USAction and its affiliates and partners across the country today are speaking out against Senate Republicans who helped wreck the economy and now have declared war on unemployed Americans.

USAction affiliates are joining their allies in the labor movement today in protests at the district offices of Senate Republicans in a number of states.

“After passing tax cuts for the rich and failing to pay for the war in Iraq, Republicans amassed $9 trillion in new debt by the time Bush left office,” said USAction Program Director Cassandra McKee. “Hundreds of thousands of people a month were losing their jobs. Today, Republicans are declaring war on unemployed Americans, including the 1.2 million people who will have lost their unemployment benefits by the end of this week.”

McKee added that unemployment benefits don’t only help jobless workers; they also provide a much-need stimulus to the economy.

It’s not as if unemployed workers invest their benefits in a hedge fund.   They spend their benefits on food for the pantry, diapers for the baby, or filling sorely needed prescriptions at the corner drug store. This money spent creates or saves jobs - the number one thing that is missing in America today.

USAction is calling on the Senate to restore unemployment insurance, COBRA benefits, FMAP aid to the states and to pass a robust jobs bill. Although USAction believes this legislation can be passed under emergency rules, it also supports tax reform, including closing corporate tax loopholes, reinstating a responsible estate tax and allowing the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire.

In particular, USAction and affiliates are targeting Republican senators who have refused to act in spite of the greatest loss of jobs in 70 years. “Sen. Voinovich is leaving. He’s a man known for his compassion. He once cried when he was governor here about helping people, but now he’s coming up with all kinds of reasons to not extend unemployment benefits,” said Brian Rothenberg, executive director of Progress Ohio.

USAction is a member and leading participant in Jobs for America Now, the nation’s largest jobs coalition, and Americans for Responsible Taxes, which plans to announce its agenda for fair tax reform next month.

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction.

BP = yuck. Offshore drilling = yuck.

Ask the President to drop ALL offshore drilling plans and focus on clean energy instead.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association to a San Francisco health care program.

Under the law businesses have to help pay for the cost of the health care program or provide their employees with health insurance. The law was created in 2006 to provide health care for residents who lacked private insurance and are not eligible for other public health programs.

Since created, the program has enrolled 53,000 people who lacked health insurance. The result, according to the city: a drop of almost 70 percent in emergency room visits at San Francisco General Hospital.

Here is more information on the responsibility of employers in the new health care law passed by Congress.

Marvin Silver is the Deputy Legislative & Policy Director at USAction.

We all know how bad the economy is right now:  families are being forced to make sacrifices left and right and job loss is rampant.  In fact, the unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent and rising every month. 

Programs such as unemployment insurance (UI) and COBRA health subsidies have become essential safety-nets in helping people through the recession, but unfortunately for unemployed people across the country, these programs have expired for millions of Americans and Congress has yet to reauthorize them.

Recently, Republican senators have seemingly declared an all-out war on the unemployed.

• Senator Orrin Hatch (R, UT) has proposed drug-testing welfare recipients, with the implication being that unemployed workers are drug addicts.
• Senator Jon Kyl (R, AZ) has argued that unemployment compensation is a “disincentive” for jobless Americans to seek work.
• Senate candidate Rand Paul (R, KY) has suggested that unemployed people should quit “whining” and seek lower-paying jobs than they had before.

Some deficit hawks are claiming that we are unable to afford extensions of these critical programs.  At the same time, corporations and the wealthiest people have seen rising income and falling taxes in recent years.  Ironically, we could easily finance UI, COBRA and other national priorities if Congress made corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share by: 

• Reversing the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans;
• Reauthorizing the estate tax and
• Holding Wall Street accountable by eliminating tax loopholes

It is also worth mentioning the hypocrisy of the Republican Party when it comes to big spending. 

In 2001, with the economy struggling, they passed deficit-financed tax cuts. They did so again in 2003 and passed the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and voted for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were paid for by adding to the deficit. 

Now with an election looming, Republicans are suddenly worried about the deficit they created.

It is absolutely unacceptable that the unemployed are bearing the brunt of the recession while corporations and the wealthiest Americans get a free ride.  In order to reach full economic recovery, we must raise adequate revenue and keep our workforce strong.

Heather Booth, Director of Americans for Financial Reform and Vice President of USAction:

This is it. Just a few months shy of the two year anniversary of the financial meltdown that took our nation’s economy to the edge of the abyss and cost 8 million Americans their jobs, Congress is on the verge of passing reform to rein in Wall Street and protect consumers. While we are close, we are not there yet. Obstacles to major reform remain and the Big Banks, with help from their allies on the Hill, are spending enormous amounts of money to protect the status quo and avoid meaningful reform.

