Fearing they didn’t have the votes to defeat a bipartisan Senate compromise that would extend unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers and a payroll tax cut for workers, Republican House leaders scuttled a vote on the bill today. Then they left town for the holidays. Both the UI program and the tax cut expire Dec. 31.
UPDATE: The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee early Tuesday morning voted to block a full House vote on the bipartisan Senate compromise that extends unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the long-term jobless. The current program expires Dec. 31.
House Republicans tonight are expected to reject a bipartisan Senate compromise that extends unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the long-term jobless and also extends the payroll tax cut for workers and employers. Without House approval, the UI benefits and tax cut expire Dec. 31.
House Republican leaders unveiled a budget plan today in which “once again rushed to the rescue of the 1 percent” by insisting that millionaires should not have to pay one penny in taxes, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Instead,
the House Republican proposal would cut benefits for jobless workers, cut pay for public employees, cut preventive health services, reduce premium assistance for low- and middle-income individuals buying health insurance, and raise premiums for many Medicare beneficiaries. House Republicans obviously have more sympathy for millionaires than for the jobless.
If Congress doesn’t act to ensure 6 million longtime jobless workers don’t lose unemployment insurance (UI) next year, 2 million people desperately seeking work will lose the lifeline that’s helping them and their families get by on Jan. 1. Another 4 million will run out of help week by week next year.
Want a job? Want Medicare when you retire? How about good public schools? Then look out: Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) is joining with his tea party allies to hold a vote today that would guarantee deep, radical cuts—and make those cuts part of the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land.
By a wide margin, the U.S. Senate this evening passed a bill to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. The 63-35 vote on S.1619 , the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Act of 2011, is a good step toward creating U.S. jobs.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blusters about not passing the American Jobs Act because he and other Republicans don’t want to raise taxes. But the Jobs Act would only raise taxes on the very richest of the rich—and that’s what he and other corporate puppets don’t want.
The U.S. Senate today will vote on a bill (S. 1619) to hold China accountable for its job-killing practice of currency manipulation. According to new data , 2.8 million American jobs were lost or displaced over the past decade due to the growing U.S. trade deficit with China—fueled by Chinese currency manipulation. (Call your senators today and urge them to vote for S. 1619 or click HERE to e-mail your senators.)
We launched a fun but serious action today with our partners in the progressive community to call on House Speaker John Boehner (R) to move the American Jobs Act and stop stalling while millions of America’s workers suffer without jobs.
| Economy
Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future , sends us this.
Millions of Americans need work and America’s infrastructure is in need of repair and modernization. This is work that has to be done eventually no matter what—millions of jobs that need to be done at a time when millions of people are looking for jobs. Thousands of people are joining “This bridge needs work and so do we!” rallies across the country to show support for President Obama’s American Jobs Act .
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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