Tag Archives: United States

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What going on offense looks like



Watch Robert Reich explain why raising the minimum wage is one of the smartest things we can do for our economy:Click to see Robert Reich show why raising the minimum wage is a no-brainer.

Watch the video

Dear MoveOn member,

It was a big week—both good and bad—in the fight for a fair economy.

Here’s the bad stuff: President Obama again put devastating cuts to Social Security benefits on the negotiating table. Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that banks may be “too big to prosecute.” And Paul Ryan released his latest outlandish budget plan—full of giant tax breaks for corporations, a plan to voucherize Medicare, and attempts to slash millions from Medicaid.
But here’s the inspiring part. Nearly 8 million MoveOn members are doing really terrific work, together with our allies, to hold both Democrats and Republicans accountable and put an end to austerity economics.
Just in the past few days:
  • 250,000 MoveOn members joined with Reps. Grayson, Conyers, Ellison, and Grijalva and our friends at Social Security Works and The Other 98% to call for a one-sentence bill that would put an end to the sequester—and Rep. Grayson delivered the petition signatures directly to Speaker Boehner‘s office yesterday, with media watching closely.1
  • While Elizabeth Warren took bank regulators to the mat in Congress, 130,000 MoveOn members stood together with our allies at Campaign for a Fair Settlement to demand an end to “too big to jail” on Wall Street, and called for the Department of Justice to hold the banks that crashed the economy accountable.
And of course, day in and day out, MoveOn members are organizing in states around the country to push Republican governors to accept federal funding for Medicaid, challenge draconian local and state budget cuts, and stand up locally against the sequester.
So the fight for a fair economy has a lot of fronts. Right now, one simple thing you can do is to check out Robert Reich’s video and pass it along—to equip others with the information about how we can make our economy work better for working people, not just big banks and Republican lobbyists.
Please watch this video and share it with with friends and family and everyone you know.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Manny, Jessica, David, and the rest of the team

Source:

1. “Sequestration 2013: Lawmakers, activists call for end of sequestration,” WJLA, March 14, 2013.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=288104&id=64304-17809870-nrLSqyx&t=7

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State Legislation Gone Wild


ThinkProgress War Room

9 Terrible Proposed State Laws

If you think that irresponsible and outright ridiculous bills only come out of Washington, D.C., think again. Ever since the big GOP wave election in 2010, state legislatures across the country have been racing to pass offensive, unconstitutional, and just outright bizarre laws. Other states long controlled by Republicans are also rushing to pass unconstitutional and ridiculous laws just for good measure, it appears.

Here are 9 terrible proposed state laws:

  • NORTH DAKOTA: The state is getting in on the latest anti-abortion fad sweeping the nation: so-called “heartbeat bills” that ban abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected. North Dakota is set to pass a law that bans abortions (at its single remaining abortion clinic) after just six weeks. The law, the most stringent in the nation, is clearly unconstitutional.
  • TEXAS: An “avid proponent of tort reform” in the state legislature has proposed a law that will allow people to be served notice of a lawsuit through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
  • OKLAHOMA: The Sooner State is still fighting Obamacare and just this week the Oklahoma House passed an unconstitutional Obamacare “nullification” law.
  • INDIANA: Newly elected Gov. Mike Pence (R) is pushing for a 10 percent cut in the state’s income tax, something which could gut investments in education and infrastructure. Even Republican legislators are wary, but the Koch Brothers front group, Americans for Prosperity is pushing the proposal.
  • MISSISSIPPI: The Magnolia state, which has the highest obesity rate in the nation, passed a so-called “anti-Bloomberg” bill to prevent localities from “enacting rules that require calorie counts to be posted, that cap portion sizes, or that keep toys out of kids’ meals.”
  • SOUTH CAROLINA: The Palmetto State said no to expanding Medicaid under Obamacare, which sadly is hardly a novel feat. The South Carolina GOP’s innovation was to explain its motivation for doing so was because the president is black.
  • OHIO: Ohio’s radical anti-union law was overturned by a statewide referendum and its anti-voting law was headed for the same fate until the legislature preemptively repealed it on their own. Now Ohio legislators are trying to make it harder for voters to initiate referenda to overturn the radical laws passed by the GOP-controlled legislature.
  • NEW HAMPSHIRE: You might think that the 13th amendment to the Constitution is the one that banned slavery, but some Republican legislators in New Hampshire would like to tell you otherwise. They claim the “original 13th amendment” is one that banned people with titles of nobility from holding office and that it was deleted by some sort of conspiracy. They aren’t taking this lying down and have introduced a bill to restore the “original” version, in order “to end the infiltration of the Bar Association and the judicial branch into the executive and legislative branches of government and the unlawful usurpation of the people’s right.”
  • IOWA: An Iowa Republican wanted to ban no-fault divorces for couples with children, out of fears that easier divorces may make teenage girls “more promiscuous.” Fortunately, legislative leaders shut that whole thing down.

