Michigan Citizen Action
A progressive citizens lobby that champions the rights of all people.

Our representatives in Congress were elected to create jobs for unemployed people and to get the economy back on track for everyone.

Politicians in Washington should vote plain and simple to extend the lifeline of unemployment insurance benefits for the millions of Americans who stand to lose them —without also voting to kill 140,000 jobs and vital programs and services.

People in our community are hurting – we need good jobs, not a misguided unemployment bill that cuts benefits for unemployed people who, through no fault of their own, are barely scraping by to feed their families, stay in their homes, and pay for the basic necessities of life.

When politicians vote to make cuts that will have the most severe and immediate impact on people living in states suffering the highest unemployment without asking multimillionaires to shoulder a penny of burden, it is clear that they are siding with the rich and powerful over the rest of us.

Instead of siding with billionaires and scapegoating unemployed people by asking them to take drug tests or means tests, our representatives should act quickly to help unemployed people who are desperately trying to keep food on their tables and regain a foothold in the labor market.

The way to do that is by creating jobs and by supporting the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act (H.R. 3346), legislation that would extend the current level of federal unemployment benefits through 2012 as our nation continues to crawl out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Congress should support a clean unemployment extension bill and oppose one with job-killing cuts that will hurt working people while insisting on protecting tax loopholes for the super-rich.

It is wrong that in the United States of America some nurses or construction workers who earn $50,000 a year are paying higher tax rates than hedge fund CEOs pulling in $50 million a year.

Whose side is your representative on? Millionaire CEOs or middle class families?

Washington has said that cutting the budget and cutting taxes for the super-rich will create jobs. It’s a big lie. They have it backwards. Putting Americans back to work is the only way we will ever reduce the deficit and rebuild the economy for the long-term.

Instead of killing jobs while voting to extend unemployment benefits, we want Congress to kill the tax giveaways and loopholes for CEOs and big corporations – and use that money to create jobs by passing jobs bills and a strong and fair unemployment extension bill.

Call your representative TODAY and tell him/her to stay in Washington until this bill is fixed.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                   Contact:  Erin Knott

October 17, 2011                                                                                                                        Phone: (616) 901.9649 (cell)

Supercommittee Members Camp and Upton Took Big Cash from

Wall Street, Big Oil, and Insurance Interests in the Third Quarter

How will big corporate cash influence decisions of the deficit reduction committee members?

Kalamazoo, MI–Michigan members of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, Reps. Dave Camp (R) and Fred Upton (R), raised significant campaign contributions from corporate interests with business before the so-called “supercommittee” in the third quarter of the year according to Public Campaign’s analysis of new campaign finance filings that was released by Michigan Citizen Action today.

“Will Dave Camp and Fred Upton create a balanced approach to deficit reduction or one balanced on the backs of everyday Americans that, unlike corporate sponsors, can’t afford to make campaign contributions?” said Erin Knott, deputy director of Michigan Citizen Action.

According to the analysis of Federal Election Commission records:

-       Camp received at least $97,760 from health interests in the third quarter and $30,500 from insurance interests. Upton took at least $115,240 from the sector and $11,000 from insurance interests.

-       Camp received at least $109,900 from the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector. Upton received at least $15,250 from these Wall Street interests. Closing the “carried interest” loophole for hedge fund managers or other taxes on Wall Street transactions could be part of the supercommittee deal,

-       Camp received at least $83,750 from energy and natural resource interests, including $71,000 from oil and gas interests—about twice the amount he received from Big Oil in the first two quarters of the year combined. Upton received at least $60,900 from energy interests, including $45,000 from oil and gas interests. That includes a $2,500 donation from the political action committee of the American Petroleum Institute, the Big Oil trade group that said the supercommittee should let the industry “do our thing.”

-       Overall, Camp raised $701,807 in campaign contributions in the third quarter, only seven percent of which ($45,970) was from Michigan donors. Upton raised $394,955 in the third quarter from known contributors, nearly 85 percent of which was from donors outside of Michigan.

“This supercommittee shouldn’t cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security to protect tax loopholes for bankers or oil companies,” said Knott. “But both Camp and Upton have taken big cash from those interests that’d like to keep their special deals in place.”

In August, Public Campaign and two-dozen groups urged supercommittee members to give up fundraising while serving on the panel. Just one, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said he would stop raising money for himself while on the panel and analysis of his FEC data shows he kept to that pledge. Camp and Upton both said they would not schedule additional fundraisers, but would still attend those already on the calendar.

A close look at Camp’s filings shows he attended a fundraiser with casino executives in Las Vegas in early September, time he could’ve been back home responding to questions from seniors and families in his district about why he voted in favor of deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare while supporting tax breaks for millionaires and big corporations.

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Michigan Citizen Action (MCA) is a progressive citizens lobby that champions the rights of all people. Using progressive policies and the power of grass roots networks, MCA advances social, racial and economic justice for all. MCA relies on the support of its 11,000 members, partners and allies to make Michigan a better place to live and work.

Public Campaign works to ensure that the voices of regular Americans are heard in the political process by advocating for far-reaching changes in campaign finance law and by holding our elected officials accountable for the access and special favors they give big political donors.

The debt ceiling deal is done, now we must protect vital programs, press for new revenues and create jobs. We can raise new revenue by closing corporate loopholes and raising taxes for millionaires and billionaires. This would fund job creation – which, in turn, would help our economy get back on its feet.

USAction affiliates, including Michigan Citizen Action, in July held more than 100 events throughout the U.S. and delivered more than 42,000 messages to Congress, calling on members to raise taxes for millionaires and billionaires and cut Pentagon spending, instead of slashing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Take action – tell Congress to focus on the issue that is most important to the American public: jobs.
Read more in our press release.

Image above via Center for American Progress: The Choices Still to Be Made in the New Debt Deal

MCA director Linda Teeter poses with Gov. Snyder and Reps. O’Brien and McCann at the signing of the new transit bill for Kalamazoo County.

For more information on the new bill, see this article, and for information on today’s press conference at the Kalamazoo Transit Center, see this article.

Below are some photos from today’s event.

Frank, speaking at MCA’s rally to protest cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Check out the rest of our videos from the event at our YouTube page here.