With perhaps just 10 days away from final passage, now more than ever, your voice is needed. The Big Banks, and their high-priced fat cat lobbyists, are swarming the Hill everyday looking to weaken or kill the bill.

Read on! And take action.

Americans support more stimulus spending to create jobs but deficit hawks in Congress would rather let our economy suffer in it’s time of need (or drug test unemployment insurance recipients).

These decisions to not create jobs, assist the unemployed or offer aid to struggling states increase the risk of a double-dip recession.   Bob Herbert wrote of the catastrophic long-term effects:

…States are facing a catastrophic fiscal situation that is short-circuiting essential services, pushing even more people out of work, and undermining the feeble national economic recovery.

On the ground USAction is working hard this summer to make sure we invest in common sense priorities like jobs and education, hold corporations and Wall Street accountable for the harm they have inflicted on our economy and avoid a jobless recovery and/or a double-dip recession.

Organizing for Jobs

USAction affiliate Citizen Action of Wisconsin helped to organize a rally in Milwaukee with Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Congresswoman Moore spoke in support of Milwaukee Public School teachers and the Keep Our Educators Working Act.  She spoke of the urgency in protecting our kids and investing in their future to invest in the future of our economy and country.  From the WISN.com video:

We are here to exercise democracy… Speak out and protest the cutting off of our future generations. Not just the kid’s education but those people who are going to work to sustain all of us.

Organizing to Hold Wall Street Accountable

Affiliate Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) and the Maine Women’s Lobby held an event to deliver petitions to their Senators asking them to support final passage of the financial reform legislation that is currently making its way through conference. Maine Public Broadasting Network covered the event; MPA organizer Liz Fox is pictured to the left with petitions in hand.  Sarah Standiford of the Maine Women’s Lobby spoke about the need for reform and the financial crisis’ effects on women:

Women have been particularly vulnerable during the financial meltdown. That’s because women are 41 percent more likely to receive subprime loans, regardless of their income, and, in fact, according to the Consumer Federation of America, in 2005 a third of women took out subprime mortgages.

Speaking Out Against Corporate Power

Linda Brown, Executive Director of USAction affiliate Arizona Advocacy Network, spoke out last week against the Supreme Court’s decision to derail ”a key component of the state’s campaign financing system.”  Linda was quoted by KPHO:

The courts have jumped in — in the middle of an election — and ruled in favor of big corporations and the rich and (are) empowering them further to control not only who gets to run but who gets to get their message out to the voters.

Across the country, we’re fighting the same battles: the unchecked power of Wall Street and corporations wrecked our economy. We’re organizing to enable a broad-based movement to return to government of, by and for the people.

Today we continue our series on real Americans who are hurting because of Congress’ refusal to extend UI and COBRA benefits. These stories are coming to us from NELP – the National Employment Legal Project.

Each day this week, NELP is putting a human face on the misery caused by members of Congress who refuse to act – a misery that soon may be shared by as many as 1.2 million workers who will lose UI benefits this month and as many as 140,000 workers who will lose out on subsidized health care through the subsidy of COBRA benefits. You can protest these cuts by going here: www.unemployedworkers.org/page/speakout/UIandCobraNOW

Meet J.F.

A resident of Birmingham, Michigan, J.F. spent 15 years as a radio broadcaster before she was laid off in December 2008. In her own words:

I had a radio show in Detroit for 15 1/2 years. I was let go recently due to budget cuts. When I found out I was going to be let go, I offered to stay for LESS than one-half my pay but I was told even that was too much to satisfy the budget cuts. A few months later, the company hired me back to do a part-time show paying $15.00 an hour for 25 hours a week. When I found out about this opportunity, I was ecstatic. Although it wasn’t a full-time job, it was income coming in that my family desperately needed to survive. However, this opportunity soon fell through…I was devastated.

I can’t find another job. I send out hundreds of applications a day, no call backs. Radio stations use voice tracking, which eliminates the need for real human beings. The full-timers tape the weekend shows so there aren’t even part-time positions anymore. And to add increased strain on my family life, my husband is now unemployed as well. He has an MBA and worked for years as an engineer.

During these past few years, we’ve lost 2 houses; it’s been awful. Unemployment insurance has helped keep food on the table when I had no clue where my family’s next meal was going to come from…and without the COBRA subsidy, I would have gone this entire time without health coverage. However, with my COBRA subsidy ending in July, I can’t afford health insurance for myself or my family….it’s too expensive.

Have a story of your own to share with NELP? Click here.

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction

It is getting tougher each day for Republicans in Congress to repeal the new health care law as more Americans learn about it and start reaping its benefits. Yesterday that became more evident as President Obama took action to implement the law and end abuses by the insurance industry.

