The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is constitutional “is only beginning of the next phase of health care reform,” said the AFL-CIO Executive Council in a statement from its August meeting in Washington, D.C., this week.

The path forward should be clear: First, we must move full speed ahead to implement the ACA; second, we must firmly reject efforts to undo the progress that already has been made with the ACA, Medicaid and Medicare; and third, we must build upon the ACA, Medicaid and Medicare to achieve our goal of quality health care for all.

"Republicans are holding the middle class hostage to their demands on behalf of the richest 2 percent of Americans,” said the AFL-CIO Executive Council in a statement from its August meeting in Washington, D.C., this week. And, the council emphasized:

There can be no excuse for giving in to their demands to extend tax cuts for the 2 percent; cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits; tax workers’ health benefits; or sacrifice middle-class jobs.

Why do deficit reduction plans always "seem to involve cutting taxes for the top 1% of U.S. income earners while cutting Social Security retirement benefits (average monthly check: $1,230 ) for everyone else?" asks Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik  in his latest column. 

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are under attack by Republican lawmakers. Whether it is the Romney/Ryan budget that would end Medicare as we know it or proposals to privatize and cut Social Security, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans are pushing back and mobilizing with new “Let’s Not Be the Last Generation to Retire” campaign. Actions across the country will coincide with Medicare’s and Medicaid’s 47th anniversary July 30 and Social Security’s 77th on Aug. 14.

The AFL-CIO, several unions, employer groups and a number of large corporations—all major purchasers of health care benefits—are working together to bring down the cost of health care and improve quality through a new Buying Value initiative. The goal is to change the way health benefits are purchased, away from volume to value.

Michael Moore’s 2007 film "SiCKO" brought the story of America’s broken health care system to startling light with the sometimes tragic stories of those the system failed and the big insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations that made hundreds of billions of dollars. Moore and many of those from the film will hold a five-year "SiCKO" reunion tomorrow night in Philadelphia, just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this morning upholding the Affordable Care Act.

Health care reform law supporters plan to rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court beginning Thursday at 9:30 a.m., when the Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the Affordable Care Act.

One week after the pivotal Wisconsin recall election, southern Arizona will be holding a special election to replace Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, to serve the remainder of her term. Giffords resigned this year. The June 12 contest will be between Giffords' staffer Ron Barber and Giffords' 2010 opponent, Republican Jesse Kelly. 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is long on rhetoric but short on details when quizzed about his economic policies. But the one concrete concept he embraces wholeheartedly is Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) House-passed budget for the 1% blueprint.  

There is an alternative to the Romney/Ryan/Republican budget for the 1% and that’s the “Budget for All” proposal drafted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and The Century Foundation have just released a detailed comparison of the two budgets.