Tag Archives: Congress

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Dumb And Dumber

09/19/2013 Nativegrl77

The federal government is hurtling toward two critical deadlines where a failure to act will be extraordinarily damaging to the US economy. But Republicans think it’s okay to play political games even if it means sabotaging our economy.

Deadline 1: To avoid government shutdown, Congress needs to pass a spending bill to fund the federal government by September 30. Republicans have been engaged in a civil war for weeks over how best to use this deadline to manufacture a crisis. Those on the far right, led by Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, insist they shut down the government unless the budget fully defunds Obamacare, even touring the country to promote a shutdown. And now there are reports that House Republican leadership is following their lead in allowing such a bill to come to a vote.

The consequences of a government shutdown are severe: social security checks might not go out, our troops might not get paid, and the economy would take a huge hit. Indeed, some fearful Republicans have warned their constituents as much.

A majority of Americans will blame Republicans if the government shuts down. But Republicans are still unable to let go of their obsession with repealing Obamacare, and are now barreling towards shutdown. That’s just dumb.

Deadline 2: The U.S. government will default on its obligations sometime in mid-to-late October unless Congress extends its borrowing limit. This would have catastrophic consequences for not just the United States economy; it could cause a worldwide crash even worse than we faced in 2008. But House Republican leadership — that’s right, not just some of their crazier members — want to use the debt limit to force Congress to delay Obamacare for one year. Speaker John Boehner, who previously insisted he would not use the debt ceiling for political leverage, has promised “a whale of a fight.”

We’ve been down this road before. Paying our bills on time is non-negotiable. Congress needs to pay the bills Congress itself racked up. Period.

Even among those that oppose the health care law, more than half want their elected officials to make it work as well as possible. So if Republicans truly think the American people support their threats of default instead of doing the hard work of governing, well…that’s dumber.

BOTTOM LINE: Americans are tired of the fighting and of having their economic security put on the line time and time again. Harming the economy to refight old political battles won’t help middle class families.

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OBAMACARE by the Numbers …

09/06/2013 Nativegrl77 3 Comments

Guess how some members of Congress are spending their August vacation:
They’re touring the country, going state by state and district by district to convince people that Obamacare isn’t working — never mind the benefits that millions of families are already feeling.
After trying and failing to repeal the law (40 times!), they’re starting to get desperate. OFA’s Truth Team is here to set the record straight.
Fight back against the cynical opponents of Obamacare by sharing some truth about how Obamacare is already helping folks all across the country — here’s a perfect graphic to get started:

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Congress : Health Care

09/06/2013 Nativegrl77

Members of Congress should get the same health coverage as other Americans. Seems obvious, right? Well, it isn’t obvious for some anti-choice lawmakers. They want Congress to get the same health insurance options as all Americans — except when it comes to abortion coverage.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is asking the public for comments on new regulations implementing a rule in Obamacare, also known as the health care law, requiring Members of Congress and their staff to get the same coverage from the same place millions of other Americans will — the new health insurance marketplaces.
We need your help today! The deadline to submit your comments is this Monday: Tell OPM to follow the law and ensure Congress gets the same health insurance options as millions of other Americans.
Anti-choice Members of Congress claim they want themselves and their staff “to live under the same laws as the rest of the country,” except when they don’t.
Thank you for everything you do for women and their families.
Sincerely,

Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center

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Is your member of Congress afraid of Regulatory agencies

09/04/2013 Nativegrl77

just another rant …

What we need are MORE Regulatory agencies doing their jobs … period

If you hear the noise, the fear mongering coming from Teapublicans you might want to laugh first, tilt your head to the side then furrow your brow and ask where were you when the reports came in that we were losing 750,000 jobs month after month, that several financial institutions crashed due to some big time corruption.

Unfortunately, knowing job creators are sitting on trillions of dollars due to what they call “excessive regulation” and “uncertainty” in a time when lack of it created our financial crisis is quite offensive as some Americans continue to lose homes, jobs and health care. The fact is that members of Congress actually needs to invest in their fellow Americans. It is not lost on me that Teapublican members of Congress have conveniently forgotten about the Bush agency parties, drilling permits approved of with tankers that probably were just on the edge of being technically safe. How remarkable is it to hear the current nonsense about the Keystone XL pipeline after all that happened and was exposed during the BP spill is a lesson in what members of Congress will do say and push when their personal investments are involved. It is obvious they have forgotten what led up to the Massey Mine disaster as well.

Fact is, there are things that need strict guidelines, most parents want Clean Air, Clean Water and not only affordable health care but some of us would actually pay a smidge more to make sure that food, flights and anything else that seems too big to handle for an individual can be by the Government and not privatized. If Teapublicans believe privatization is the only way to create more jobs remember; that it also means your cost for services may go up which folks are complaining about now … right; an increase in insurance premiums could be just a start. I like having firefighters, cleared roads, police, the EPA and FEMA and most thing it is worth paying the Government to act for everyone, not just a select few. I will not forget the man who failed to pay his protection fee which resulted in his house burning down; that is what privatization does. I expect the Government to be our children’s watchdog for their health, our future and corrupt regulators need not apply. While the Heritage Foundation is the Teapublicans training ground with quite different attitude about regulations, it is my contention that the Heritage Foundation opinion should not be driving what Republicans in Congress say do or vote.

Yet, folks and organizations like the Grover Norquist’s and the Heritage Foundation just do not understand that they only represent a small percentage of voters and after having read the article it definitely sounded like the Heritage Foundation would love to go around the voter if they could. I find it almost amusing to read how conservative groups rationalize their feelings about regulations. The Heritage Foundation subscribes to wanting a new society. That should scare us all. Then again, it just sheds light on how out of touch the Heritage group is and if this is the meme being pushed on members of Congress who are not only supposed to be working for the People paid by “We the People”, it is truly a sad example of what being a member of Congress means.

I totally get Capitalism. We all strive to be self-sufficient. I just happen to believe it should be with a lower case c, which includes small businesses, and those who aspire to get ahead not just or only for big Corporations who more often than not seem to send opportunities and jobs overseas to avoid regulations .

The featured picture Is called “Faces” taken from the National Museum of African American History and Culture article

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$1,500

07/24/2013 Nativegrl77

By CAP Action War Room

Compromise Set to Lower Student Loan Interest Rates

Student loan rates for undergraduates doubled on July 1 from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, threatening to further increase college costs for millions of already-strained students.

Fortunately, a bipartisan deal has emerged in the Senate that looks set to lower interest rates before students head back to campus. Here are the main elements of this compromise:

It immediately and significantly lowers interest rates, giving students the certainty they need to make borrowing decisions.
It ties student loan interest rates to the market, allowing students to immediately take advantage of today’s low rates.
It caps overall rates to help protect students from interest rate increases in the years to come.
It sets the interest rate at a fixed rate for the entire life of the loan in contrast to a GOP proposal that would’ve allowed the rate to change every single year the loan remained outstanding.

You can find out more details about this plan and why it matters HERE.

This can all be a little confusing, but the immediate impact is pretty simple. Here’s what will happen as soon as this compromise becomes law:

BOTTOM LINE: 11 MILLION students will save an average of $1,500 as a result of the student loan compromise the Senate is going to vote on tomorrow. Young people need Congress to act right away to pass this deal.