Tag Archives: United States Congress

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URGENT: Calls needed on DADT now!


Human Rights Campaign


URGENT: Our moment on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is NOW!

The Senate must take action before they leave – and anti-equality lawmakers take office.

Tell your senators to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this week.

Call now: Sen. Maria Cantwell at (202) 224-3441 and Sen. Patty Murray at (202) 224-2621

The push to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has reached a fever pitch. And this week could make or break it.

Years of work could boil down to what happens this week. The Senate’s “lame duck” session begins today – our last, best hope to end the discrimination this year.

When the new Congress shows up in January, the House will be under staunchly anti-LGBT leadership. We have no time to waste.

Today, as we launch full-page newspaper ads across the country, we need tens of thousands of supporters to back up those ads by joining HRC and the Courage Campaign to call on every single senator to end the discrimination NOW!

Call both your senators now – Sen. Maria Cantwell at (202) 224-3441 and Sen. Patty Murray at (202) 224-2621 – and tell them “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” must end BEFORE you leave and the new Congress takes over.

The last time the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” came up for a vote in the Senate, Sen. John McCain led Republicans in a filibuster of the national defense spending bill that contains the repeal. They blocked it from an up-or-down vote – even though nearly 8 in 10 Americans now favor repealing the law.

Watch a message from Joe SolmoneseBefore time runs out, we need Senate Democrats to bring the defense bill to the floor and we need Republicans to stop threatening to derail the entire thing – including critical military equipment and pay raises – just to keep this discriminatory law on the books.

Is it just me, or is it completely absurd that Senate Republicans would hold troops’ funding hostage, just so they can ensure that lesbian and gay soldiers have to keep lying or be fired?

The ads we’re launching today call out this hypocrisy for what it is: bigotry masked as patriotism.

It’s critical that every single senator hears from us today. Even if your senators are already with us on this issue they need to know that their constituents have their backs as they stand up for what’s right.

And no matter where your senators stand, speaking out today sends a bold message: It’s going to take a lot more than a few anti-gay leaders in Congress to make us give up this fight. As long as injustice is written into our laws, we will not rest.

Join HRC and the Courage Campaign: call Sen. Maria Cantwell at (202) 224-3441 and Sen. Patty Murray at (202) 224-2621 and tell them to act this week. Click here to let us know that you made the call.

Momentum for repeal is high. President Obama has called on the Senate to act during this short session – an important first step of the many needed for him to fulfill the pledge he made in the State of the Union to end this law. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and military chaplains are also speaking out.

Still, repealing this law is no easy task. But if brave men and women are willing to risk their lives while hiding who they are, we must be unafraid to fail – and always, unceasingly, unafraid to fight.

Never giving up,

Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President

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Our next fight: DREAM Act now


Reform Immigration FOR America Share This Message:
Pass the DREAM Act
We’ve waited long enough
We always knew that our fight didn’t begin – or end – on Election Day.
Two weeks ago, we stood up all over the country for what we believed in. We showed Congress where we stood, and how powerful we are. Now it’s time to remind them of what we want. 

Before the election, Harry Reid promised that he would put the DREAM Act up for a vote before the end of the year. Nancy Pelosi wants that vote to happen. It’s up to us to show Reid and the rest of the Senate that our movement isn’t going to wait.

Click here to send a fax to leaders in Congress:

We have waited long enough to reform our broken immigration system. Pass the DREAM Act during the lame duck session this year.

Passing the DREAM Act would be a clear sign from Congress that they’re willing to work with us moving forward. It’s time to stand together and show the policymakers in DC what we’re made of.

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.
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Open Letter to the American People

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To the American People:

The midterm elections that just passed were not about political parties and partisan scorekeeping. They were about you: your families, your jobs, your economic security and your future.

The message that you sent to Washington is that you want Democrats, Republicans and Independents to work together to find the common ground needed for real solutions and real progress. Democrats agree. We understand the frustration felt by all Americans – especially our middle class. We heard you, loud and clear. We’re frustrated too and will continue to fight for what you demand and deserve.

