Here's a look at some of the key battles in the states over the past week.
At a time when it seems nearly every state legislature is assaulting the rights of working families, Minnesota's House and Senate are bucking the trend and are likely to soon send Gov. Mark Dayton a series of strong pro-working family bills. According to Minnesota AFL-CIO Communications Director Chris Shields, this is the first time in 20 years the state government has been unified under one-party control, with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party holding the governorship and the majority in both houses of the legislature.
Over the past 40 years, some of the nation’s biggest and most profitable companies have not only moved America's jobs and manufacturing overseas, but by taking advantage of a U.S. tax code that encourages companies to shift their income overseas, they have cut the taxes they owe by more than half. The result, writes Jia Lynn Yang in The Washington Post ,
is lower revenue here that could pay for infrastructure, education and other services that support domestic growth—and that make life easier for U.S. firms.
A new, non-partisan study by Thomas Hungerford of the non-partisan Congressional Research Service confirms that the explosion of income inequality over the past 15 years is fueled by rapidly rising income from capital gains and dividends.
Detroit’s below freezing temperatures and gray winter skies didn’t deter a group of union and community activists from gathering downtown in front of a Chase Bank to build support to ensure that corporate special interests like Chase pay their fair share in taxes .
The morning action was just one of more than 100 events in a national day of action urging Congress to avert the $85 billion in arbitrary, across-the-board sequestration cuts in everything from mental health services to public safety scheduled to take effect March 1 .
A new poll from Small Business Majority shows that small business owners oppose suggested benefit cuts to social safety net lifelines. The poll shows that 80% oppose cuts to Social Security, while nearly 75% oppose cuts to Medicare and about 66% oppose cuts to Medicaid.
Do you want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts? Do you want to close tax loopholes for the wealthy and corporations so they pay their fair share? Do you want to stop another Republican- manufactured fiscal crisis that would imperil the fragile economic recovery and cost as many as 1 million of America's workers their jobs?
Then join us in a National Call-In Day to Congress and tell your lawmakers:
In just a few weeks, the nation will be facing yet another manufactured fiscal crisis when a series of harsh across-the-board federal spending cuts in education, defense and all government operations go into effect unless Congress repeals them.
Known as “sequestration,” economists say these cuts would imperil the fragile economic recovery and cost as many as 1 million of America's workers their jobs. Yet Republicans are making threats to let those cuts take effect on March 1 unless Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits are cut or drastic cuts are made to vital services.
As Congress gets ready for “ Round 2 ” of the Fiscal Showdown—yet another manufactured budget crisis that will unfold during the month of March and over the course of this year—Republicans are resisting proposals to make this crisis go away once and for all by closing tax loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans.
Working families will be gathering at congressional offices across the country on Wednesday to fight bad budget policies that would hurt both families and the recovering U.S. economy. Specifically, they will be telling members of Congress to reject any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid; close loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2%; and cancel the sequestration crisis they created for themselves and the rest of the country.
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.
Click here »
Tell us about the good stuff happening where you live and work.
