Warren Buffett Calls Republicans’ Bluff on Taxes
Billionaire Warren Buffett is a thorn in the side of Republicans. This pillar of the capitalist community and CEO of the corporate conglomerate Berkshire Hathway, continues to press Congress to raise taxes wealthy people like him. When congressional Republicans answered him by proposing a voluntary check-off box on tax-filing forms for people who want to pay more taxes, Buffet threw down a gauntlet. He’d happily match the voluntary tax contributions made by GOP lawmakers, he said — and he’d even triple-match those made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Speaking with Time magazine’s Rana Foroohar, Buffett said (with a chuckle, according to the reporter):
It restores my faith in human nature to think that there are people who have been around Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think that [the deficit] can’t be solved by voluntary contributions.
Buffet made waves in August when, in a New York Times op-ed piece, he repeated Read the rest of this entry »
Who’s Your ‘Scrooge of the Year’?
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The holiday season’s here and that means it’s time for the always-fun Jobs with Justice (JwJ) Scrooge of the Year contest. JwJ is now accepting nominations for the greediest, most cold-hearted company, CEO, or politician of 2011 in the 11th annual “Scrooge of the Year” contest. Click here to nominate your candidate.
Last year’s Scrooge of the Year was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for leading the Senate in aggressively blocking almost all legislation from passing, especially laws that would help working people. Other past winners of this dubious honor include: Wal-Mart, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street executives who broke our economy.
We’ll let you know as soon as the top nominees are announced later this month and then you can cast your vote for the Scrooge of the Year.
Teachers, First Responders Jobs Bill Moves Toward a Vote
UPDATE: This event has been moved to the Russell Senate Office Building in the Kennedy Caucus Room, SR 325. Click here for more information and directions and here to view a live webcast.
The U.S. Senate this week may vote on legislation that would enable some 400,000 teachers, police officers and firefighters to return to work or stay on the job. At a rally on Capitol Hill tomorrow, they will urge the Senate to act quickly and warn lawmakers who try to block or defeat the bill that they will have to answer for their no votes.
The rally—sponsored by AFT, AFSCME, the Fire Fighters and other unions—is set for 2 p.m. EDT on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol.
The bill, the Teachers and First Responders Act, mirrors a provision in President Obama’s American Jobs Act that Senate Republicans blocked with a filibuster last week. In his most recent weekly address, Obama said provisions of the bill will be broken out for individual votes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already said he will oppose the bill, which provides funds to local governments to keep teachers and first responders on the job. A new poll shows he and other Republican leaders are far out of step, not just with the general public, but with Republican voters as well.
This Bridge Needs Work–and So Do America’s Workers
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Dave Johnson, a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future, sends us this.
Millions of Americans need work and America’s infrastructure is in need of repair and modernization. This is work that has to be done eventually no matter what—millions of jobs that need to be done at a time when millions of people are looking for jobs. Thousands of people are joining “This bridge needs work and so do we!” rallies across the country to show support for President Obama’s American Jobs Act.
Along with rallies supporting infrastructure repair, many are joining in events to urge Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. A rally in Austin, Texas, later today is the latest action in support of Obama’s jobs plan, with union members from the Texas AFL-CIO and allies gathering outside a local venue where House Speaker John Boehner is appearing to tell him and all the Republican obstructionists in Congress to support legislation that delivers jobs. In recent days, rallies in support of the president’s American Jobs Act have taken place in Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Detroit. Rallies also took place in New York, Houston, Miami, Boston and Philadelphia.
Beginning Oct. 10, the union movement is stepping up these events to tell Congress that America Wants to Work. Throughout the Oct. 10-16 week of action, working families across the country are organizing hundreds of local actions—from vigils to protests outside job-outsourcing corporations and press events. Find your event here.
Republicans Use ‘Extortion Tactics’ to Shut Down FAA
The Republican shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has thrown 4,000 FAA employees out of work, and some 70,000 construction workers employed on airport improvement projects can’t go to work because Republicans have blocked funding for the agency and the projects.
In a letter to House and Senate Republican leaders, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), says he is outraged by the “extortion tactics” and “political brinkmanship” that are creating even more “hardship for building and construction trades families” in an industry already suffering high unemployment.
Our members expect their elected leaders to resolve their differences without resorting to ultimatums. Once again, our members are frustrated that an extreme minority has succeeded temporarily by using extortion tactics to undermine the jobs of my members.