Democrats will keep fighting to make sure that big banks, big oil, those who want to privatize Social Security and other powerful special interests are prevented from taking advantage of you. We also welcome every opportunity to work with our Republican colleagues as we know the challenges that lie ahead of us know no political affiliation.

And with Republicans securing more seats in both houses of Congress, it is imperative they take their responsibility to offer bipartisan solutions more seriously. Simply saying ‘no’ will do nothing to create more jobs and strengthen our economy.

You will hear many of the media pundits say this was a tough election for those on the ballot this year, but we know that is nothing compared to the fight that middle-class families are facing to stay in their homes, find good jobs and make ends meet.

The time for politics is now over. Democrats will spare no effort to get back to work immediately in order to restore the American Dream for you and your families.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid

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Recount Alert Updates: Good News



You never stopped fighting.

Your generosity and commitment helped us surpass our Voter Protection Efforts goal in time to get critical resources out to campaigns locked in too close-to-call races.

I’m pleased to report that two more seats were called for Democrats this week. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia and Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington are returning to Congress because you stood with us to make sure every vote was counted fairly and accurately.

But, there are still eight Democrats in the fight of their lives in too close-to-call races. In the early morning hours of the day after the Election, we dispatched legal teams and staff and have been rushing resources to their aides. But, the truth is that this may be a continuing timely and costly process, and we can’t leave these Democrats when they need us the most. We must raise an additional $100,000 by this Monday to keep up the fight.

Please rush a contribution of $5, $10 or more to help our Voter Protection efforts to keep the fight going. Your dollars to help us reach our goal by Monday will keep our teams on the ground able to stand their ground and protect our vote.

With eight races still too close to call, every dollar you contribute to our Voter Protection efforts is helping ensure we keep up the fight. We need to send more Democrats to Congress to stand with Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats in our 2012 fight, and to stand in the way of Republican plans to dismantle health care reform and Social Security.

Thank you for standing with us,

Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

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Bitter Cold Winter for Unemployed Workers


EMERGENCY PETITION
If Congress breaks for Thanksgiving without extending emergency unemployment benefits, every day of inaction will cause more of the 14.8 million people who are willing and able to work but can’t find a job to lose their lifeline—and possibly even their homes.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to extend long-term unemployment insurance now.

 

Across the nation, jobs just aren’t there. Many workers are in the job search of their lives.

In October, 14.8 million people were unemployed. A shocking 41.8 percent of them were jobless for 27 weeks or longer.*

But get this: Some lawmakers—many of the same ones who want to pass tax cuts for people who make more than $250,000 per year—want to cut off emergency unemployment benefits.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to extend emergency unemployment insurance now.

Congress is coming back next week, and we need our lawmakers to take dramatic action. Congress has never let unemployment benefits expire when this many people have been out of work—and if it happens, economists predict catastrophic results. More parents who can’t put food on the table. Families losing their homes…real estate values sinking further, faster….And devastation for local businesses as pockets are empty during the critical holiday shopping season.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to extend unemployment insurance now.

This is serious. The number of people out of work for more than six months is the longest on record. The National Employment Law Project estimates that—if Congress fails to act soon—800,000 people nationally will immediately lose unemployment benefits in the coming weeks. Two million workers will lose their benefits by the end of December. And the longer Congress delays extending benefits after that, the worse things will get for people who are out of work.

Please sign our petition today: Tell Congress unemployed people aren’t invisible.

Time is running out for Congress to take action without causing massive pain—and even homelessness—for long-term job-seekers. Our society, and our government, must not ignore our friends, family and neighbors who are unemployed through no fault of their own. These people have kids to feed, heat to keep on and homes to keep out of foreclosure—and you and I could easily be in their shoes.

Sign the petition: Make sure Congress doesn’t look the other way.

Thanks for standing in solidarity with your unemployed friends, family members and neighbors.

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

P.S. Next week, the same Congress that’s been in power for the past two years will be coming back for its “lame duck” session. But time is short. And an extension of unemployment faces an uphill battle in the Senate—Republicans may try to block extending unemployment so they can use it as political leverage.

Demand Congress take urgent action to renew emergency unemployment insurance now.

* “The Employment Situation – October 2010,” Bureau of Labor Statistics