Tag Archives: Paul Ryan

I wanted to share with you this opportunity from our friends over at the League of Conservation Voters. They’re doing important work to call out the shocking conflict of interests between Congress and Big Oil. Please take a minute and add your name to their petition targeting Congressman Ryan (R-WI).

Sincerely,

Ben Kroetz
Greenpeace USA
————-

Tell Congressman Paul Ryan that championing special tax breaks for Big Oil while profiting from the oil industry is wrong.

Carmen —

Click here to add your name to our petition to Congressman Paul Ryan.

When Republican Congressman Paul Ryan was asked at a town hall meeting in Waterford, Wisc., about the need to end subsidies to oil companies, he responded, “I agree.”¹

But just one week later, Ryan voted to give Big Oil billions in taxpayer-funded handouts.²

Now comes the shocking revelation that Congressman Ryan and his family are making thousands of dollars from oil companies that lease their land – companies that stand to benefit from the same tax breaks Ryan is pushing.

Click here to add your name to our petition to Congressman Ryan. Tell him that championing special tax breaks for Big Oil while profiting from the oil industry is wrong.

Newsweek and the Daily Beast reported recently on what appears to be Ryan’s shocking conflict of interest:³

The financial disclosure report Ryan filed with Congress last month and made public this week shows he and his wife, Janna, own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan’s budget plan.

Ryan’s father-in-law, Daniel Little, who runs the companies, told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that the family companies are currently leasing the land for mining and drilling to energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy, Devon, and XTO Energy, a recently acquired subsidiary of ExxonMobil.

Some of these firms would be eligible for portions of the $45 billion in energy tax breaks and subsidies over 10 years protected in the Wisconsin lawmaker’s proposed budget.

Not only has Ryan voted to give Big Oil companies like ExxonMobil billions in government handouts, but – as the article notes – he has proposed a 2012 budget that also gives Big Oil billions in special tax breaks.⁴ And as the point person on the budget for the Republican House leadership, Ryan has significant sway and influence on the congressional budget process.

At a time when middle-class families are feeling the pinch of an economy still on the rebound and state governments are facing massive budget shortfalls, Ryan is asking American taxpayers to continue providing massive government handouts for some of the world’s most profitable companies – all while his family stands to benefit from some of those same companies’ profits.

Click here to sign our petition to Congressman Ryan. Tell him it is shameful to champion billions in oil industry tax breaks while personally profiting from the oil industry’s good fortune.

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,

Navin Nayak
Senior Vice President, Campaigns
League of Conservation Voters

¹ http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/04/28/162071/paul-ryan-oil-subsidies/
² http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll293.xml
³ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/17/paul-ryan-s-shrewd-budget-payday-congressman-could-benefit-from-tax-breaks-he-proposes.html
⁴ http://www.lcv.org/newsroom/press-releases/LCV-Statement-on-Big-Oil-Budget-Proposed-by-Chairman-Paul-Ryan.html

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Paul Ryan gets our message ! boldprogressives.org

07/06/2011 Nativegrl77

We made Rep. Paul Ryan feel big pressure this week in Wisconsin.

Along with his challenger, Rob Zerban, we delivered 65,000 signatures to Ryan’s local office — opposing his plan to end Medicare.

Local and national media covered our activism! The local newspaper headline blared, “Zerban presents petition on Medicare to Ryan’s office.”

Many candidates and political committees promise to do stuff in the future. We’re committed to doing effective work now.

We work with leaders in Congress and on the campaign trail who are committed to being bold progressives and partnering with the grassroots to move the ball forward on issues we care about.

That’s why we partnered with Sen. Al Franken to re-ignite public pressure for Elizabeth Warren — and partnered with other bold leaders on the public option and Wall Street reform.

Now, we’re showing how candidates can use their campaigns to pressure Republicans back home on Medicare — in a way that impacts the current debate.

Watch video from this week’s event. Then, add your name to Rob’s letter so he can keep doing events holding Paul Ryan accountable.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Jeremy Feigenbaum, Neil Sroka, and the PCCC team

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Protect Medicare … AFSCME e-Action Network

05/31/2011 Nativegrl77

It’s truly scary.

The federal budget that was introduced by
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and passed in the House of Representatives last month
is being voted on in the Senate this week. And in all my years of working
in Washington, DC, I can honestly say that I’ve rarely seen anything this
alarming.

That’s why I need you to take just a minute and send a message
to your senators right now.

You’ve probably already heard about the Ryan budget
because of its radical proposal to eliminate Medicare as we know it. But
it’s worse than that. It’s clear that what he’s calling the “Pathway to
Prosperity” should really be named the “Pathway to Poverty,” given what it means
for most Americans. The Ryan pathway is a wrong turn for America. It only brings
more prosperity to insurance companies, Wall Street fat cats, and the wealthiest
companies and individuals in America while dumping the rest of us in a dead end.
It’s outrageous.

