Tag Archives: Social Security

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Help me help Sherrod Brown … Al Franken


Al Franken - U.S. Senator, Minnesota

I’ve noticed something about the right-wing attack machine: Great progressives drive them absolutely nuts.

Sure, they’ll attack anyone who doesn’t agree that corporations are people, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, and global warming is a hoax (that every legitimate scientist is in on).  But they really lose their minds when they encounter a true progressive who gets results for working families.
And they have gone positively crackers in their negative campaign against my friend Sherrod Brown, throwing everything they can at him — to the tune of more than $3.5 million in attack ads on Ohio T.V. already.
I’m helping Sherrod fight back — and you should, too.  His campaign has to raise $200,000 by the end of the month.  Can you knock $20 off that goal by clicking here right now?
I work with Sherrod a lot — and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more forceful advocate for the middle class.  Less raspy?  Maybe.  But more forceful?  No way.
That’s why the right-wing attack machine has zeroed in on Sherrod.  They can’t stand the idea that a guy who wears his progressive values on his sleeve not only gets to serve in the U.S. Senate, but gets things done there.  Sherrod’s won fights on behalf of working people his whole career — and if we want to win these fights in the future, we’d better make sure he keeps his seat in November.
Every right-wing special interest group in Washington has Ohio’s Senate race at the top of their wish lists in 2012.  Sherrod really drives them berserk.  It’s one of my favorite things about him.
And the only thing that would drive these radicals crazier would be if we helped him overcome their attacks and win.
Thanks for helping me help Sherrod keep driving the far right around the bend.
Al
P.S.: I have it on good authority that another thing that makes the right-wing attack machine flip out is when I include an extra “ask” in the P.S. of a fundraising email.  Seriously, they’re reading this right now and just freaking out — pounding on their desks, tearing out their hair, the whole deal.  And if you want to get them completely unglued, you could click here and prove that the “extra ask in the P.S.” trick works by donating $10 or more to Sherrod’s campaign right now!
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The President Said It. Now, Tell Congress to Do It … Joan Entmacher, National Women’s Law Center


Tell Congress: Make Millionaires and Corporations Pay Their Fair Share

In his State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized a vital point: that unfair, and even counter-productive, tax breaks for corporations and the very wealthy shortchange needed investments for women and their families.

Instead of showering tax breaks on the wealthy, the oil and gas industry and on corporations that ship American jobs overseas, Congress needs to:

Protect vital programs: Women and their families depend on federal programs to protect their health, get quality child care, attend college, and meet their basic needs during difficult times and as they age. We need to protect vital programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, child care, Head Start, and Food Stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Create jobs: Unemployment remains painfully high, and while job growth has started to pick up, millions of women and men are still struggling to find jobs. We must extend federal emergency unemployment benefits to help people who are hurting now and invest in programs that put women and men back to work.

Middle-class and low-income families have already sacrificed enough. Budget deals have already scheduled $2 trillion in cuts to federal programs over the next decade that are important to everyday Americans. But they don’t touch a penny of the tax breaks enjoyed by millionaire CEOs and booming industries like Big Oil. Congress should close tax loopholes and require millionaires, billionaires and large corporations to contribute to getting our economy back on track.

Tell your Members of Congress to make millionaires and corporations pay their fair share, to protect vital programs and to create jobs for the millions of struggling Americans who need them.

        
Thank you for your help today, and for everything you do to help women and their families.

Sincerely,

 Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center   

  

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What You Did This Year …Nancy Duff Campbell & Marcia Greenberger, National Women’s Law Center


…Was nothing short of amazing.

Your Gift Matched  
     
   
     
  Through December 31, every gift to the National Women’s Law Center (up to a total of $90,000) will be matched dollar for dollar.  
     
  Donate Now  
     

Because of you:

Women will have access to contraception in new health insurance plans — without co-pays — and attempts to defund family planning were stopped.

Because of you:

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other key social safety net programs were spared automatic cuts under the federal debt ceiling deal.

Because of you:

We helped secure nationwide protections against retaliation in the workplace, rights for pregnant and parenting students in Michigan, and educational equity for female student athletes in Oldham County, Kentucky.

Throughout the year, we’ve been honored to work with you to expand the possibilities for women and their families so that, as President Obama said at the Center’s Annual Awards Dinner just weeks ago, our children can “go out into a world where there is no limit to how big they can dream and how high they can reach.”

But we have little time to rest on our laurels — 2012 won’t be easy. Will you help?

Through December 31, every gift to the National Women’s Law Center (up to a total of $90,000) will be matched dollar for dollar.

The coming year will see the Affordable Care Act go before the Supreme Court, where we’ll be fighting to protect the law and ensure that being a woman cannot be a preexisting condition again. With millions of Americans living in poverty and facing long-term unemployment, powerful forces in Congress will STILL lobby for tax cuts to the wealthy at the expense of jobs and programs vital to women and their families. And of course, women STILL earn on average only 77 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, showing the clear need for the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Will you help us? Please consider a very generous contribution to the Center — your gift will be doubled by a match from the Center’s Board of Directors and Leadership 35 Committee.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you more about what we’ve done together this year and what 2012 is likely to bring. In the meantime, please help us start our 40th year stronger than ever before. Thank you again for all the help you give and all the work you do on behalf of women and families.

