Tonight Mitt Romney tried to reinvent himself, appealing to Americans’ aspirations and hunger to come together while trying to show his personal side. But his policy proposals or record do not reflect the kind of America where working families get a fair shake. Whether it's proposing to cut back severely on Medicaid, forcing seniors on fixed incomes to pay more out of pocket for their health care or cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, the Romney-Ryan budget doubles down on the failed economic policies that brought on the economic crisis in the first place.

He touted his business experience, despite his business record as an outsourcer. He called out divisiveness, despite proposals that would provide bigger income disparities and ignored Republican obstructionism for the past two years.. 

The AFL-CIO will be offering a live response to the Republican National Convention tonight, as Mitt Romney offers his "vision" for America. Tune in at 10 p.m. for live tweeting and at 11 p.m. for a response on the blog.

You can follow the action on our Twitter account, @AFLCIO or on the Web at www.twitter.com/aflcio.  

Last night, Paul Ryan lived up to the Mitt Romney campaign pledge that it would not be “dictated by fact-checkers” when he blamed President Obama for the closure of a General Motors plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis.  As any fact-checker or Janesville worker who lost a job knows, the plant closed during the Bush administration.

Tonight, Paul Ryan painted a picture of his and Mitt Romney’s vision of America. It is a vision, he said, where he and Romney "will not duck the tough issues" and it is a vision where "Mitt Romney and I have made our" choices. 

It is a vision that chooses more tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations—paid for by cuts in Social Security, Medicaid and other programs that poor and working-class families rely upon. It’s paid for with cuts to investments in our future such as education and rebuilding a crumbling infrastructure, both vital to maintaining and growing a middle class.

Bashing unions and working people seems to be the unifying theme of the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) held in Tampa, Fla., this week.

Josh Eidelson wrote for Salon that the RNC's choice of speakers and agenda is "a full-on embrace of the same anti-union agenda that helped earn Scott Walker and Nikki Haley their Tuesday night speaking slots."

The new platform reflects a Republican Party even more hostile to organized labor than the one that nominated John McCain four years ago.

The AFL-CIO will be offering live responses to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday and Thursday nights, as Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney offer their "vision" for America. Paul Ryan will be speaking tonight at 10 p.m., and Mitt Romney, Thursday night at 10 p.m.

You can follow the action on our Twitter account, @AFLCIO or on the Web at www.twitter.com/aflcio.   

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in the same breath as praising the “greatest generation” who built factories, farms and taught our nation's children, attacked those workers’ right to join together to improve their workplaces and those they serve, during his Republican National Convention (RNC) speech last night.

Christie decided to bash teachers’ unions and public sector workers, instead of offering positive solutions to strengthen the U.S. economy.

What do you think Mitt Romney is hiding by not releasing his tax returns prior to 2010?

The United Steelworkers (USW) union wants to know. Go the USW’s new website, www.WhatsMittsSecret.org, and submit your response.

Here are some samples from the site:

“Mitt’s hiding that he claimed Paul Ryan as a dependent.”

If Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were really interested in maximizing taxpayer money to get the most bang for the buck, they would not push to cut Social Security and Medicare. (And, in the case of Medicare, the Romney/Ryan plan would raise health care costs for seniors on average by $11,000, with today’s 54-year old paying $59,500 in increased Medicare costs. 

Rather than cutting Social Security and Medicare, they should strengthen both programs.

Here’s why.

If you're curious how much more the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan will cost you, the Center for American Progress Action Fund has a new infographic which spells out exactly what you'd be paying for health care. It's not pretty. View the entire Center for American Progress Action Fund Medicare Infographic.