stop Republicans from doubling the interest rate on student loans. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Millions of American students from working class families are able to obtain a college education thanks to low-interest federal student loans. But now Congress is putting those loans in serious jeopardy at a time when students and their families can least afford to pay higher interest rates.

Back in 2007, when the Democrats were in charge of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. It reduced the interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans incrementally over four academic years, from 6.8 percent at the time to the current 3.4 percent.2  The current Republican leadership in the House is planning to let this legislation expire on July 1, effectively doubling the interest rates on these loans. This will result in an average of $5,000 in additional payments for students who are scheduled to pay their loans backs in 5 years, and $11,000 for those who are paying back in 10.3

With Republicans in the House poised to double the interest on federal student loans, we need  leadership from the Senate.Specifically, we need Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to stand up and fight on behalf of millions of American students:

Urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: FIGHT to stop Republicans from doubling the interest rate on student loans.

If Leader Reid leads the Democratic-controlled Senate to move first and take steps to pass legislation that ensures the interest rates remain fixed at 3.4 percent, it will force the hand of Congressional Republicans to either pass the measure or go on the record as the party fighting against the interest of millions of America’s working class students and their families.But we need both the House and the Senate to pass it before July 1, so we need to convey our sense of urgency to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today.

Federal student loans with low interest rates, such as the subsidized Stafford loan, are designed to benefit students whose families make under $40,000 a year — folks who can least afford to see their interest rates jump.4 These loans help the neediest students, who are often not eligible to receive Pell Grants.  Adding further financial stress on these students and their families by letting the interest rates double this July would be devastating, especially given the extremely fragile state of our economy.

Urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: FIGHT to stop Republicans from doubling the interest rate on student loans. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

As Sarah Jaffe observed in her excellent piece in AlterNet:

“It’s worth noting, as well, that many of the big banks that make a killing on private student loans and still have billions of government-subsidized student debt on their books, are able to borrow money from the government through the Federal Reserve’s discount window at nearly no interest at all. Why, then, are young people, who aren’t guilty of trashing the economy but remain the victims of a rate of unemployment nearly twice that of the rest of the population, expected to pay more?”5

Now is the time for all of us to speak up on behalf of our students. Click here to automatically sign the petition and consider inviting students from your personal network to join the fight.

Click below to automatically sign our petition urging Senator Reid to fight to keep college education affordable and not let the interest rate double on federal student loans.

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5541975&id=36922-5440681-yT2lVHx&t=12

Thank you for speaking out to make sure that all students can afford a higher education — including those from working class families.

Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director CREDO Action from Working Assets

PS: This issue is deeply personal for me. Coming from a working class family, I have been able to pursue my own aspirations by working hard and getting a great education from amazing academic institutions. This opportunity would not have been possible for someone like me if I hadn’t had access to affordable federal student loans with low interest rates.  I hope you willjoin this cause on behalf of the students andconsider inviting any students you know in your personal network to join this fight by forwarding them this link:

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5541974&id=36922-5440681-yT2lVHx&t=15

1. Sarah Jaffe, “Is Congress Going to Double the Interest on Your Student Loan?,” AlterNet.org February 22, 2012. 2. Ann Carrns, “Rising Concerns Over Student Loans, Public and Private,” the New York Times Blog, March 14, 2012. 3. Sarah Jaffe, “Is Congress Going to Double the Interest on Your Student Loan?,” AlterNet.org February 22, 2012. 4. Moe Bedard, “Vermont Senators Leahy And Sanders Join Bill To Prevent July Interest Rate Increase On Stafford Student Loans,” LoanSafe.org, February 2, 2012. 5. Sarah Jaffe, “Is Congress Going to Double the Interest on Your Student Loan?,” AlterNet.org February 22, 2012.

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Washington State! Tell your legislator to oppose SB 6442!


Email your legislators now and tell them to oppose SB 6442!

SB 6442: Costs taxpayers more, increases bureaucracy, reduces your health CARE benefits! Don’t fall for it!

TAKE ACTION: Help stop this takeover now.

SB 6442 will cost taxpayers at least $45 MILLION in new costs, according to the state’s own figures!

Listen…

Download…

Read…
  • The state’s own report on the proposed K-12 health care takeover — it shows higher costs, fewer benefits and less competition!


WEA President Mary Lindquist testifies agains SB 6442, Jan. 26, 2012

WEA PRESIDENT MARY LINDQUIST AND WEA LOBBY TEAM IN OLYMPIA, JAN. 26

Senate Bill 6442 takes away your current health benefits and forces all K-12 employees into a new state bureaucracy that costs more, provides fewer benefits and limits our health care choices.

This legislation is costly, complicated and confusing all at the same time. Dozens of WEA members attended a recent legislative hearing to oppose the bill. But you can help defeat this bill without going to Olympia — email your legislators and tell them not to take over our health care!

Under SB 6442, all K-12 school employees, whether they live in Anacortes or Zillah, will be forced into the same health benefit plan – eliminating our ability to negotiate health plans at the local level.

