With the momentum for marriage equality around the country on our side and recent polling showing growing support in Washington State, now is the time to make marriage equality a reality.
Today, Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times ran a story announcing Washington United for Marriage, a vast coalition of local organizations, congregations, unions and businesses working together to secure civil marriage for loving, committed gay and lesbian couples in 2012.
HRC is a proud founding member of Washington United, and we look forward to securing marriage in Washington in the coming months. In order to do that, we need your help.
Join us across the state for Community Meetings on Marriage Equality, where you can learn about the campaign and how you can get involved. From Spokane to Gig Harbor, Vancouver to Bellingham, Washingtonians are making their voices heard.
Click here to find the community meeting in your area >>> WWW.HRC.ORG
“Veterans Day is a time to honor and celebrate the courage and commitment of our nation’s heroes.
“When these brave men and women signed up to serve our country, we agreed to take care of them. They kept their part of the bargain. Now we need to keep ours.
“With the President’s recent announcement of a complete troop withdrawal from Iraq by the end of this year, and the thousands of troops returning from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, it is as critical as ever to support veterans’ programs and services.
“That’s why I am fighting to pass a bipartisan and comprehensive approach to getting our nation’s veterans back to work.
“The “VOW to Hire Heroes Act” includes Republican and Democratic ideas because getting our veterans the financial security and dignity a job provides should never be partisan.
“For too long in this country we have patted our veterans on the back for their service and then pushed them out into the job market alone.
“With this bill we are giving our veterans the job skills to get their foot in the door and incentivizing employers to make sure that door is open to them.
“Day after day our men and women in uniform have responded to the call of duty with honor and integrity.
“They are our family, our friends,our neighbors and our heroes.
“And for this, we must show our gratitude – not just on Veterans Day, but every day.
“As Chairman of the SenateVeterans Affairs Committee, I will continue to fight on their behalf to ensure that America’s veterans are cared for both on and off the battlefield.”
Yesterday, by a vote of 95-0, the Senate passed landmark legislation I helped author to put America’s veterans back to work. I introduced the basis of this comprehensive bill in May of this year after traveling throughout Washington state to talk to veterans, employers, and experts about the barriers veterans face in finding employment. The legislation is designed to help put veterans back to work by providing job skills training as they leave the military and by easing the training and certification process veterans face. After serving our country honorably, all veterans deserve the chance to earn a paycheck and support their families.Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan remains stubbornly high.Borrowing from the American Jobs Act proposed by the President, the bill will offer a tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans, and will increase existing tax credits for companies that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities.
This is a huge victory for our veterans who have returned home only to have to fight to find work to support themselves and their families . Our veterans have the drive,discipline, and self confidence to succeed in any workplace. But for too long at the end of their career we’ve patted them on the back for their service and pushed them out into the job market alone. This bill takes a huge step forward in rethinking the way we treat our men and women in uniform after they leave the military by helping them to translate the skills they learned in the military into careers and by giving employers even more incentive to hire veterans. Veterans across Washington state were instrumental in crafting this bill and deserve tremendous credit today.
We need your help. Washington Senator Patty Murray is one of just 12 members of the very powerful congressional super-committee charged with deciding how to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years. Time is short — the committee faces a deadline of November 23 — and the stakes are high.
Various proposals before the super-committee would reduce Social Security benefits and cut Medicare and Medicaid by as much as $685 billion. Each of these vital programs provides income security and health care to millions of Americans — mostly women.
Senator Murray needs to hear from you now! Over the next couple of weeks, the handful of members on the super-committee will decide the fate of these and other vital programs.
Please call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell Senator Murray:
– Oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That includes no Social Security COLA cut, no increase in the Medicare retirement age, and no slash in Medicaid funds.
– Protect other safety net programs for low-income Americans.
– Any deal must be balanced. NO additional spending cuts should be considered unless they are matched with equal amounts of new tax revenues. It’s time to make millionaires and corporations contribute to deficit reduction by paying their fair share of taxes.
Women in Washington state can’t afford to lose Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The average Social Security benefit for older women in Washington is just $12,400 per year. Even with Medicare, women often face higher out-of-pocket health care costs that strain lower incomes. And nearly 307,200 low-income women with disabilities, pregnant women, and parents in Washington relied on Medicaid for health care coverage, and nearly 60,600 elders relied on Medicaid for help with long-term care and other health expenses.
In Washington state and across the country, programs for women and their families have already been cut. But so far, tax breaks for millionaires and corporations haven’t been touched. We can’t balance the budget on the backs of women and their families. Please make a call today to demand that those with the greatest ability to pay contribute their fair share.
Please call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell Senator Murray: Protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The super-committee is meeting now, mostly in secret, to develop its plan. But time is ticking away. Help us protect critical programs for women and families by taking action TODAY!
The Fix Gun Checks tour is on its way to DC to hand-deliver more than 350,000 signatures urging Congress to fix the national gun background check system — and there’s still time to add yours.
We’ve crisscrossed 21 states and launched more than 50 public events with mayors, law enforcement and supporters like you. Now we’re sending Congress the message that it’s time to fix America’s broken background check system.
It’s past time for Congress to close the loopholes that allow dangerous people to get their hands on guns. And this month, more than 350,000 Americans will send that message directly to our leaders in Congress.
Senator Patty Murray is the co-chair of a very powerful 12-member super-committee in Congress charged with deciding how to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years.
Just yesterday we learned that the super-committee is negotiating about cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These program provide income security or health care to more than 1 out of 7 Washington residents — mostly women.
Your phone call today can make a difference! A handful of members of Congress serving on the super-committee will decide the fate of these programs. Your senator — Patty Murray — is one of them.
Please call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell Senator Murray:
I want Senator Murray to oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the super-committee.
That includes no Social Security COLA cut.
No raising the Medicare eligibility age.
No slash in Medicaid funds.
It’s time to make millionaires and corporations contribute to deficit reduction by paying their fair share of taxes.
Women in Washington can’t afford cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The average Social Security benefit for older women in Washington is just $12,400 per year. Even with Medicare, women face higher out-of-pocket health care costs that strain their smaller incomes. And over 307,000 low-income women with disabilities, pregnant women, and mothers in Washington relied on Medicaid for health care coverage, and over 60,000 elderly women relied on Medicaid for help with long-term care and certain other health expenses.
Programs for women and their families have already been cut, in Washington State and across the country — but so far, tax breaks for millionaires and corporations haven’t been touched. It’s time to stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of women and their families, and to demand that those with the greatest ability to pay contribute their fair share.
Please call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell Senator Murray: No Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The super-committee is meeting now to develop its plan. If seven members agree, their plan will be voted on in Congress before the end of the year: no amendments, no filibusters. If you want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, now is the time to act, and Senator Murray is the one to call.
Be a Seed for Change 
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