Tag Archives: Congress

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Another fossil fuel industry attack …


Write Congress Today! Tell your member of Congress: Don’t block vital standards for our health and environment—vote no on the Gasoline Regulations Act.

Here We Go Again—Another Fossil Fuel Industry Attack on Science

 

The House of Representatives will soon vote on yet another fossil fuel industry-backed bill, attacking clean air and public health. It is critical that we stand up for strong standards based on independent science, not false economic claims from big polluters.
The Gasoline Regulations Act (H.R. 4771) is an all-out attack on our clean air and public health. The bill would force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give undo weight to the industry’s economic claims when setting what should be, first and foremost, science-based standards that protect our health and environment.
The legislation delays standards that would save lives and save money by reducing sulfur in gasoline.
The bill also attacks standards that would limit ozone and other harmful air pollutants from power plants and global warming emissions from oil refineries. Some members of Congress may even attempt to amend the bill to prevent the EPA from moving forward with their historic draft standard to limit global warming pollution from new power plants.
Fossil fuel lobbyists and their allies in Congress are attacking the EPA with false claims about the impact that these proposed standards might have on gas prices. But we know that this bill will have no effect on fuel prices, but would have a lasting, negative impact on public health.
Congress needs to hear from Americans like you who support the EPA’s efforts to protect our health from dirty energy and dirty fuels.
Tell your member of Congress: Don’t block vital standards for our health and environment—vote no on the Gasoline Regulations Act.
Take Action Today!
Sincerely, Chrissy Elles Chrissy Elles Outreach Associate UCS Climate & Energy Program

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Will your Members of Congress stand with the women of Wal-Mart?


National Women's Law Center - Stop Discounting Women
Tell Your Members of Congress to Stand with the Women of Wal-Mart
Betty Dukes with Senator Franken, lead Senate sponsor of the bill
                Co-sponsor the Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act of 2012.
Take Action

One year ago today, we told you devastating news: the Supreme Court had ruled against Betty Dukes and the courageous women of Wal-Mart.
In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that the Wal-Mart women could not band together as a single class to challenge discrimination in pay and promotions.
But that’s not the end of the story.
For the last year, the National Women’s Law Center and advocates across the country have pushed Congress for a solution. Today, Congress offered one!
Tell your Members of Congress to stand by the women of Wal-Mart by co-sponsoring the Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act of 2012.
Getting co-sponsors on this bill will help it to gain momentum — and we need you to help us move forward!
So what would this bill do?
The Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act of 2012 would remove the obstacles the Supreme Court placed in the way of ordinary Americans seeking their day in court. It offers a clear path for women workers to come together as a group to challenge discrimination. And it would make sure that no employer is too big to be held accountable.
Individual workers — many of whom live paycheck to paycheck — should not be required to stand alone against some of the largest corporations in the world to end discrimination. This bill recognizes the reality of workers’ lives and offers an alternative.
Please tell your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act of 2012. Act now for Betty Dukes, the women of Wal-Mart, and all women workers who suffer from discrimination in pay, in hiring, and in promotions.
Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Emily J. Martin Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center   

P.S. For more information, check out NWLC’s new fact sheets on the Equal Employment Opportunity Restoration Act of 2012 and the extreme wage gap for retail workers.
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Politics Blowing UP the Transportation Bill ?


URGENT TO CONGRESS: JOBS AT STAKE
June 30 is the deadline for Congress to act on the surface transportation bill. This bill would protect and create good jobs in the United States and begin to fix our crumbling infrastructure, but it’s being held up because of political antics from extreme Republicans.

Tell your members of Congress it’s time to stop playing politics and pass the surface transportation bill.

I’m writing to you because this is urgent. Jobs are at stake.

Here’s the deal. Both the U.S. Senate and House have passed versions of the surface transportation bill—the Senate version of the bill would create or sustain nearly 3 million jobs—and a conference committee of key House and Senate leaders is negotiating final details of the bill right now. But some Republicans in the House want to make it their way or the highway. They want to starve funding for badly needed infrastructure projects and hold hostage family-sustaining jobs.

In the past two and a half years, Congress has settled for nine short-term extensions instead of coming up with a long-term solution to fix our crumbling infrastructure and get ironworkers, crane operators, cement masons and other construction workers—14 percent of whom are currently unemployed—back on the job.

Without a long-term fix, jobs will be lost and our roads, bridges and transportation system will fall into further decay. Click here now to e-mail your members of Congress to tell them we can’t wait. We need to pass the surface transportation bill now.

This is a chance for our leaders to come together and do their part to create good jobs in the United States and invest in our future. For too long, we have watched while politicians pushed policies that have sent jobs overseas while kicking the can down the road on investing in infrastructure projects that would create jobs here.

Tell your elected leaders in Washington to pass the surface transportation bill before the June 30 deadline.

We’re at a critical point in the legislative process. The conference committee reportedly has narrowed the gap between the bills passed in the House and Senate. But, without pressure from working people like you, a few extreme Republicans—intent on slowly starving funding for the transportation system—may get their way. We can stop this from happening.

E-mail your lawmakers to tell them that now is the time for Congress to set differences aside and come together to pass a surface transportation bill that creates and saves family-sustaining jobs, fixes our crumbling bridges, roads and transportation system and keeps in place Buy America and Davis-Bacon prevailing wage protections for projects financed by the bill.

Thank you for your support.

In Solidarity,

Andy Richards
Digital Strategies, AFL-CIO

P.S. Actions and events are being organized across the country to call for elected leaders to stop helping companies outsource jobs and instead support the patriotic companies that create jobs here. Click here to find an event near you.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

President Obama Speaks: Congress Must Act to Keep our Teachers on the Job


In this week’s address, President Obama urges Congress to take action now to put our teachers back to work in classrooms, because the best predictor of individual and American success in this economy is a good education.More
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Politics … caught on tape


President Obama’s Export Council meets to discuss increasing U.S. exports and creating American jobs. June 6, 2012.More
 
                     
 

President Obama calls on Congress to pass the bipartisan, paid-for ideas that he proposed last year to put construction workers back to work upgrading our roads and bridges, teachers back in the classroom educating our kids and police and firefighters back on the job keeping our communities safe, and addresses the state of the economy, including the situation in Europe, which continues to pose headwinds to our recovery here at home. June 8, 2012.More
       
                                               
 
 

The White House Office of Public Engagement hosts a briefing for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. June 11, 2012.More
 
 
 
 

The White House holds a town hall to discuss the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for seniors and caregivers. June 11, 2012.More
 

President Obama is urging Congress to take up his proposal to cut through the red tape that prevents so many homeowners from refinancing their mortgages and saving hundreds of dollars each month. On June 6th, 2012 we asked Americans what they thought of the President’s proposal. On June 8th, 2012, we held a conference call with a group of people who responded to answer their questions. http://www.whitehouse.gov/More