 |
| CREDIT: AP Photo/Steve Helber |
|
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) began the process of confirming the first of Trump’s two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board earlier this week, ushering in a frightening new era — one where workers’ rights, once protected and treated as sacred, are now in clear and imminent danger. |
Millions of Americans struggle to pay rent every month. I have traveled across Washington state listening to the stories of Americans who work hard day in and day out and yet still struggle to find an affordable home — or worse, face homelessness — due to skyrocketing housing costs. From Seattle to Walla Walla, the housing crisis is real. All it takes is just one emergency or one illness for a family to lose their home completely. Friends ~ that’s why I’m leading a bipartisan group of senators to expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). By strengthening and building upon this already successful program, we can provide 1.3 million affordable homes over a 10-year period to families throughout the country — that’s 400,000 more homes than currently possible. There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a deep affordable housing crisis. But Washington state families — and families throughout the country — deserve better. They deserve a safe and decent place to live and call home, at a price they can afford. I’ve been a staunch supporter of affordable housing in the Senate, and I’ll keep fighting with everything I have. But it’s going to take all of us working together to end our nation’s housing crisis. Join me, and stand up for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act now! Thank you, Maria Cantwell |
We may have defeated Trumpcare, but that doesn’t mean Senate Republicans are done trying to exploit the American people. Sen. Mitch McConnell just filed cloture on the OPEN Act, which is an $11.6 billion handout to prescription drug corporations. We’re delivering your signatures to every Senate office this week–we need you behind us! You can read more abut the OPEN Act in our original email below. Thank you, Alex Lawson ******************************************************************** In 1983, Congress passed a law aimed at spurring innovation for drugs that treat rare diseases, offering tax credits and monopolies as incentives. But, as they so often do, pharmaceutical corporations immediately turned the law into yet another way to extract money from the people’s pockets.A year’s treatment can cost people with rare diseases more than a house. Pharmaceutical corporations’ ravenous hunger for profits leads to Social Security benefits that are increasingly eroded by medical co-pays and out of pocket expenses. And Congress has a new handout on the way. The greed of the drug companies is boundless. Now, their Washington lobbyists are pushing a new bill―the Orphan Product Extensions Now (OPEN) Act―which would grant drug manufacturers six additional months of exclusivity, the monopoly power that allows the companies to charge as much as they like. It’s estimated that this new law would cost patients and taxpayers up to $11.6 billion over 10 years―padding the pockets of the greedy pharmaceutical industry and ensuring that we continue to pay the highest drug prices in the world! Former Congressman Henry Waxman of California, the author of the 1982 Orphan Drug Act, had this to say about how drug companies are manipulating the system: “We’re seeing the Orphan Drug Act used in ways that we never anticipated when the law was adopted. In the way people use the word ‘orphan status,’ it’s almost becoming a synonym for a monopoly price.” If passed, the bill would allow drug companies to repurpose drugs that are already on the market, giving them “orphan” status. For patients this means competing drugs that might lower prices would be kept off the market, leading to budget busting drug prices for even longer for the people. Instead of padding the insurance company profits, Congress should be focusing on bills that rein in abuses by drug companies, and make sure people can afford the health care they need. Together, we’re fighting the greedy pharmaceutical industry and their powerful Washington lobbyists. Thank you, Michael Phelan |
||||
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
||||
| Contact info@socialsecurityworks.org |
Be a Seed for Change 