While some of these bills are laughable, it’s not very funny when they actually become law. In Arkansas, for instance, the legislature just overrode the governor’s veto (which, bizarrely, only requires a simple majority in Arkansas) of a measure banning abortion after 12 weeks. This was briefly the nation’s strictest abortion ban until it was outdone by the North Dakota law mentioned above.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Medicare spending may fix itself even without more spending cuts.

CPAC attendees blast GOP senator who came out for marriage equality.

Low-income kids being kicked out of preschool thanks to the sequester.

Morning Joe blasts Tea Party darling Ted Cruz: ‘Willfully ignorant,’ ‘condescending,’ ‘playing to illiterates.’

Republican House Appropriations Committee chairman says GOP budget “cuts too much.”

The true cost of the Iraq War: $2.2 TRILLION, 200,000 lives.

Senate Democratic budget cuts same amount of spending, raises less revenue than tax plan often touted by the GOP.

GOP Senate candidate suggests all national non-discrimination laws are unconstitutional.

Maryland abolished the death penalty, becoming the 18th state to do so.

~ my 2cents ...

March madness -Monday


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photo from seattletimes

rain wind and more rain …

The 3-day CPAC summit should, if nothing else open up some minds to what Conservatives are all about and maybe hear what some believe is a misinterpretation of liberty, freedom and what  role our government plays in our society

Oh … get your cards out it’s time to fill in your brackets as 2013 NCAA Tournament play … March Madness begins on Tuesday without Kentucky! and Washington State is wishing Gonzaga the best as they receive first ever No. 1 seed

What worried me before the midterm and Election2012 was the possibility that people who have no experience, common sense or clarity may get on the floor of Congress and really ruin what use to be a great country if they “take back their country.”  I guess you can plug-in whatever that means for you though it sounds like an awful way to live if you are a minority on any level.  We all know folks who are suffering directly from votes Republican lawmakers made and are still making on the local state and federal level; to be sure, the midterm elections affected each state differently, in gross and horrific ways.

Election2012 resulted in a 2nd term for President Barack H Obama.

Now, maybe people understand and or know that all elections have consequences.  Then again, I could be wrong. The grim reality is that a vote for Republicans is a vote against your best interest – people.  If you live on the Gulf Coast or in Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan you have to ask yourself what have Republicans really done for you lately and do you have family friends co-workers who are Teachers, Cops, Emts, Firefighters …any type of Rescue worker … Why? Republican members of Congress have been voting against them on the floor of Congress since 2009 while Republican Governors are acting out the mission under the guise of “States Rights” , which is to restrict cut and abolish governmental workers. While making way for the privatization of social programs only our government should handle such as EPA, Dept. of Ed, Medicare let alone kill Medicaid, FEMA and more $$ for big corporations though government can be a force for good and if interpreted correctly …

“The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people,

whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so

well do, for themselves — in their separate and individual capacities.” – Lincoln

Obviously, the conservative plan is evil in my opinion , without remorse or forethought of what our neighborhoods would look once they defund every social service and eliminate Working Families.

The results from election2014 could affect our children, our lives, and our future.

Black History

:::::: CONGRESS ::::::


 

March 2013
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The Senate stands in adjournment until 2:00pm on Monday, March 18, 2013.

Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R.933, the continuing appropriations bill.

The filing deadline for all 2nd degree amendments to the Mikulski-Shelby substitute amendment #26 and H.R.933 is 4:30pm on Monday.

The managers of the bill will work on a finite list of amendments to the continuing appropriations bill over the weekend.

Senators should expect a roll call vote at 5:30pm. There will either be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Mikulski-Shelby substitute amendment #26 or several votes in relation to amendments to the bill.

Senator Reid asked unanimous consent to withdraw the two cloture motions, the Senate consider a series of amendments to the Continuing Appropriations bill, and then proceed to vote on passage of the bill, as amended. Senator Ayotte objected. Senator Ayotte objected because amendment #46 (strikes $380 million in missile defense program) was not included in the request. Senator Moran said he would have also objected to the request because his air traffic control tower amendment (SA45) was not included in the agreement either.

In approximately 10 minutes (approximately 6:10pm), the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Mikulski-Shelby amendment #26 (substitute) to H.R.933, Continuing Appropriations.

