We've reported for several months now the "Fix the Debt" group is a Trojan horse. It cynically calls for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits (in the name of "deficit reduction") while advocating for lower taxes for corporations and businesses that ship jobs overseas. 

Part of the so-called "fiscal cliff" agreement included extending federal unemployment insurance (UI) for workers who have been jobless for more than 26 weeks.

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) details five ways extending UI benefits the economy. 

Update: The House voted 257 to 167 to approve the Senate agreement. 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka responds to the Senate agreement on the "fiscal cliff":

The agreement passed by the Senate last night is a breakthrough in beginning to restore tax fairness and achieves some key goals of working families.  It does not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. It raises more than $700 billion over 10 years, including interest savings, by ending the Bush income tax cuts for families making more than $450,000 a year. And in recognition of the continuing jobs crisis, it extends unemployment benefits for a year.  A strong message from voters and a relentless echo from grassroots activists over the last six weeks helped get us this far.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement on House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) “Plan B” failure and the latest fiscal developments:   

Speaker Boehner’s failure last night should be seen as one thing: A reset button to listen to the will of the American people. The slate is clean and we call on the President to come forward with an offer that reflects the reasons he won the election. Across the country working people continue to demand no tax cuts for the richest two percent and no benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. At this point, cuts to the Social Security COLA to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent should be off the table. The President and Congress have no obligation to radical Republicans who have no ground to stand on. What they do have is the backing of millions of hardworking women and men tired of being held hostage by far right-wing Republicans who clearly have little interest in governing.

A group of union members, community activists and business owners told Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) there is one thing they and most Americans don’t have on their holiday gift list—a tax hike for the middle class and benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, especially as a result of a congressional Republican refusal to make the wealthy pay their fair share that sends the nation over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Anyone who wants to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits to finance massive tax giveaways for the rich must have a heart two sizes too small. 

Today, we're tweeting at House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling them to stop holding working people hostage just so the wealthiest 2% can receive more tax giveaways. 

Click here to send this message to Boehner and McConnell: Don’t “steal Christmas” by passing GOP benefit cuts.

UPDATE: With a large number of House Republicans refusing to back asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) pulled his “Plan B.” from the floor last night and adjourned the House. No negotiations between Republicans and the Obama White House on the expiring middle class tax cuts and automatic spending cuts set to go into effect Jan. 1 are scheduled.  But a White House spokesman said, “The president will work with Congress to get this done, and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”  

If House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) “really wanted to address the true causes of our long-term budget imbalance, the last thing he would ask Congress to do is pass more wasteful tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans,” AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director Bill Samuel said in a letter to House members today.

Americans for Tax Fairness, a campaign of state and local organizations united in support of a tax system that works for all Americans, released a letter today sent to President Obama and Capitol Hill in support of revenue-positive changes to the corporate tax code and to voice strong opposition to a territorial tax system. 

Democrats in the House are speaking out against a proposed Social Security COLA cut known as the “chained” CPI, which would severely harm the elderly and people with disabilities.

Here are some highlights and videos of written and public statements:

On Sunday night, House Speaker John Boehner made clear he would like to make a simple trade with President Obama. He asked the president to extend tax cuts on income between $250,000 and $1 million a year—a tax bonanza of nearly $400 billion over 10 years, about half of which would go to millionaires.  

Call the White House at 202-456-1111; tell President Obama you oppose the "chained" CPI.