Seniors to Lawmakers: Protect Social Security, Medicare
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With Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid possibly on the budget cutting block, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans will celebrate the organization’s 10th anniversary this week by doing what they have done for a decade: fighting for for America’s seniors.
As part of the Alliance’s annual legislative conference which began this afternoon and runs through Sept. 9, hundreds of seniors will converge on Capitol Hill Sept. 8, just hours before President Obama’s address on jobs, to tell their representatives and senators to keep their hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Alliance Members Generate Summer Heat on Social Security, Medicare
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With Labor Day approaching, the Alliance for Retired Americans is wrapping up more than 70 actions in more than two dozen states around the country this summer. The events have ranged from celebrating the anniversaries and successes of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to holding accountable presidential candidates and lawmakers.
In Las Cruces, N.M., Alliance members told Rep. Steve Pearce (R), who wants to privatize Medicare and force seniors to pay for health care with an underfunded voucher program, that if he really believed in privatization, he should drop his taxpayer-funded, government health coverage he receives as a member of Congress.
On the other hand, Alliance members, including Brenda Kelly Nelum from Dale City, Calif., joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to celebrate Medicare’s 46th anniversary. Said Nelum:
I just thought the public should know that this was the anniversary of a program that, as far as I can see, has been a success. If we didn’t have it, I don’t know if we could even afford our medicines….We would like to see the program there for younger people.
Republican NLRB Bill Is ‘Outsourcers’ Bill of Rights
Machinists (IAM) member Patrick Bertucci is a shop steward at Boeing’s Renton, Wash., plant where he works on wing assembly for the Boeing 737. Today he spoke to a packed Capitol Hill press conference about a House Republican bill designed to cripple the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) ability to protect workers:
When I go to work every day, I am held accountable to build the best and safest aircraft in the world. The Boeing Co. needs to be held accountable for their actions as well…I want the Boeing to be successful. But no company can succeed when they break the law.
The legislation, which Republicans rammed through the committee last week without a hearing, is set for a full house vote Thursday. Its target is the NLRB’s recent decision to file a complaint against the Boeing Co. The NLRB charges that Boeing moved production away from its Washington State facility in retaliation for the workers exercising their right to strike, and that’s against the law.
Trumka: Social Security Cuts Should Not Be on the Table
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. ” Further,
Social Security, our nation’s most effective anti-poverty program, has not contributed one dime to the deficit and should not be part of any deficit-related trade-offs. The AFL-CIO continues to oppose any cuts in Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits, including any cuts in cost of living adjustments. The best solution to our deficit problem is to create good jobs that will rebuild our economy. That should be our first priority.
Ed Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which represents millions of retirees, says the organization is “troubled by an idea being floated in Washington to change a federal statistical formula to lower Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security. ” Read the rest of this entry »
Proposed NLRB Rule Change Draws Wide Support
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) modest, common-sense proposed rule to remove roadblocks for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union has drawn praise from working men and women, political leaders and activists around the country. Here’s a sample of the comments:
Electrical Workers (IBEW) President Edwin Hill:
By eliminating delays, the board is not only bringing some balance. It is also saving money for taxpayers who foot the bill because of unnecessary litigation.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen:
Workers at T-Mobile USA and nearly every other company know firsthand how U.S. corporations use delay to keep workers from making a fair choice about union representation. The changes proposed by the National Labor Relations Board are a first and modest step toward ending some of that delay.
Republicans Pass ‘Robin Hood in Reverse’ Budget Plan
On a near straight party line vote (235-193) this afternoon, the U.S. House passed the Republican budget plan that privatizes Medicare, cuts corporate taxes and taxes for the wealthy, cuts Medicaid funding repeals health care reform and costs up to 2 million jobs. All Democrats as well as four Republicans voted against the bill. (Get the vote breakdown here.)
Republicans say the huge spending cuts in the plan, developed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), are needed to reduce the federal deficit. But just a causal glance at the math shows the Republican budget plan cuts $4.3 trillion in spending and hands out $4.2 trillion in tax giveaways, mostly to the wealthy and corporations.
Even more disturbing, according to Moody Analytics and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the Republican budget will cost between 1.7 million and 2.2 million jobs in the first two years alone. Last night in Chicago President Obama said: Read the rest of this entry »
We Got Our Valentine from the RNC
Wow. How sweet! We didn’t even know they cared. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has launched an e-Valentine’s Day card website where you can send a card, adorned with the faces of people who certainly aren’t the RNC’s sweethearts and carrying what passes for Republican humor messages.
But it’s not the ham-handed, obscure and plain scratch-your-head messages that got our attention. Not even the—ummm, interesting—photo retouching. Nope, it’s the RNC press release that includes three examples of the cards. We know what the RNC thinks of President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. But it’s heartwarming to know that they included our own AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka with Obama and Pelosi. That’s some good company. Thanks, folks!
‘Just Say No’ Republicans Sideline DREAM Act in Senate
Just hours after the historic House vote last night to pass the DREAM Act, the Senate voted today 59-40 to table consideration of the bill. This means the bill could come up again during the lame-duck session. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said having a vote now to bring the bill to the floor was “futile” because there were not enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster against the bill.
If you’re on Twitter, take a minute to retweet this: RT @americasvoice BREAKING: Senate tables #DREAMAct in order to take up House bill. Call ur senators! 866-996-5161 #ri4a
The Senate version of the bill is different from the one passed by the House and the Senate may take the legislation up when it receives the House version as early as Monday.
Apollo Alliance Honors AFL-CIO’s Baugh
The Apollo Alliance’s Right Stuff Award honors outstanding individuals whose work exemplifies the group’s mission to catalyze the new clean energy economy. Last night in San Francisco, Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, joined the list of Right Stuff honorees whose work is creating a new green economy.
The Alliance said Baugh received the award because:
As leader of the AFL-CIO’s manufacturing policy and legislative initiatives, Bob has had a life-long commitment to labor and the environment and has never believed in the false choice between jobs and the environment.
Pelosi, ‘Tireless Champion of Working Families,’ Seeks Leader Post
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During her four years as speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “has been, and always will be, a tireless champion for working families,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
Last week, Pelosi said she would seek the House minority leader’s post in the next Congress where Republicans will have the majority. Trumka pointed to the many victories she has shepherded through the House, especially in the area of jobs, the top concern of 62 percent of the people who voted Nov. 2. Says Trumka:
Under her leadership the House has fought for good jobs here in America by ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, has invested in infrastructure and green jobs and saved the domestic auto industry.
He also pointed to the successful passage of Wall Street reform and “the toughest laws to protect consumers in generations.”
