Upside -down Priorities of the House Budget

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Action Alert

Please Contact your Representative before May 10th. 

Message: Ask her/him to vote NO to the Reconciliation legislation.

Background information:

The U.S. House is About to Vote to Make Millions of Low-Income People Lose Health Care, Food and Other Vital Help

Here comes a bill that takes steps to carry out the upside-down priorities of the House budget. The bill expected to reach the House floor on Thursday, May 10 overwhelmingly targets low-income people for cuts – children, families, seniors, people with disabilities.  It is intended to make low-income people shoulder the burden of budget cuts, while protecting the military from reductions and upper-income people from loss of any tax breaks.

The vote in the House is on a package of $261 billion in cuts over 10 years.  Some examples of extreme cuts that will hit low-income people hard:

  • All 46 million people receiving food stamps (SNAP) will see their monthly assistance reduced; 2 million will be denied SNAP help altogether.

This is a preview of Upside -down Priorities of the House Budget. Read the full post (440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

House Bill targets low-income people for cuts

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 Please take action before May 10th

Millions of people will be hurt by a bill that will be on the House floor later this week.

Want to know more?  Have less than 5 minutes to find out?

Then check out our first Proponomics video:

and contact your Member of Congress!

Do something about it!            

The bill:  H.R. 4966, the Sequester Replacement Act of 2012
For more background about what the bill does,  click here 
For more background about fair revenue alternatives, click here

 

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Increase Connecticut’s Minimum Wage – Still Alive!

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Increase Minimum Wage: Call Your Senator

Please call your Senator this week and ask her/him to support increasing the minimum wage. 

Please -Click here to find your Senator and call today to tell him or her you support increasing the minimum wage!   

Efforts to increase Connecticut’s minimum wage are still alive and need your help.  Research and experience shows that increasing the minimum wage helps the economy and does not result in job loss. It’s actually an economic stimulus, as people and families have more money to spend in their communities.  The current $8.25 per hour is just not enough for anyone.  According to a Quinnipiac University Poll released April 25th , an overwhelming 70% of Connecticut voters support raising the minimum wage. 

This is a preview of Increase Connecticut’s Minimum Wage – Still Alive!. Read the full post (219 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Action Alert: Care4Kids Program

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SB-273- An Act Concerning the Care4Kids Program is awaiting action by the State Senate.  Contact your Senator TODAY, April 25th  by email or phone and ask for their support of SB-273.  Click HERE to find your Senator. 

About Care4Kids:

Care4Kids is the state’s largest child care subsidy program, assisting low-to-moderate income working parents who cannot otherwise afford child care.

About SB-273:

SB-273 will change eligibility in the Care4Kids program to address gaps in coverage during maternity leave. SB-273 will allow a woman up to 12 weeks of Care4Kids eligibility when taking leave for the birth of a child.  Currently, when a woman takes time off to care for a newborn, her Care4Kids subsidy is suspended until she returns to work.  This current practice often sets off a chain of events that causes the child to lose their child care space and the mother, her job.  For the child, a routine is broken.  For the child care center, the disruption of eligibility causes the child care center to scramble to cover the costs of an open slot.  If the child care center cannot afford to hold a slot for her child, that child loses the slot and the mother must look for child care elsewhere in order to keep working.  
This is a preview of Action Alert: Care4Kids Program. Read the full post (212 words, 1 image, estimated 51 secs reading time)

Support State Basic Health Program

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Join your voice with others and make a difference!

Please contact your State Senator THIS WEEK (April 16th-20). Call or e-mail and ask him/her to support a State Basic Health Program.

Here’s a list of senators and contact information, as well as a fact sheet on the State Basic Health Program .

Background Information:  RB 425, An Act Concerning a Basic Health Program has been approved by the Public Health Committee. (A similar bill, RB 5450, An Act Establishing a Basic Health Program, has been approved by the Human Services Committee.)

This is a preview of Support State Basic Health Program. Read the full post (288 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

House Votes to Repeal the Death Penalty

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Senate Bill 208 cleared the House 86-62 vote.  Thank you to all who contacted their  legislators over the months.  Connecticut will join 16 other states and the District of Columbia, that have abolished capital punishment.  This bill replaces the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release although it stipulates that the eleven men currently on death row in Connecticut will still face execution; capital punishment would be abolished only for those convicted of capital offenses in the future.

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Priorities for a Faithful Federal Budget

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On Thursday, March 22 outside of the United Methodist Building (100 Maryland Avenue, NE), the presiding religious officials representing some of the nation’s most prominent Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faith traditions presented for congressional consideration,     “A Faithful Budget.” 

You may also download the entire Priorities for a Faithful Budget.

The Faithful Budget promotes comprehensive and compassionate budget principles that will “protect the common good, values each individual and his or her livelihood, and helps lift the burden on the poor, rather than increasing it while shielding the wealthiest from any additional sacrifice.” The Faithful Budget lays out ideas for restoring economic opportunity, ensuring adequate resources for the country’s fiscal needs, fostering true security, reducing poverty and hardship, taking responsibility for future generations, caring for the environment, improving access to health care and recognizing the robust role of government in combating poverty. 

This is a preview of Priorities for a Faithful Federal Budget. Read the full post (196 words, 1 image, estimated 47 secs reading time)

Bill to Repeal Death Penalty Moves to Senate Calendar

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The Judiciary Committee voted in favor of SB 280 An act revising the penalty for capital felonies.  The Senate put the bill on their calendar and could vote on it the next time they go into session (not yet determined, maybe before Easter).

Now is the time to contact your Representative and Senator and ask them to support SB280.  Please contact them before Easter!     www.cga.ct.gov   

“Catholic Lawmakers Weigh Conscience, Church Teaching As Death Penalty Hangs in the Balance”  Hartford Courant 3/27/12

 

 

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Latin America Military Training Review Act

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                 Action Alert 

Representative James McGovern (MA) reintroduced the Latin America Military Training Review Act as HR 3368 on November 4, 2011 along with 21 other original co-sponsors. This legislation would suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC, investigate torture manuals and human rights abuses associated with the school, and conduct an assessment of military training in Latin America.
Across the country, grassroots activists are working to add their Member of Congress as a cosponsor, or supporter, of this bill.  Has your Representative cosponsored this bill?  Check this list of HR 3368 cosponsors to find out. 

This is a preview of Latin America Military Training Review Act. Read the full post (356 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Help Increase the Minimum Wage

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Action Alert: Help Increase Minimum Wage  

Raising the minimum wage would make a huge difference in the earning power and financial stability of thousands of working families.  

 Background Information:

The proposal to raise Connecticut’s minimum wage has been modified to address many concerns and voted out of the Labor Committee.

Minimum wage would increase from the current $8.25 by 50 cents in each of the next two years, starting in January 2013, and then be indexed to inflation.      

Click here for a Fact Sheet from the National Employment Law Project showing that:

This is a preview of Help Increase the Minimum Wage. Read the full post (180 words, 1 image, estimated 43 secs reading time)

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