The economic picture for state and local governments could worsen in coming months, teachers across the country are being handed their pink slips working families are struggling and all experts agree that unemployment rates will not dramatically decrease anytime soon. Meanwhile, legislation providing needed assistance is languishing in Congress.

ASK SENATORS TO VOTE FOR THE AMERICAN JOBS AND CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES ACT IN ORDER TO:

• EXTEND UI/COBRA BENEFITS UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR.
• EXTEND STATE FISCAL RELIEF (FMAP) FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS.
• FUND THE TANF EMERGENCY FUND THROUGH FY 2011.

The U.S. Senate will consider a bill that will extend Federal UI programs, extend increased federal Medicaid payments to states (FMAP) and give a much needed infusion of resources to the TANF Emergency Fund which has provided crucial support for low-income families and has led to the creation of over 180,000 jobs over the last year and half. However, due to a last-minute House compromise, the bill excludes extensions of COBRA health subsidies for the unemployed and much-needed aid to state governments through the Medicaid program (FMAP). We must ensure these necessary provisions are included in the final bill.

Background on FMAP

The new fiscal year for states begins on July 1, but the current Federal FMAP funding ends in December, the middle of their fiscal year. FMAP was squeezed out of the House bill and we must make a push to maintain the restored funding in a Senate substitute amendment

• 30 states are counting on receiving the additional Medicaid funds in their budgets. Without the additional $24 billion already approved by both the House and Senate, the states will have to close budget gaps with brutal cuts that could cost the economy 900,000 jobs in the near term and more than three million by 2012.
• Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Economy.com has warned that the deep state budget cuts in FY 2011 “will be a serious drag on the economy at just the wrong time.”  He also asserts that every dollar of federal Medicaid relief results in $1.41 in increased economic activity, which translates into stronger economic growth.

Background on UI and COBRA

• Presently, eligibility for the federal UI programs expires on June 2nd, and eligibility for the COBRA subsidy expires on May 31. In the last 6 months, we have had to fight for 4 stop-gap extensions which has caused needless anxiety and stress for the long-term unemployed and unnecessary hardship for the already over-taxed state agencies that run the UI programs.
• These benefits are important life-lines for over 6 million workers and their families, and they provide much needed economic stimulus to communities throughout the country. Zandi tells us that every dollar spent on UI puts at least $1.63 back into the economy and that these benefits should be extended through at least the end of 2010, and not offset by tax increases or other spending cuts, which he says would be “counter-productive.”

Background on TANF Emergency Fund

• The TANF Emergency Fund is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2010. Without an extension, the 28 states and DC currently operating subsidized jobs programs will start winding down their programs in the next month. These programs have put over 180,000 people back to work at a very low cost per job and have helped businesses hire earlier than they otherwise would have.
• Many state budgets have assumed the extension of the Emergency Fund; if it is not extended, state budget shortfalls will likely force severe cuts in programs serving the most vulnerable families with children.

Timing is of the essence — This bill needs to clear the Senate and go to conference as soon as possible. There is no time to waste on being indecisive, on playing partisan games, or on misdirected worries about the deficit.

Call Congress NOW!

President Obama asked for the “Buffett Rule” in his State of the Union speech, calling it “common sense”.  Sen. Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, answered the call. But we need your help to make it happen. Sign our petition today to show your support!

Under the current laws, loopholes and special provisions allow some of the wealthiest Americans to pay lower effective tax rates than middle class families. For example Mitt Romney paid only 13.9% on his millions in income in 2010. That’s just not fair. It’s time that the 1% paid the same tax rates as the 99%.

Sign our petition, and we’ll present it to Sen. Whitehouse’s office this month. By showing your public support, this will help his office generate momentum to encourage other Senators to sign on too.

Jobs and the Economy

Stand in solidarity with #OccupyWallStreet and tell the world We need an economy that works for the 99%, not the 1%!

Stand with USAction and Sen. Merkley and tell the Supercommittee: Don’t Ignore JOBS!

Tell Congress: Pass President Obama’s American Jobs Act and KEEP GOING!

Tell Monster.com, CareerBuilder and all major employment websites: Refuse ads that discriminate against the unemployed.

Share your story from the front lines of the Great Recession. Together we can change the conversation to JOBS, not cuts.

Two years ago, the Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to secretive and unlimited corporate political contributions and gave a major boost to the rapidly expanding political empire of David and Charles Koch and those of other millionaires and billionaires.

“The Kochs and their kind are engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of our nation’s political system,” said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. “We’ve come to the scene of the crime today – the U.S. Supreme Court – to tell the justices exactly what we think of the infamous Citizens United ruling that made that takeover possible.”

Read more at the NOW! blog: http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2012/01/19/the-99-rename-supreme-court-%E2%80%98us-supreme-koch%E2%80%99/

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.

MI6: http://bit.ly/MI6supercommittee

MI4: http://bit.ly/MI4supercommittee

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.

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.