Tag Archives: United States Congress

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BoldProgressives.org

11/11/2010 Nativegrl77

BREAKING: The “bipartisan” deficit reduction commission — appointed by President Obama and led by millionaires — just made their ideas public. And they are ridiculous.

They recommend to Congress cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age. (Shockingly, the commission of millionaires didn’t focus on raising taxes on the wealthy.)

We need to respond fast to make sure this goes nowhere. House Progressive Caucus Chair Raul Grijalva (who we just helped re-elect) has boldly organized over 100 of his colleagues to fight this proposal.

We need to show they have grassroots support. Can you join over 31,000 others in being a “citizen signer” of Grijalva’s letter? Click here.

Then, share with others — including on Facebook or Twitter.

We’ll inform Grijalva of our progress, so he can work with us to inform the media of this grassroots support.

Just today, Talking Points Memo reported on a poll we commissioned asking voters their preference on how to reduce the deficit:

43% say raise taxes on the wealthy
22% say cut the huge military budget
Only 12% say cut Social Security

Yet this “bipartisan” commission of millionaires recommends the exact opposite? Nancy Pelosi calls it “simply unacceptable.”

Help House progressives declare loudly: Cutting Social Security is simply not an option. Click to be a “citizen signer” of Grijalva’s letter — then share this email with others.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Stephanie Taylor, Julia Rosen, Jason Rosenbaum, Forrest Brown, and the PCCC team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

They just declared war on Social Security …a message from Arshad

11/11/2010 Nativegrl77

We knew this day was coming — Yesterday, the co-chairs of the Deficit Commission declared war on Social Security.

And it’s not just Social Security they’re going after. They’re declaring war on Medicare, the National Park Service and PBS, too.

Well, the Deficit Commission doesn’t speak for me — or the vast majority of Americans — and Congress needs to know it. Join me today and sign our pledge to Congress rejecting the Deficit Commission’s right-wing attacks on Social Security.

Add your name now

The Co-Chairs of the Commission released their proposal today. One member of the commission referred to the plan as “a good start”. It’s our job to make sure they know it’s Dead on Arrival. Here’s a quick sample of just some of what they’re calling for:

Cut Social Security benefits
Raise the retirement age
Cut funding to the National Park Service
Cut funding to PBS

When we say that the Deficit Commission doesn’t speak for the vast majority of Americans, we have the numbers to back it up.

On Election Day, Democracy for America polled voters nationwide and when asked about Social Security only four percent supported making cuts to Social Security. Over half support eliminating the Social Security tax cap for income over $106,000 a year and 31 percent said they wouldn’t change anything at all.

Let me say that again so Congress gets the message — We polled the exact same people who voted to put Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives and 85 percent of voters don’t want any cuts to Social Security.

This might be the only thing that 85 percent of Americans can agree on. Help make sure Congress gets the message.

Call on Congress to reject the Deficit Commission’s recommendations now.

When we asked DFA members what we needed to work on after the election, the answer was loud and clear — Stand up for Social Security. And we are.

Join us today and tell Congress to reject the Deficit Commission.

-Arshad

Arshad Hasan, Executive Director
Democracy for America

P.S. You can check the full results of our SurveyUSA 2010 Election Day poll here.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Fake “bipartisanship”

11/10/2010 Nativegrl77

Stand with 100 House progressives against Social Security cuts.

BREAKING: The “bipartisan” deficit reduction commission — appointed by President Obama, and led by millionaires like right-wing former Senator Alan Simpson — just made their ideas public. And they are ridiculous.

They recommend cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age to 69.

We need to show they have grassroots support. Can you join over 27,000 others in being a “citizen signer” of Grijalva’s letter? Click here — then share with others.

There are plenty of other ways to reduce the deficit. Just today, Talking Points Memo reported on a poll we commissioned asking voters their preference:

43% say raise taxes on the wealthy
22% say cut the huge military budget
Only 12% say cut Social Security

Yet this “bipartisan” commission of millionaires recommends exactly the opposite of what the public wants.

Help progressives in Congress send a strong, immediate message: Cutting Social Security is simply not an option. Click to be a “citizen signer” of Grijalva’s letter — then share this email with others.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Stephanie Taylor, Julia Rosen, Jason Rosenbaum, Forrest Brown, and the PCCC team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

End secret election spending now

11/10/2010 Nativegrl77

“It’s time to end secret corporate political spending. Secret contributions hurt our democracy. Pass the DISCLOSE Act before the end of the year.”

Sign the petition

Spending on this year’s election didn’t just break records, it obliterated them. $4 billion in total.¹

In the wake of Citizens United, corporations like ExxonMobil and AIG can give hundreds of millions of dollars to a shadowy front group to swing an election. And they can do so in 100% secrecy.

