After ten years of organizing at the grassroots and coalition-building in Washington, USAction’s moment has arrived. As USAction celebrates its 10th anniversary, the democratic, affiliate-driven, grassroots organization finds itself in the center of change.

Because USAction is known in progressive leadership circles as an effective builder and convener of coalitions, USAction hosted the Progressive Transition Group – an informal gathering of groups that met weekly with aides to Barack Obama between Election Day and the Jan. 20 inauguration.

As it has for some time, USAction hosts a daily meeting consisting of many influential progressive groups in Washington, D.C. to push elements of President Obama’s jobs and economic recovery program through Congress. The meeting, which includes groups such as ACORN, SEIU, MoveOn.org, is the Grand Central Station of community organizing. Daily updates are shared, campaigns unveiled, messaging points distributed and plans made to turn economic crisis into opportunity.

A question often heard in USAction’s offices is: Is this work coalitional? It is – and it comes with a cost. USAction has learned through the years that coalitional work means sometimes stepping back and letting others take the credit. Last September, for example, when hundreds of thousands of Americans knocked on doors in precincts across the country seeking petition signatures to end the war in Iraq, USAction did not claim the credit – even though the organization built a coalition called Million Doors for Peace.

“Coalition work means leaving one’s safe space,” explained USAction Executive Director Jeff Blum. “It means giving up one thing over here so that we can advance – together – over there. Sacrificing individual identity for shared power may not get us much media attention, but it is going to be integral to our success as a progressive movement in 2009 and beyond.”

A key example of USAction’s coalition-building is Health Care for America NOW! Two years ago, HCAN was but a dream. Today not only is it a reality; it is, as Blum notes, “the deepest single-issue coalition in modern American history.”

How deep? HCAN rolled out on July 8, 2008 with press conferences in 44 cities (including 36 state capitals) plus Washington, D.C. Today the coalition consists of more than 500 organizations that have signed on, including such behemoths as AFSCME, SEIU, NAACP, Planned Parenthood, MoveOn.org and many others.

And it began as a dream in USAction’s offices. USAction’s Blum was discussing the need for comprehensive health care reform with Richard Kirsch, at the time a USAction board member and leader of Citizen Action New York, a USAction affiliate. What would it take, the two wondered, to have quality, affordable health care for everyone in America?

The answer, of course, was rooted in USAction’s history and culture: it would take a coalition! And thus, after groups like AFSCME and SEIU came on board, the coalition was born. Its growing staff now includes several former USAction affiliate leaders, and USAction co-chairs the coalition.

It is not entirely coincidental that health care would be the impetus of USAction’s most intensive and important coalitional work to date. Since its founding in 1999, health care has been at the heart of USAction’s work.

Today, after ten years of community organizing, often in a challenging political environment, USAction and its affiliates and partners in 25 states are ready for this new moment in U.S. history. With our field presence and our new online project, TrueMajority.org, we have the ability not just to build strong coalitions but also to bring real, strong organizational muscle to our work. We can move mountains – and we do move politicians. We are prepared to move on economic recovery, economic justice, financial reforms and health care. For ten years we have been building for this moment.

Blum notes, “With the inauguration of a new president, we have an unbelievable burden of obligation and an unbelievable possibility of opportunity.”

America’s civil engineers think the nation’s aging and rusty infrastructure is just not making the grade.
The American Society of Civil Engineers issued an infrastructure report card Wednesday giving a bleak cumulative ranking of D.

Good morning America. By the time you drank your morning coffee and headed out the door, we lost 68,000 additional jobs. That’s right: 68,000 jobs gone in one day.

And all certain republican leaders seems to care about are tax cuts for their wealthy friends. Tell me something, who cares about tax cuts if you don’t have a job? Would you rather have a 5% tax hike or a 100% salary cut? I’m thinking its a no-brainer.

CNN reports:

The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 68,000 more cuts were announced on Monday alone. At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

“It’s all about the consumer, and the consumer’s been hit hard,” said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. “It’s a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness.”

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) said Monday it will cut 20,000 jobs amid a “very challenging global business environment.” The company had already planned to cut 15,000 workers since the fourth quarter of 2008, but added another 5,000, bringing the total to 20,000.

Almost nobody likes paying taxes. That’s pretty much fair to say. Everyone would love a few extra bucks in their pockets. No one would object to that either. But this relentless mantra of tax cuts being the end all and be all of every economic problem we have is just plain ridiculous.

Let’s say you’re a family of four and one parent loses their job. So you cut expenses. Gone are the weekly visits to the beautician, ditto for evenings out on the town. When that doesn’t bring your budget into whack you may try cutting some more. Maybe sell one of the cars or get rid of your overpriced cable and internet service. If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to try something else. Meaning it’s time to try to get more income coming into the house.

National, state and local governments have cut their services near to the bone. After all of that, they are still billions of dollars in debt. Someone needs to get more income in. We need to get additional spending - additional incomes coming into our homes, families and, yes, businesses. You can’t penny pinch your way into prosperity. Great ideas, hard work and investing is the way entrepreneurs make their fortune. It’s time for our government to realize that, get off their partisan soap box and do what’s necessary to get America working again.