And how will they pay for cuts to services like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and education? They’d give tax cuts to millionaires and corporations.

That’s why over the past few months, Americans across the country have been rallying, writing letters, making calls, talking to their neighbors and elected officials — demanding Congress focus on creating jobs instead of cutting services.

That activism continued this week.

]]> http://99uniting.org/2013/03/jobs-not-cuts-actions-on-march-20/feed/ 0 http://99uniting.org/2013/03/lyin-ryan-accidentally-tells-the-truth/ http://99uniting.org/2013/03/lyin-ryan-accidentally-tells-the-truth/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:41:55 +0000 admin http://99uniting.org/?p=1968

Are you wondering what Rep. Paul Ryan and the Republican Party hope to accomplish with the budget plan he released last week? In his own words, Rep. Ryan said: The Republican Party will not “give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.”

It’s a classic Washington gaffe in which a politician told the truth by accident.

And the truth is this: The Republican plan is worse this year than it was in 2012, worse than it was in 2011, and worse than the plan voters rejected in last year’s elections. Just as we have in the past, we need to let Congress know what we think. We need to make our voices heard.

Rep. Paul Ryan and Congressional Republicans need know that we won’t stand for a plan that protects the wealthy few by cutting vital services for hardworking Americans. Help us get the message across right now by sending Congress an email.

The Ryan Republican plan pays for tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations by doubling down on the already-painful sequester cuts. Evidently, the GOP leadership thinks that slashing vital services like Medicare and Medicaid by an additional $250 billion is the best path forward for our country.

Those immigrants are our neighbors, friends, and co-workers. Their children attend our schools, they work in our hospitals, they support our economy, and they support us when we need it.

A path to citizenship must be guaranteed under law, and we need to let our elected officials know it. Will you call Congress today, and then ask your friends to do the same? They need to hear from us right away!

Here’s the number: 1-877-848-8289.

For generations, immigration has been a cornerstone of the American dream. In addition to that American tradition, immigration is also critical to our economy: passing reform would grow our economy by $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

Sadly, too many Republicans are now questioning whether citizenship should continue to be part of national identity. They are questioning whether immigration is good for our country and our economy.

For the rest of us who know the truth, there is no question. That’s why we must take action right away and demand that Congress hear the truth.

Make the call today and demand citizenship:

1-877-848-8289

P.S. Will you share this with your friends and ask them to call Congress as well?

You can go ahead and check your calendar. You’ll find that, yes, today is March 1st—and absolutely nothing has been done to stop these cuts.

And because of the failures of right-wing extremists to take any action, the dire, across-the-board cuts that we’ve feared are now going into effect.

We should make no mistake about it. What happens now was their choice:

• 600,000 children and mothers will soon be without access to vital WIC nutritional aid
• 4,000,000 seniors will have limited access to meals on wheels
• 70,000 children will be cut from Head Start and the program’s social workers
• 1 million jobs will be lost in an already-fragile economy

This isn’t an America that works for us. Congress is taking us to the brink—all in the name of tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, and for the protection of corporate tax loopholes.

Click here to see a side-by-side comparison of Congress’s choice – what gets cut, and what gets protected. Then, share it with 3 friends:

http://www.usjobsnotcuts.com

You and I know first-hand the damage of these cuts. It’ll force our elderly parents and grandparents to choose between housing, food, and medication. It’ll crowd our classrooms and make it more difficult for our children to succeed—and it’s a recipe for a less-prosperous future.

This is about a future that works for all of us. And it’s up to us to create the pressure that Congress will finally pay heed to.

Click below and share this with your friends:
 
http://www.usjobsnotcuts.com

Congress is also considering cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that would hurt working families, instead of ending tax breaks for Big Oil, Wall Street, and companies that ship jobs overseas.

On Wednesday February 20th, we’re mobilizing across the country to tell Congress loud and clear: stop these damaging cuts and get to work creating good jobs.

Find an event near you at http://www.americawantstowork.org/.

]]> http://99uniting.org/2013/02/220-dramatic-action-to-stop-the-cuts/feed/ 0 http://99uniting.org/2013/02/february-20th-day-of-action-stop-the-sequester/ http://99uniting.org/2013/02/february-20th-day-of-action-stop-the-sequester/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:02:12 +0000 admin http://99uniting.org/?p=1937 If Congress doesn’t act by March 1, then automatic cuts to education will kick kids out of Head Start, there will be fewer food safety inspections, and fewer mentally ill adults will get the treatment they need. Vital services that families depend on, such as special education and child care, will be cut drastically.

Congress is also considering cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that would hurt working families, instead of ending tax breaks for Big Oil, Wall Street, and companies that ship jobs overseas.

On Wednesday February 20th, we’re mobilizing across the country to tell Congress loud and clear: stop these damaging cuts and get to work creating good jobs.

Find an event near you at http://www.americawantstowork.org/.

Watch 99uniting.org on Wednesday for live updates from events across the country calling for #jobsnotcuts.

In a new video, Chicagoans talk about the damage to their communities these cuts would cause:

Congress, don’t break our hearts by cutting vital services to the most vulnerable.

Gov. Walker continues to express “concerns” about keeping people healthy in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is one of the few states that has yet to accept billions in dollars to give hundreds of thousands of citizens access to the healthcare they need to stay productive, and in many cases, stay alive. In his latest statements the Governor said, “given the uncertainty around the federal budget, long-term funding is highly uncertain . . .”