Senator Reid asked the following consent.

Leader: I ask unanimous consent that the two cloture motions be withdrawn; that the following amendments be in order to the Mikulski-Shelby substitute:

– Coburn #69 prohibit Urban Area Security Initiative Grants not improving homeland security);

– Coburn #93 (transfer funds from National Heritage Partnership Program to fund White House public tours and maintenance at public parks/monuments);

– Coburn #65, as modified with the changes that are at the desk (National Science Foundation funding);

– Coburn #70, as modified with the changes that are at the desk (authorizing committees receive information from Homeland Security);

– Inhofe #72, as modified with changes that are at the desk (require Secretaries of Military Departments to carry out tuition assistance programs);

– Grassley #76, as modified with changes that are at the desk (report illegal aliens released dur to budget constraints);

– Mikulski-Shelby #98 (technical corrections); and

– Leahy #129, as modified with changes that are at the desk (to revise language regarding cluster munitions); and

– Pryor-Blunt #82 (poultry inspections).

That no other first degree amendments to the substitute or the underlying bill be in order; that no second degree amendments be in order to any of the amendments listed above prior to the vote; that there be 30 minutes equally divided between the two Leaders, or their designees, prior to votes in relation to the amendments in the order listed; that upon disposition of the Pryor-Blunt #82; the Durbin second degree amendment to the Toomey amendment #115 be withdrawn; that all the amendments be subject to a 60 affirmative vote threshold; that the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Toomey amendment #115; that upon disposition of the Toomey amendment, the Senate proceed to vote on the Mikulski-Shelby substitute amendment, as amended; that if the substitute amendment, as amended, is agreed to; the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, as amended.

6:10pm The Senate began a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Mikulski-Shelby amendment #26 (substitute) to H.R.933, Continuing Appropriations;

Invoked: 63-35

Cloture on the Mikulski-Shelby substitute amendment to H.R.933, Continuing Appropriations, was invoked by a vote of 63-35. There will now be up to 30 hours for debate on the substitute. There will be no further roll call votes tonight.

WRAP UP

ROLL CALL VOTE

1) Motion to invoke cloture on the Mikulski-Shelby substitute amendment #26, as modified, to H.R.933, the continuing appropriations bill; Invoked: 63-35

LEGISLATIVE ITEMS

Discharged the Judiciary committee and adopted S.Res.66, A resolution designating the first week of April 2013 as “National Asbestos Awareness Week”.

Adopted S.Res.79, supporting the goals and ideals of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Completed the Rule 14 process of S.582, a bill to approve the the Keystone Pipeline. (Hoeven)

Completed the Rule 14 process of S.583, a bill to implement equal protection under the 14th Article to the Constitution, the right to life in each born and preborn human person. (Paul)

***************************************************************************

Watch Live House Floor Proceedings

The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on March 18, 2013.

12:00:13 P.M.   The House convened, starting a new legislative day.
12:00:23 P.M.   The Speaker designated the Honorable Brad R. Wenstrup to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
12:00:51 P.M.   MORNING-HOUR DEBATE – The House proceeded with Morning-Hour Debate. At the conclusion of Morning-Hour, the House will recess until 2:00 p.m. for the start of legislative business.
12:11:52 P.M.   The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 2:00 P.M. today.
2:00:20 P.M.   The House convened, returning from a recess continuing the legislative day of March 18.
2:00:30 P.M.   Today’s prayer was offered by Rev. Andrew Walton, Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, Washington DC.
2:01:00 P.M.   POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS ON APPROVAL OF THE JOURNAL – The Chair announced that he had examined the Journal of the last day’s proceedings and had approved it. Mr. Hoyer demanded that the question be put on agreeing to the Speaker’s approval of the Journal and by voice vote, the Chair announced that the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Hoyer demanded the yeas and nays and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of agreeing to the Speaker’s approval of the Journal until later in the legislative day.
2:02:59 P.M.   PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair designated Mr. Hoyer to lead the Members in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
2:05:00 P.M.   ONE MINUTE SPEECHES – The House proceeded with one minute speeches.
2:15:12 P.M.   The Speaker announced that the House do now recess. The next meeting is scheduled for 5:00 P.M. today.
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Weekly Address: Time to Create the Energy Security Trust
Weekly Address: Time to Create the Energy Security Trust
President Obama discusses the need to harness American energy in order to reduce our dependence on oil and make the United States a magnet for new jobs. He highlights his all-of-the-above approach to American energy — including a proposal to establish an Energy Security Trust, which invests in research that will help shift our cars and trucks off of oil.