This bill will cost taxpayers more, and it will cost US more as school employees at the same time it reduces our benefits and choices. For example, under SB 6442, school employees who work less than half time will no longer receive ANY health benefits through their jobs. This especially hurts classified education support professionals (ESP )such as bus drivers and paraprofessionals, many of whom are part-time workers.

“We belong to WEA, and we DO bargain for our part-time members,” said Debby Chandler, an ESP member from the Spokane School District.

In short, SB 6442 makes no sense. Help protect our health care from a state takeover – email your legislators and tell them what you think about SB 6442!

Senate Bill 6442 will cost taxpayers $45 million, expand bureaucracy, eliminate competition and reduce benefits

A state takeover of K-12 educators’ health benefit plans would provide no cost savings and will actually cost taxpayers at least $45 million, according to the state’s own fiscal note. SB 6442 and its companion bill, House Bill 2724, also will cost school employees more, reduce benefits and limit choices. It also eliminates local decision-making about educator health benefits. That’s why educators oppose Senate Bill 6442 and House Bill 2724. They would:

Impose higher costs:

  • Add more than $45 million in NEW taxpayer costs: Partial costs include $12 million for start up costs in 2011-13, plus $9.5 million for additional start up costs in fiscal year 2014. The ongoing cost is then estimated to be $7.1 million per year.
  • Requires an additional $25 million per year paid by employees through higher premiums and “point-of-service cost sharing” (higher fees).
  • Shift all future cost risks to school districts for costs above the state allocation.
  • Abandon a system that today costs less and provides more: Currently, the state pays $768 a month per full-time equivalent K-12 employee vs. $850 per full-time state employee, yet K-12 employees get coverage that is as good or better than what state employees receive.

Reduce benefits:

  • Require lower overall benefits to avoid immediate cost increases.
  • Wipe out health care coverage entirely for thousands of part-time employees who work less than half time.

Eliminate competition and expand state government:

  • Replace competition among plans school districts select from with a state monopoly that selects one carrier for all K-12 employees.
  • Add another costly function to the state bureaucracy at a time when vital funding for K-12 education and other services is being cut.
  • Health care funding should pay for benefits, not growth in state bureaucracy.
  • What is the evidence that state government can take over a private program, and perform as well or better at a lower cost?

Reward poor customer service:

  • The state Health Care Authority had a recent 9-month backlog in paying state employee health insurance claims.
  • Courts ruled against HCA for illegally barring some Medicaid patients from emergency room care.
  • Recent Seattle Times exposé highlighted how the agency’s cost-cutting practices were harming patients.
  • Adding over 100,000 enrollees to a K-12 program administered by the HCA would likely mean customer service problems for K-12 employees.
  • K-12 employees have had the option to enroll in the state employee health care plan since 1995, and less than one percent of the K-12 employees have made that choice.

SB 6442/HB 2724 is a plan based on higher costs, bigger government, less competition, and poor customer service.

There IS an alternative: House Bill 2666 and SB 6553 will help reduce health insurance costs for school employees with families by modifying local school district insurance pools. HB 2666 costs the state nothing, and it maintains local decision making.

TAKE ACTION: Help stop this takeover now.

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Support Senator Maria Cantwell for Re election


 
  
 
 
 
It was a 41-year battle for women to pass the 19th Amendment, affording us the universal right to vote. It took another 50 years for women to win a constitutionally guaranteed right to choose. And it wasn’t until a few short years ago that we passed legislation helping women like Lilly Ledbetter have a fair shot at getting equal pay.
 
It has taken women generations to secure the rights we enjoy today. And the extreme right wing in Congress wants to strip those rights away in the blink of an eye — whether it’s overturning Roe v. Wade or denying women health coverage for contraception.
 
The latest attack in the radical war on women is absolutely infuriating. Some Senate Republicans are set to OPPOSE extending the Violence Against Women Act — a law that helps survivors of brutal domestic violence start new, healthy lives. As I said on Hardball last week, the safety of millions of women depends on this and I will do everything in my power to see it reauthorized right away.
 
I have had enough. I will continue to speak out in the media and on the Senate floor until the right ends its ridiculous war on women — but I can’t do it alone. The first FEC filing deadline of the year is March 31st. So while all the pundits are watching, let’s prove that our grassroots organization is as powerful as ever, and standing strong for women’s rights.
 
 
Mitt Romney wants to “get rid of” Planned Parenthood under the guise of cutting spending. Rush Limbaugh unabashedly smears women who speak out on the issues. These are the ideological leaders of the modern right. And earlier this month, the right-wing controlled Arizona state House passed a law that would open the door for employers to fire female employees who seek contraceptive coverage.
 
Women have come a long way, but there’s more to do — and we can’t accomplish anything while politicians in Washington D.C. are determined to drag women’s rights back to the last millennium.
 
 
My mission in the U.S. Senate is to give a voice to those who don’t have one. With your help, I have no doubt that we can reach our $50,000 goal, and show pundits from one Washington to the other that our network stands for women’s health.
 
It’s supporters like you that will make the difference in this election.
 
Thanks for everything you do.
 
 
 
Maria