‘Time for Working Class to Have A Voice’ in Budget Debate
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AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.
Fed up with inaction and partisan-political game playing in Washington, Kentuckians gathered in Louisville to call upon Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell to stop the partisan politics and pass a budget that works for all working families, not just millionaire CEOs. They called out their senator for putting the 2012 elections ahead of the needs of his own constituents who would be impacted by deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
A delegation that included Rev. Charles Elliott, local voters and United Mine Workers (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts attempted to visit McConnell’s office, but when all but two were turned away by security, Roberts joined the crowd marching around the federal building while Rev. Elliott and a local senior citizen met with staff.
In nearly 100 degree heat, the crowd prayed and sang, marched and rallied for a humane federal budget with sane priorities while the pair met with Sen. McConnell’s staff. Roberts said “It is time for the working class to have a voice in this debate.” He called upon McConnell as well as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul to stop holding the economy hostage. Even as the rally was coming to a close, another round began arriving on their lunch hour, with signs calling for no cuts to the critical programs that Kentucky families need. Read the rest of this entry »
Women’s Law Center Provides State-by-State Look at Social Security and Women
In the upcoming budget debate, congressional Republicans have said they are more than willing to trade off huge cuts to programs that are vital to working families—especially to women and children—such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other key family helping programs in exchange for tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
One of their biggest targets is Social Security. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) now has put together new fact sheets about the impact of Social Security on women and their families in all 50 states.
The fact sheets paint a picture of just how essential Social Security is for women and their families, including how many women and children receive Social Security in each state, average benefits for women and men, and Social Security’s role in lifting residents out of poverty
In Ohio, home to House Speaker John Boehner (R) who wants to raise the retirement age, 91 percent of residents who are 65—the current retirement age—receive Social Security benefits, and the majority are women. Nearly 160,000 Ohio children receive Social Security benefits because of the loss of a parent’s income due to death, disability or retirement. Read the rest of this entry »
Tell Your Senators to Support the Social Security Protection Amendment
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Next Wednesday, March 29, you can take action to strengthen Social Security by calling your U.S. Senators and urging them to support the Social Security Protection Amendment.
The amendment is part of a small business bill (S. 493) and it’s language is straightforward. It says:
Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries should not be cut and Social Security should not be privatized as part of any legislation to reduce the Federal deficit.
Congressional Republicans led by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are demanding Social Security cuts as part of any deficit reduction legislation, even though Social Security has not contributed a penny to the deficit and has a $2.6 trillion surplus today. Read the rest of this entry »
Senate’s McConnell Puts Health Care Repeal Before Jobs Bill
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Today, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity to tackle job creation head on when it takes up the reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The bill includes $8 billion for airport construction and repair and some 280,000 jobs are at stake.
But like their House counterparts, Senate Republicans aren’t putting jobs first, no matter what voters said in November. Instead, they want to repeal health care reform and they will use the FAA bill as the tool.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will introduce an amendment to the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The repeal amendment, which is likely to be voted on this evening, comes just days after a new study shows the law will save working families thousands of dollars in health insurance premium savings and out-of-pocket health care costs and small businesses billions, thanks to the law’s tax credits.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says the nation cannot afford to roll back:
protections for sick children, seniors and middle-class families. We need to get down to business and focus on keeping the economy moving in the right direction. The FAA bill does just that by creating and protecting 280,000 jobs.
Mitch McConnell Found His Calling: Scrooge of the Year
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch “No, No, a thousand times No!” McConnell (R-Ky.) today won the role of the 2010 Scrooge of the Year. Voters selected McConnell in Jobs with Justice’s (JwJ) 11th annual contest to find the politician, CEO, corporation or politician who has done the most to “scrooge” workers in the spirit of Ebenezer.
It was a crowded field with half a dozen other candidates, but McConnell won handily with 42 percent of the vote. After all, he spent the year leading filibusters against unemployment insurance, job creation, health care reform, Wall Street reform, health care for 9/11 first responders, the DREAM Act, Social Security cost of living adjustments, collective bargaining rights for public safety officers and just about anything that might benefit working families.
Old Ebenezer—before he had the greed and nasty scared out of him by some otherworldly visitors—would be quite proud of McConnell’s victory. Says JwJ Executive Director Sarita Gupta:
We hope that by being elected national Scrooge of the Year, Sen. McConnell will see the “Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come” and understand the dire consequences that his actions will have for generations of Americans. Read the rest of this entry »