A “Patients’ Bill of Rights” is what the President called a package of new regulations designed to prevent the insurance industry from:

• Dropping your insurance coverage because you get sick;
• Denying you health insurance because of a pre-existing condition;
• Placing a life-time limit on your insurance coverage.

As I sat there in the White House East room listening to President Obama talk about what these benefits will mean to millions of Americans I heard loud and clear, we’ve got you covered! 

Gone are the stories of Americans being denied coverage or losing their lives because of abuses by the insurance industry.  This is something that is no longer a dream, but a reality. The promise is being delivered. For the millions without and those who have been denied, we’ve got you covered.

Marvin Silver is the Deputy Legislative & Policy Director at USAction

On Saturday, June 26, Americans will gather across the country to discuss the choices we face with regard to spending and the federal budget.

Dozens of town hall forums, sponsored by a non-partisan organization called “America Speaks,” will offer participants an opportunity to discuss our nation’s needs and priorities. Many will use these forums to express concern about the federal deficit.

This is an important topic. In the long run, large deficits are unsustainable and must be addressed. In the short run, however, the forums may not encompass the entire conversation we should be having.

Any conversation about our country’s current and future economic health should start with an acknowledgement of the crisis we now face. And it should continue with an examination of what led to our current economic conditions – including the causes of today’s deficit.

Let’s start by acknowledging painful reality: Our economy has lost eight million jobs. Fifteen million people are officially unemployed while another 11 million are involuntarily working part-time or have dropped out of the labor force. Millions of people have been out of work for more than a year.

Although some would like to focus Saturday’s town hall meetings on the federal budget deficit, let’s also acknowledge the jobs deficit. As we will discuss in a moment, the two are intrinsically linked.

Now let’s examine the cause of our 2010 fiscal year deficit, which the Office of Management and Budget estimates to be $1.1 trillion. The cause is not, as many would have us believe, due to domestic discretionary spending by the federal government. Such spending is more or less stagnant. Rather, the federal deficit finds its roots in four areas:

• First, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, targeted primarily toward the wealthiest Americans, added about $1.7 trillion to deficits leading up to 2008.
• Second, the combined cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since our country invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 is just over $1 trillion. These wars, like the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, were not paid for by new taxes or revenue enhancements in other areas.
• Third, rising health care costs in both the private and public sectors, including entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, have added trillions of dollars to our deficits over a long period of time. Health care reform will rein these costs in but an aging population will guarantee that providing quality, affordable health care for all will remain an ongoing challenge.
• Fourth, the current economic crisis has deprived governments at all levels of needed revenue. It’s an incontrovertible fact that when people work, they pay taxes. Remove eight million people from the workforce and you haven’t just removed eight million taxpayers – you also have to add in unemployment benefits, COBRA and other forms of public assistance.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that we have the ability to simultaneously address the deficit and take on what should be our nation’s most compelling and urgent priority: putting people back to work.

We can allow the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. We can cut corporate tax loopholes enjoyed by companies like BP. We can restore the estate tax. We can continue plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan and, while we’re at it, cut Pentagon waste. Pentagon cost overruns alone are taxing Americans to the tune of $300 billion to $400 billion.

We can immediately stimulate the economy by passing a robust jobs bill and making sure our unemployed workers have the safety net they need in the form of unemployment and COBRA benefits. (Yes, this will add to domestic discretionary spending in the short run, but in the long run we will see a healthy return on our investment in the form of deficit reduction.) A national coalition called Jobs for America Now is pushing for legislation that would create one million jobs.

As Americans gather across the country to discuss spending and the deficit, it’s important that we not lose sight of how we got here and what our needs, hopes and dreams are for our country’s future. That’s the conversation we should be having.

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction

Are you uninsured and under the age of 26?  Or do you know someone who might fit that description?

If so, we could use your help - in the form of a photo.

USAction Education Fund (USAEF) will be conducting a campaign to educate the public about changes in the new health care law that will go into effect in September - specifically the provision stipulating that people under the age of 26 can now be covered under their parents’ health insurance.  To do so, we’re entering a contest to fund this project and will be making a YouTube video to support our application.

We’re looking to give a face to the 13.7 million or more young adults between the ages of 18-26 who are uninsured.  While young adults are generally healthy, they are not immune to accidents, injuries and illness - and there can be devastating health and financial consequence for the uninsured.

How you can help:

• Send a photo with your name and home town to stories@usaction.org by Thursday, June 24^th (two days from now!)
• Please include your name, contact information and hometown when submitting your photo.
• Help spread the word to your network and friends.

Note: By submitting your photo you agree to allow USAEF use of this image in any way deemed necessary to help educate the public about the recent change in health care. USAEF agrees to only use first names in this campaign.

Thank you for your help and for spreading the word.  Now let’s get America covered!