Sincerely,
 
Nancy Duff Campbell   Nancy Duff Campbell
Co-President
National Women’s Law Center 		  Marcia Greenberger   Marcia Greenberger
Co-President
National Women’s Law Center 		 

P.S. Remember, your gift will be matched thanks to the generosity of our Board and Leadership 35 Committee. Please help today!
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Let’s Talk Turkey about the Super-Comm​ittee …National Women’s Law Center


Let’s talk turkey.   NWLC

Politics might not be on the Thanksgiving menu, but when families and friends gather, it seems to be a side dish some of us are force fed.

We want to give you something to be thankful for by making sure you’re prepared to talk about what women and families have at stake in the economy and the truth about what happened with the super-committee. Remember that the super-committee was a special committee of Members of Congress created to come up with a plan to reduce the federal deficit over the next decade.

Last night, the super-committee announced that it did not reach agreement on a deficit reduction plan. To explain what this means for you — and Aunt Edith — below are a few key myths and facts.
Turkey MYTH: It would have been better if the super-committee reached a deal.FACT: No deal is better than a bad deal — and we were headed toward a bad deal. The fact that some members of the super-committee felt a strong enough obligation to protect the programs that women and families depend on is incredibly important. Had key safety net programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare been cut in a last-minute deal, the damage could have been irreparable. For more info, check out our latest blog post: Five Reasons Why No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal.
Turkey MYTH: I heard Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare will automatically be cut.FACT: The automatic cuts do not reach Social Security, Medicaid, or many other programs for low-income Americans. Any Medicare cuts would affect payments to providers, not beneficiaries. The automatic cuts that are scheduled would affect defense and non-defense programs equally. Unfortunately, discretionary programs that specifically serve low-income people are not exempt. However, the cuts won’t start to take effect until 2013, so Congress has time make changes through the regular legislative process.
Turkey MYTH: The super-committee didn’t reach a deal and important programs were protected — so our advocacy worked! We don’t need to worry anymore.FACT: We still have lots to do. We need to work to extend federal emergency unemployment benefit programs and pass job creation measures. We need to fund the government through the rest of this fiscal year, without strings attached that limit women’s rights. And the fight to make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share and to protect Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and other vital programs will continue. So enjoy, rest up — and join us next week.
This Thanksgiving, we could not be more grateful for the dedication of our network of activists like you, who took action to send emails and make phone calls throughout the super-committee’s deliberations.While the super-committee’s work has ended, our work for a fair economy continues. We couldn’t do it without you.National Women’s Law Center
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AFL – CIO


  
It looks like every single Republicanon the Super Committee is ready to sell out working families.If even a single Super Committee Democrat goes along with the Republican plan to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits while cutting tax rates for the richest Americans, it will pass.Sign our petition urging all six Super Committee Democrats to stand together and protect the future of working people in America—the 99%.
   

Republicans on the so-called Super Committee have proposed cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits that America’s working families depend on—while keeping Bush’s tax rates for the richest Americans, including the top 1%. This is Robin Hood in reverse—class warfare against working America on behalf of the top 1%.

And it’s deficit hypocrisy, too. You can’t use budget deficits as an excuse to cut middle-class benefits one minute and the next minute propose making the deficit worse by lowering tax rates for rich people. After all, the Bush tax cuts are the No. 1 reason projected deficits are so high over the next 10 years.

If we want to bring down the federal deficit, we have to start by letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire on schedule. Haven’t Republicans noticed that Americans are fed up with politicians who constantly cater to the demands of the 1%? This is the same kind of tone-deaf overreaching that voters in Ohio overwhelmingly rejected last week.

Sign our petition: Urge Democrats on the Super Committee to reject the proposal to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for the 99% and make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.

The debt reduction Super Committee that’s considering these cuts is no ordinary congressional committee. It is empowered by law to propose legislation that cannot be amended and can be rammed through Congress quickly, with minimal debate.

And since it looks like every single Republican on the Super Committee is ready to sell out working families, we need every single Super Committee Democrat to stand strong and protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

That’s why it’s urgent that you sign our petition—we need a unanimous working families vote from all six Super Committee Democrats. Add your name now.

Working families are counting on all six Democrats—Sens. Patty Murray, John Kerry and Max Baucus, and Reps. Chris Van Hollen, James Clyburn and Xavier Becerra—to stand with the 99% of Americans who are demanding change. It’s shameful that Republicans on this committee are united in representing America’s wealthiest 1% instead of their constituents. Let’s hope these six Democrats stand together and prove that Congress is capable of standing up for the rest of us.

In Solidarity,

Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO