If you are in the Washington, D.C., area Thursday, come join hands with members of the Alliance for Retired Americans and the Congressional Progressive Caucus in a Human Chain Against "Chained" CPI on Capitol Hill.  

The action kicks off at 10 a.m. EDT on the House Triangle of the U.S. Capitol. Click here for a map and to RSVP.

Congress is headed toward yet another manufactured budget crisis after House Republicans today passed legislation that AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel says will provoke another government shutdown by making “ransom demands” that are “unacceptable” and “unrealistic."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on Sunday that Republicans would be open to restoring some of the funding lost in the job-killing sequester if new cuts to social safety net programs were put in place. In effect, Cantor is suggesting replacing one policy that hurts the economy and suppresses job growth with another policy that does the exact same thing.

Doctors work hard to find medical options for their patients. Corporations work hard to award stock options (the right to buy shares in the future, usually at a steep discount) to their top executives. Which effort would you like your tax dollars to support?

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released a lot of important research about the economy in the last few weeks.  Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.

Social Security advocates, senior activists, community and faith allies will form a “Human Chain Against the Chained CPI” in front of congressional offices and federal buildings in more than three dozen cities July 2. The Alliance for Retired Americans’ national day of action is designed to showcase the broad base of support for protecting and enhancing retirement security, not dismantling Social Security inch by inch.

Did you know that the CEOs of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the corporate front group that wants to cut Social Security and Medicare and lower corporate taxes, have parked more than $418 billion of untaxed corporate profits overseas? Overall it is estimated that U.S. corporations have as much as $1.9 trillion sheltered overseas. That would make a nice down payment on fixing the debt.

You can read about "Fix the Debt" and more in the 2013 edition of the AFL-CIO’s Executive PayWatch launched today. PayWatch not only shines a light on Fix the Debt hypocrisy, but it also explores the huge wage gap between CEO pay and the average U.S. worker. PayWatch started in 1997. 

Visit www.paywatch.org.

The budget that President Obama released today is drawing intense criticism for its cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called those cuts “wrong and indefensible.”

A president’s budget is more than just numbers. It is a profoundly moral document. We believe cutting Social Security benefits and shifting costs to Medicare beneficiaries—while exempting corporate America from shared sacrifice—is wrong and indefensible. 

While more than 2 million people signed a petition that was delivered to President Obama today urging him not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid and to abandon a "chained" CPI formula, hundreds more have left photo messages for the president. 

President Obama will hear a straightforward and simple message from more than 2 million people today responding to reports that his budget will include cuts to Social Security and Medicare:

The 'Chained' CPI is a benefit cut to a program that does not contribute to the deficit. Do not barter it away in the name of deficit reduction. Stand strongly against all cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.