And it must be stopped in the
Senate: Please take action against this radical bill right
now.

Ryan’s budget includes deep
cuts to federal programs that fund state and local governments at a time when
many states are already in crisis, and more and more people need their services.
It’s nothing short of
another outright attack on public employees and the services we provide.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates
that Medicare beneficiaries’ premiums and other out-of-pocket expenses would double when compared to
Medicare as it is now – from $6,150 to $12,500.
Ryan claims this bill would
reduce the deficit by $4.3 trillion. What he doesn’t say is that it’s almost
entirely wiped out by the
$4.2 trillion in tax cuts to benefit the wealthiest Americans. Indeed, it would reduce the
tax rate for prosperous corporations and reduce the tax rate paid by the
wealthiest to its lowest level since 1931.

This budget proposal is so radical
that even some Republicans, like Newt
Gingrich, are distancing themselves from it. And while home during
recess, many of the House Republicans who voted for it (all but 4 did) were
taken to task at town hall meetings by the same people who voted for them last
November.

It’s clear
that the voices of working Americans are being heard and making a difference in
this fight. So please, speak out against this extreme proposal today by sending
a message to your senators. Let them know that you won’t stand by while Medicare, Medicaid,
and even Social Security are dismantled to pay for tax breaks for the rich and
subsidies to oil companies.

In solidarity,

Chuck Loveless
Legislative
Director
AFSCME

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Pop Quiz: What would America look like under Rep. Ryan’s radical budget? AFL-CIO

05/31/2011 Nativegrl77

Pop Quiz:
What would America look like under Rep. Ryan’s (R-Wis.) radical, Tea Party-inspired
budget?

A. A typical 65-year-old would spend $6,359 more
per year out of pocket for health care by 2022 because Medicare’s promise would
be replaced with underfunded vouchers.

B. At least 15 million people
would lose Medicaid health care.

C. $4.2 trillion in new
tax cuts would be handed out mostly to corporations and the rich.

D. All
of the above.

If you
answered D, all of the above, you’re right. The House Republican budget would do
all of those things.

All but four House Republicans voted for
this radical proposal. The
Senate will consider it this week.

How many Senate Republicans
will vote to give even more tax cuts to Wall Street and the wealthy and pay for
them by cutting deeply into services for seniors, children and low- and
middle-income working families?

Let’s make sure every
U.S. senator knows this “right-wing social engineering” bill—which is what
former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently called Rep. Ryan’s
budget—is not used as a starting point for a debate over America’s
future.

Here’s how you can help stop this
radical, Tea Party-inspired budget:

Forward this message to five friends—ask them to oppose the Ryan budget and make
sure it gets voted down in the Senate.

In
Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator,
AFL-CIO

P.S. Want to read more about the Ryan budget? Read and share the full post on the AFL-CIO Now
Blog.

Sources:
http://blog.aflcio.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/medicare_costs_by_state.pdf
http://blog.aflcio.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/medicaid_losses_by_state.pdf
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/jobs/upload/house_budget2012.pdf

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Don’t Discount Women -Demand Fair Change, Not Spare Change

05/24/2011 Nativegrl77

Demand Fair Change, Not Spare Change

Take Action: Tell your Senator TODAY to say NO to budgets that cut supports for women and families to give tax breaks to millionaires.

www.nwlc.org/fairbudget

This week, the Senate is expected to vote on two budget proposals that would devastate women and their families while putting trillions of dollars in the pockets of corporations and the wealthy. Both the proposals — one passed by the House Republican majority (introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)) and one introduced in the Senate by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) — would hurt women and families at every stage of their lives.

We need your help to keep these damaging proposals at bay. Ask your Senator to vote NO on these types of harmful budget proposals!

www.nwlc.org/fairbudget

Both the House Republican budget and the Toomey budget:

•Cut, then cap, Medicaid. Seniors would lose long-term care services, women with disabilities would lose crucial services, and millions of vulnerable women would lose their health coverage.

•Cut, then cap, other core safety net programs, such as SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), which are especially important to women and children.

•Slash funding for other critical programs like child care, Head Start, education, Pell grants, women’s preventive health care, domestic violence prevention and much, much more.

•Give trillions of dollars in new tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations by cutting tax rates for millionaires and corporations on top of permanently extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest.

In addition, the House Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it, forcing seniors in the future to pay substantially more for less coverage. Sen. Toomey did not include this proposal in his budget, because it focuses on just the next 10 years — but the Toomey budget makes even deeper cuts to Medicaid and non-defense programs over the next 10 years than the House-passed budget.

Sincerely

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center