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Showing blog posts tagged with Peter DeFazio

Workonomics: Congressman Finds Living on Food Stamps No SNAP

The average food stamp recipient receives about $31 a week ($4.42 a day) for groceries and that’s apparently  too much for House Republicans —who by the way earn about $3,350 a week plus perks and seem to work about three days a week for maybe 40 weeks of the year. But I digress.

In  this latest Workonomics installment for Upworthy  Rep. Peter DeFazio (E-Ore.), sees just how far that $30 stretches and then live on it for a week.

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Help Save the U.S. Postal Service

Photo courtesy of Delivering for America: www.deliveringforamerica.com

Do you care about keeping post offices open, ensuring Saturday delivery for years to come and stopping proposals to lay off postal workers?

Please sign a petition to support a bill that would  end the requirement that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) pre-fund 75 years of retiree health care benefits

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Rep. Peter DeFazio Files Bill to Fix Postal Service Flaw Created by Congress

Photo courtesy Mark Sardella

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)  filed legislation  to end the requirement that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) pre-fund 75 years of retiree health care benefits. The requirement, passed by Congress in 2006, is unprecedented, as no other private or public entity has to meet such a standard. That requirement is the key factor driving Postal Service deficits and defaults and has led to proposals to end Saturday service, close rural post offices and lay off postal workers.  Think Progress reports  the USPS would have a $1.5 billion surplus if it wasn't for the pre-funding rule set by the Republican majority in Congress.

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Students and Polar Bears Play Tug-of-War with Wall Street Bankers

Photo courtesy Friends of the Earth U.S.

On one side of the rope, students, workers, a polar bear, a walrus and Robin Hood stood. On the other side, a series of fancily dressed Wall Street executives.  The tug-of-war was over a proposed half penny tax on Wall Street transactions designed to raise billions of dollars to pay for education, climate change mitigation and the improvement of public infrastructure. That was the scene Thursday when working family activists who are part of the U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign rallied at Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C., where finance and environmental ministers of select developed countries met.

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‘Robin Hood’ Tax Bill Introduced in Congress

The day before participants at demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Cannes, France, Los Angeles and San Francisco will call on Congress and global leaders to adopt a small “Robin Hood” tax (financial speculation tax) to create jobs, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to adopt such a tax.

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Take Action

Sign the petition to raise the minimum wage

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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