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Today, at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the First Lady announced the Reach Higher initiative — an effort to inspire more young people to take control of their future through higher education.

The initiative will focus on things like financial aid, summer learning opportunities, and college visits, to help more students get into college and go all the way.

Learn more about the Reach Higher initiative, and find out how you can get involved.

First Lady Michelle Obama touches the famed piece of Hokie Stone that football players touch as she goes onto Worsham Field to attend the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) commencement at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., May 11, 2012. (Official White

By CAP Action War Room

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GOP Senators Vote Against Working Americans And Block Minimum Wage Increase

A minority of 41 Senators, all Republicans, voted today to block a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Once again, the GOP followed the orders of the Koch brothers to keep our economy working for only the wealthiest.

Earnings for the top 1 percent have gone up 177 percent (PDF) since 1980. Meanwhile, minimum wage workers are actually making 16 percent less. But Republican Senators are still refusing to give them a raise:

What’s more, instead of voting to give 28 million people as much as a $4,000 raise each, these GOP Senators instead took checks from leading lobbyists from big corporations opposed to raising it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for instance, has taken $118,000 since 2008:

Let’s go over just a few of the groups that these 41 Senate Republicans — whose average net worth is $6.26 million — were voting against in deciding to not even allow debate on the minimum wage bill:

28 million workers overall, whose wages would go up by a combine $35 billion dollars;
15 million women, who make up almost two-thirds of all minimum wage workers;
One million veterans, which amounts to one in ten of all veterans currently working;
21 million children, who would have had at least one parent whose pay will go up;
3.5 million people of color, who make up a disproportionate number of minimum wage workers and whose wages are estimated to increase by $16.1 billion with a $10.10 minimum wage.

But despite today’s vote, this issue isn’t going away no matter how hard Republicans wish it would. The 42nd ‘no’ vote came from Majority Leader Harry Reid, a procedural move in order to preserve the option of bringing the bill up again. And just before the vote took place, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued a clear indication on the Senate floor that this fight is long from over: “If we don’t succeed this time…we will bring this bill to the floor again and again and again. Sooner or later we will get it done.”

BOTTOM LINE: Instead of raising the minimum wage and giving Americans who work hard a better opportunity to get ahead, Senate Republicans have shown once again that they’re against the 99%. But this fight is far from over. Those who vote against everyday Americans — many of whom have voted for similar minimum wage increases in the past — are on the wrong side of history.