With free trade agreements between the United States and Panama, South Korea and Colombia set to hit the congressional floor as soon as this month, lawmakers should check out recent polling which shows American voters are overwhelmingly opposed to trade deals that end up sending jobs overseas.

Today as we hear that Social Security cuts may be on the table in the federal budget deficit talks, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other union and progressive leaders, including House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, have come out strongly in opposition to such moves. Trumka says that “at a time when retirement security remains an elusive goal for most Americans, cuts to Social Security benefits – in whatever form they take – should not be on the table.

Dozens of AFGE members, other union allies and activists protested outside the district offices of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)  and Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) last week. to bring attention to the lawmakers’ anti-worker, anti-middle class policies.

Senate Republicans who nearly worship at the feet of free trade agreements—to heck with their devastating impact on U.S. workers—boycotted an opportunity to move the most recent free trade holy trinity of South Korea, Colombia and Panama deals closer to a vote.

Even though her family came to this country legally and has followed the law, Kosa has been told she would be deported in less than a year.  Despite years of hard work and achievement, she cannot become a citizen under current immigration laws.

The only good thing about a federal spending cap is how it sounds in a press release, according to Jordan Eizenga, a policy analyst for the Center for American Progress.

Some conservative lawmakers are calling for a cap on total federal spending as a precondition to their support for raising the debt limit. Some are even bringing the issue up in the presidential primary.

But Eizenga says:

The bottom line is that this is an astonishingly bad idea even for those willing to undermine the entire U.S. economy by engaging in political brinksmanship over the debt limit.

Check out his analysis here.

The AFL-CIO today applauded the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to accept its complaint regarding the government of Bahrain’s failure to live up to its trade agreement commitments with respect to workers’ rights.

The proposed U.S. Colombia Free Trade Agreement will only exacerbate already “critical” conditions of poverty and repression in Colombia. Further, the labor action plan that was negotiated between the United States and Colombia in April does not include provisions to verify that workers are being treated better, several Colombian trade unionists  said today.

Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO president, sends an update on the actions around Wisconsin’s Walkerville.

Day six of the Walkerville tent city protest has seen overwhelming support from Wisconsin workers, students and community members. Over the course of the week, thousands of Wisconsinites have gathered on the cement blocks lining the Capitol Square in order to call attention to Gov. Walker and his legislative allies’ destructive budget proposals—proposals which will cripple Wisconsin’s schools, health care system and communities.

This is a cross-post from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO by Karen Hickey in AFL-CIO Field Communications.

Wisconsin nurses and health care workers took on Scott Walker and his legislative allies in the fight for quality health care this evening in Walkerville. In a mock boxing match, the people of Wisconsin continued to raise awareness for the need for first rate health care in Wisconsin.