Tag Archives: Caribbean

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Big win for women’s health!


by Gretchen Borchelt

Fighting for women’s health isn’t easy. But we do it to ensure that all women can get the health care they need.

 Thanks to your help – today, we’re one step closer to that reality.

 The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) just made a major announcement siding with women over insurance companies. They made it clear that insurance companies must cover all FDA-approved forms of birth control at no-cost – and that they’ll be watching companies to make sure they follow the law.

Thank Secretary Burwell for ensuring that women get the health care they need!

Recently, the National Women’s Law Center released two reports about how insurance companies were breaking the law. They frequently failed to cover birth control as required by the law. They also did not cover other women’s no-cost preventive services, like well-woman visits, and breastfeeding support and supplies. Insurance companies were discriminating against people based on gender, age, and gender identity. Some were even excluding coverage for maternity if women enroll in their family’s plan.

 The reports made major headlines – from the New York Times to Associated Press in hundreds of media outlets. And thousands of you signed a petition to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell asking her to make it clear to insurance companies that they need to stop breaking the law and give women the coverage they deserve under the health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act.

The Secretary heard our outrage and she acted.

Thank Secretary Burwell for taking an important step in getting women the health coverage they deserve and need.

We still have more work to do. But for today, we can celebrate what we’ve achieved.

Thanks for fighting with us for quality, affordable health care for women and their families.

And as always – thanks for keeping it personal,

Gretchen Borchelt

Acting Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

#FixCongressNow! Support and Vote for Scott Peters


scottpeters.com

The House is in session five days a week 20 percent of the time. One member wants to change that.

April 6, 2015

During the impressively unimpressive 113th Congress, we looked at the regularity which with Congress was in session. Only about 40 percent of weekdays since 1975, we found, were the House or Senate in session, the sort of work product that might get you fired as a 16-year-old lifeguard, though not as a federal legislator. One response to that article was that Congress does work when it’s not in session, like holding town halls and so on in their districts. Which is largely true, but is also very convenient.

For Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who recently started his second term in the House, the excuse apparently doesn’t hold much water. Last week, he introduced a proposal to #FixCongressNow (apparently including the hashtag for some reason). First on the list? “Institute 5-Day Congressional work weeks.”

 

“Average Americans work five days a week so there is no reason Congress should not be required to as well,” Peters’ proposal reads. “A five-day work week would increase the time members of Congress are able to spend together working on substantive legislation and would help foster bipartisan working relationships.”

How rare is a House five-day-work week? Pretty rare, in fact. Here’s every time the House has been in session five weekdays in a row since 1975.

To put a fine point on it, they are in session for five weekdays in a row 20 percent of the time. (At least that’s consistent; it hasn’t been any lower over the last decade.)

Two more details about Peters’ proposal. First, it also would increase the number of weeks Congress is in session to 39. (This year, they’re slotted for 34.) And, second, it will never pass, any more than if a colleague asked for your vote to extend your workday by two hours. That’s a tough majority to put together.

That there hasn’t been any movement on the bill yet isn’t a surprise. Congress has been on recess for Easter for a week. They’re off this week, too.

SIGN YOUR NAME — Demand Congress work five-day work weeks >>

 

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Join the Truth Team …


 

~ Miami Herald//Barack Obama Op-Ed: We can no longer delay action on climate change

Last week I spent Earth Day in the Everglades, one of our nation’s greatest national treasures, and saw firsthand what makes its unique landscape so magical — what the poet Emma Lazarus called “the savage splendor of the swamp.” Plus, I got to hang out with Bill Nye the Science Guy. “There are no other Everglades in the world,” wrote Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who helped preserve it. But climate change is threatening this treasure and the communities that depend on it. That’s what my visit was all about.

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~ The Wall Street Journal //Gerald F. Seib ~ Obama Presses Case for Asia Trade Deal, Warns Failure Would Benefit China

President Obama and his negotiators are working to finish the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal among 12 Pacific nations that has come to be known as TPP, while also fighting to win “fast track” negotiating authority from Congress to expedite approval of the deal later this year.

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~ Reuters // Sharon Begley ~ Decline U.S. science spending threatens economy, security:MIT

Warning of an “innovation deficit,” scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say declining government spending on basic research is holding back potentially life-saving advances in 15 fields, from robotics and fusion energy to Alzheimer’s disease and agriculture.

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 ~ Politico // Heather Caygle ~ DOT secretary: US transportation system “in a huge ditch”
“We’ve had catastrophes, and it’s unfortunate that we’ve had to have catastrophes,” Foxx told POLITICO’s Mike Allen at a Playbook Lunch event, mentioning the 2007 Interstate 35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people. “I think, frankly, the American public have to demand action in Washington.”
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~ The New York Times // Paul Krugman Op-Ed: Nobody Said That
Imagine yourself as a regular commentator on public affairs — maybe a paid pundit, maybe a supposed expert in some area, maybe just an opinionated billionaire. You weigh in on a major policy initiative that’s about to happen, making strong predictions of disaster. The Obama stimulus, you declare, will cause soaring interest rates; the Fed’s bond purchases will “debase the dollar” and cause high inflation; the Affordable Care Act will collapse in a vicious circle of declining enrollment and surging costs. But nothing you predicted actually comes to pass. What do you do?
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

One day only! Join “The Big Payback” and support ABB


Dear Friend,
Thank you to all our wonderful supporters who came out for our Spring Celebration last night! As we mentioned at the end of the program, we have until midnight tonight to make a big difference for our Southern Office.
A Better Balance’s Southern Office has been open just over a year bringing ABB’s successful model to the Southeastern United States, where poverty rates are some of the highest in the country. Today, we have a unique opportunity to expand our reach with your help!

Officer Trischler
Here are just a few highlights from the last year:
-ABB represented Police Officer Lyndi Trischler against the City of Florence, after she was pushed onto unpaid leave while pregnant and in need of light duty. Officer Trischler’s story garnered national media attention and inspired a bill in the Kentucky legislature after lawmakers heard abut her story.  We testified before the House committee and read a powerful letter from Officer Trischler herself. Her legal dispute is still ongoing, and we are continuing our hard work on her behalf.

ABB & SisterReach with training participants in Memphis
-Educated hundreds of families about their rights in the workplace across the South, and provided direct advice to many working families with questions about their rights.
-In Mississippi, a recent article called ABB a “breastfeeding warrior,” recognizing our role in public education in the state.
-In Tennessee, we worked with lawmakers and partners to introduce two important bills to protect the health and economic security of pregnant women and families. We are leaders of a campaign to make both bills a reality next legislative session when we get back to work at the Legislative Plaza.
Donate to ABB’s Southern Office Today!
With your support, we can continue this important work and expand to provide even more critical services.
Thank you for all that you do,
The ABB team