Not only has the Health and Human Services Secretary come out and affirmed that the “Medicaid expansion is not a bait-and-switch,” but as we’ve mentioned before, this argument doesn’t hold a lot of water, but even more demonstrative of the governor’s attitude toward his constituents is when he brought up the fact that, “We already have one of the lowest rates of those uninsured in the country . . . ”

The Governor is behaving in a callous manner. The fact that we have a low number of uninsured people in Wisconsin is BECAUSE of BadgerCare. It was a revolutionary program in its time and goes a long way to make sure that low-income children and their guardians get the affordable healthcare they deserve. However, there are still over 100,000 people on the BadgerCare waiting list, many of which have little hope of gaining access to healthcare through any other means. In addition, 4/5 of the people to be covered under the BadgerCare expansion in Wisconsin make TOO LITTLE MONEY to be eligible for subsidized health coverage under the Obamacare insurance exchange (which, incidentally, Walker refused to set up at the state level and left to the federal government to organize).

In short, if Walker does not accept the federal funding he’s telling 168,000 Wisconsinites with no other viable option for health coverage that they don’t deserve to have their illnesses, injuries, and long-term needs treated. He’s telling the taxpayers of Wisconsin that he’s fine with us footing over $65 million in additional healthcare costs. He’s telling the unemployed that Wisconsin doesn’t need to create 10,000 in-state healthcare jobs.

And most egregiously, he’s telling the terminally ill that they don’t deserve the treatment they need to live.

Walker should stay out of national politics. Whatever “pats on the back” he earns by turning down this funding aren’t worth the lives that will be lost.

It’s simple. Accept the money, do what’s right, say YES to BadgerCare.

Add your name to the petition today!

Immigration reform is one of the commonsense ways for us to lift up communities, boost working people’s wages, and ensure that everyone has a shot at the American dream. A comprehensive fix to our immigration system could add $1.5 trillion to our economy over the next ten years, create nearly a million jobs, and increase consumer spending by $5 billion per year.

Now, we know that economic fairness–ideas like lifting wages and closing the income inequality gap–isn’t necessarily an ideal that is valued by all. That’s why some won’t stop at anything to derail immigration reform.

So, enter the straw man argument: border security. As Talking Points Memo’s Benjy Sarlin wrote earlier today:

The standout feature of the Senate’s bipartisan plan is a series of border enforcement measures that have to be met in order to “trigger” the part of the bill that the right hates the most, namely a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

The White House isn’t opposed to tightening the border as part of a deal per se, but President Obama and reform advocates are concerned that making it a precondition to applying for a green card could become an excuse to delay citizenship indefinitely for millions of newly legal immigrants. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the leading conservative voice in the bipartisan group, has warned he will walk away from the table if he thinks the final bill doesn’t keep the security threshold high enough.

But a new report by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), released earlier this week, finds that border security benchmarks “of the past immigration reform bills (2006, 2007, and 2010 Senate bills) have been met or exceeded.”  The report examines the following metrics: operational control; border personnel; infrastructure and technology; and prosecution and detention.

Watch Greg Chen, Advocacy Director from AILA give a run-down of their findings:

As Chen says, past proposals, such as the 2007 Senate reform bill “required that certain specific benchmarks, or ‘triggers,’ must be met before legalization can take place for any undocumented immigrant.” Even though these benchmarks have been met—and even exceeded—calls for even more arbitrary benchmarks by conservative voices like Sen. Rubio still exist.

The point of this report, says Chen, “is to stress that by reforming immigration comprehensively, not simply continuing to call for increased border patrol based on benchmarks that we’ve already met, we will be truly improving security and the safety of  the United States.”

Together, we can work together to focus the immigration debate on what it really is: a common sense solution that strengthens opportunities for all working American families. It’s up to us.

Poll after poll shows support for commonsense solutions that reflect the greatness of a proud American tradition: the ability for hard-working people to start a new life with their families.

This Tuesday, the President announced a plan for commonsense immigration reform, and just days before it, a bipartisan group of Senators has revealed their own blueprint. And now, it’s the House’s turn to answer.

Together, as 99 Uniting, we will join in the fight for legislation that grows our economy, raises wage protections for all workers, strengthens our families and communities and offers a just and long-lasting fix to our immigration system.

And there’s a clear reason why we, as 99 Uniting, would help take this on. We stand for economic fairness. Immigration reform is one of the commonsense ways for us to lift up communities, boost working people’s wages, and ensure that everyone has a shot at the American dream. A comprehensive fix to our immigration system could add $1.5 trillion to our economy over the next ten years, create nearly a million jobs, and increase consumer spending by $5 billion per year.

The end result matters, too: both for our economy’s sake, and for the sake of new Americans and their families. A path to citizenship needs to be straightforward, realistic, practical and achievable.

This won’t necessarily be easy. In Washington, even the most simple of agreements are hard to come by. But together, we’ve fought roadblock after roadblock. We’ve stuck to our principles, and we’ve never taken “no” for an answer. And when we fight together, we win. We’ve proven that.

As this debate begins and continues, let’s make sure that everyone who contributes to our economy is rewarded for our country’s success. That’s the task we’ve always taken on, and that’s the task at hand now.