Tag Archives: Congress

DREAMing of the holidays


Reform Immigration FOR America
Best thing you can do:
Call your senator today!
The Senate will vote soon on DREAM Act, which passed the House last week.
Before they leave town to spend time with their loved-ones for the holidays, Senators will vote on the DREAM Act. It’s up to us to make sure they vote the right way. 

The best thing you can do to pass the DREAM Act is to call your senator. But there are lots of other ways you can tell your senator to do the right thing and vote with us.

We can get the DREAM Act passed. We have to stand together to raise all our voices, and we have to do it now. We have a few days to be sure Senators hear us loud and clear. Can you raise your voice?

Thank you,
Marissa Graciosa

We’re fighting to fix our broken immigration system, but we can’t win without you!
contribute $30 today to sponsor 80 faxes and 100 calls to Congress.

Add YOUR Voice to the Anti-Right Chorus in 2011


Your Voice Against The Right
Please renew now!
As we prepare for 2011, People For the American Way needs your continued support to face the major challenges before us.

Give your early membership renewal gift by December 31st to help us gear up to face a new year full of peril for our freedoms and our nation.

In January, a new Congress will convene, with a Tea Party/Republican-ruled House of Representatives and a strengthened GOP contingent in the U.S. Senate.

In just a few weeks, we will be facing the most radically right-wing congressional delegation in modern times. And with it, we will also face an avalanche of legislation with the goal of reversing decades of progress. We must be prepared to face assaults against … civil rights … free speech … the federal courts … education … gay and lesbian equality … women’s rights … and so much more.

And with your renewed membership contribution, People For the American Way will be YOUR voice against the Right.

Our nation has never needed PFAW more than it does today. And now, more than ever, we need you to make sure we are strong enough to stand up to the Tea Partiers in Congress, and their brand of corporate subservience married to right-wing cultural extremism.

Make sure PFAW has the tools necessary to successfully fight the incoming right-wing Congress … by making your year-end membership gift right away … before December 31st.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Keegan signature
Michael Keegan

President

Bankrate.com


Here are stories published today
5 car-buying tips for Frosty the Snowman | 2010-12-07
If you’re willing to brave the elements to car shop, these tips will help you get the best deal.

The Obameter: Tracking Obama’s Campaign Promises …from PolitiFact


PolitiFact has compiled about 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter. We rate their status as No Action, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.

In the Works

No. 1: Increase the capital gains and dividends taxes for higher-income taxpayers

Increase capital gains and dividends taxes from 15 to 20 percent for those making more than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single)

>>More

In the Works

No. 2: Eliminate all oil and gas tax loopholes

“Eliminating special tax breaks for oil and gas companies: including repealing special expensing rules, foreign tax credit benefits, and manufacturing deductions for oil and gas firms.”

>>More

Compromise

No. 3: Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups

“Barack Obama understands that small businesses are the engines of our economy, and he will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments in small and start-up firms.”

>>More

In the Works

No. 4: Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes

Will extend aspects of the Bush tax cuts such as child credit expansions and changes to marriage bonuses and penalties.

>>More

Compromise

No. 5: Expand the earned income tax credit

Expand the earned income tax credit for workers without children and taxpayers with more than three children. Equalize threshholds for married filers and head of household filers.

>>More

Promise Kept

No. 6: Create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to invest in peer-reviewed manufacturing processes

“Will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. The Fund will have a peer-review selection and award process based on the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, a state-level initiative that has awarded over $125 million to Michigan businesses with the most innovative proposals to create new products and new jobs in the state.”

>>More

In the Works

No. 7: Double funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that encourages manufacturing efficiency

“The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly-successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. But despite this success, funding for MEP has been slashed by the Bush administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.”

>>More

In the Works

No. 8: Include environmental and labor standards in trade agreements

“He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world”

>>More

Stalled

No. 10: Expand the child and dependent care credit

Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

>>More

Stalled

No. 11: Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax

Require publicly traded financial partnerships to pay the corporate income tax.

>>More

In the Works

No. 12: Create an international tax haven watch list

Create an international tax haven watch list of countries that do not share information returns with the United States.

>>More

Stalled

No. 14: Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay

Congress has set rules regarding the tax deductibility of the salaries of CEOs, but forms of non-salary compensation have become popular. Obama would look at revamping definitions of compensation.

>>More

Compromise

No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners

Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. “The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes.”

>>More

Promise Kept

No. 16: Increase minority access to capital

“Strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital to minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms.”

>>More

Promise Kept

No. 17: Require economic justification for tax changes

Adopt the economic substance doctrine, a policy that states that tax changes must have significant economic justification, as a federal law.

>>More

Stalled

No. 18: Provide option for a pre-filled-out tax form

Will direct the Internal Revenue Service to “give taxpayers the option of a pre-filled tax form to verify, sign and return to the IRS or online. This will eliminate the need for Americans to hire expensive tax preparers and to gather information that the federal government already has on file.”

>>More

Stalled

No. 19: Create a mortgage interest tax credit for non-itemizers

Create a refundable tax credit equal to 10 percent of mortgage interest for nonitemizers, up to a maximum credit of $800.

>>More

In the Works

No. 20: Make permanent the Research & Development tax credit

The Research & Development tax credit and the renewable energy production tax credit are intended to spur innovation in the private sector, but the tax credits have expiration dates under current law. Obama would make them permanent.

>>More

In the Works

No. 21: Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans

Automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans for workers whose employers offer retirement plans.

>>More

In the Works

No. 22: Require automatic enrollment in IRA plans

Require employers who do not offer retirement plans to offer their workers access to automatic IRAs and contribute via payroll deduction.

>>More

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PASS The Dream Act …do it for Gaby


Reform Immigration FOR America Share This Message:
Do it for Gaby
A vote on the DREAM Act: this week
This week, Congress will vote on the DREAM Act & decide the future of millions of America’s youth.
Gaby Pacheco is one of those millions. Use our click-to-call tool below to make a phone call and listen to Gaby’s story. After you listen, we will connect you to your Senator to tell them the pass the DREAM Act. 

Click here to hear Gaby’s story & call Congress

It’s important to remind Congress (and ourselves) that this fight is not about an abstract policy debate. This fight is about the lives of DREAM youth across the country. This is about Gaby and the millions like her.

Do it for Gaby.

Thank you,
Marissa Graciosa
Reform Immigration FOR America

We’re fighting to fix our broken immigration system, but we can’t win without you!
contribute $30 today to sponsor 80 faxes and 100 calls to Congress.