Imagine how this election could have changed if voters knew which corporations were supporting Republican candidates with anonymous attack ads against Democrats.

Earlier this year Congress nearly passed a bill—the DISCLOSE Act—that would force front groups to let voters know which corporations and CEOs are funding their political attacks.

The bill came up short because some Republican senators said they didn’t want to pass the common sense measure until after the election.² Now that the election is over we have an opportunity to pass this bill, but it won’t happen unless we push hard on Congress to act before the end of the year.

Click here to tell Congress to pass the DISCLOSE Act and end secret political spending:

http://pol.moveon.org/discloseact?id=25122-9640874-Z.3dHpx&t=3

This bill won’t get corporate money out of politics, but if we know that a company is trying to buy an election, we can shame them and we can hold them accountable. We did it successfully with Target earlier this year when state laws forced the retailer to disclose that it had made a large donation to a far-right candidate for governor in Minnesota. MoveOn members and others launched a nationwide boycott that brand analysts said reduced Target’s favorable reputation by a third among customers in just ten days.³

We also know that disclosure can have a major effect in elections. In California this year, giant oil companies backed a ballot measure to repeal the state’s groundbreaking climate change law. But they couldn’t secretly funnel their money through front groups and voters overwhelmingly rejected the initiative in part because every ad has to mention the oil companies funding it by name.

The DISCLOSE Act isn’t perfect but it will at least let us follow the money. We still need to keep working to pass stronger legislation and overturn Citizens United, but ending the ability of corporations to buy elections in secret is an important and fundamental step for our democracy.

Please, click here to tell Congress to pass DISCLOSE before the end of the year:

http://pol.moveon.org/discloseact?id=25122-9640874-Z.3dHpx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Robin, Laura, Tim, and the rest of the team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Justice delayed – In Memory –

11/10/2010 Nativegrl77

They’ve suffered years of discrimination. Now is the time for justice.

Ask the White House to do right by Black farmers.

For years, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) denied Black farmers loans and other aid easily approved for White farmers. Many Black farming families lost their land and livelihoods as a result. The farmers sued the government for damages and won — but only a fraction of them ever got paid.¹

As a Senator, Barack Obama helped to secure a new settlement for the remaining Black farmers, but far-right Senate Republicans are committed to keeping the settlement from being paid out, and have repeatedly blocked funding for it over the last year.

It’s time for President Obama to bypass the Republican obstruction. The White House can directly address this injustice and pay these farmers what they’re owed out of administrative funds — and Congressional Black Caucus leaders have previously called for such a solution. ²

Please join us in calling on President Obama to do right by these farmers, and please ask your friends and family to do the same. It takes just a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/pigford/?id=2275-1238940

For more than a generation, managers at the United States Department of Agriculture systematically turned down Black farmers’ applications for loans and other critical forms of aid. These loans are the lifeblood of farming, and without them many Black-owned farms were foreclosed on — and resold to White farmers.

This insidious discrimination enabled some White farmers to prosper and grow at the expense of generations of Black families who sought to make a living off the land. At the same time, it devastated the Black farming community. While 14% of all farmers were Black at the turn of the last century,³ by 2002 only 1.4% were Black.⁴

Black farmers eventually filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government, winning a landmark legal settlement in 1999. At the time, the USDA paid only a portion of the farmers with legitimate claims, so a second settlement was announced — but Congress never approved funding to pay the remaining farmers.⁵

Republican obstruction has been the main stumbling block on the Black farmers’ long road to justice. Far-right Senate Republicans have repeatedly stood in the way of funding the settlement. First they demanded that the money to pay the farmers not add to the national budget deficit.⁶ Even after that requirement was satisfied, they once again blocked a vote on the appropriation.⁷

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are rightfully furious at the Republicans’ stalling, and have called on President Obama to bypass the legislative process by paying the settlement out of administrative funds.⁸ The White House has maintained that it doesn’t have the money to pay the $1.25 billion settlement — but at the same time, the administration promised to find $1.5 billion to pay disaster relief for wealthier, mostly white farmers in Arkansas.⁹

With Congress becoming even more conservative after November’s election, it is even less likely that funding for the Black farmers’ discrimination settlement will be funded in next year’s Congress. It needs to happen now.

The White House has worked hard to pass the funding through Congress, but now they need to show Congressional Republicans that they mean business. As the CBC pointed out, justice delayed is justice denied for these aging men and women. Every day, another farm is foreclosed on and more farmers die without having been compensated for the shattering discrimination they faced. Join us in supporting the CBC’s call for President Obama to fund the Black farmers’ settlement. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/pigford/?id=2275-1238940

Thanks and peace,

— James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Natasha, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
November 10th, 2010

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