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Bush era tax cuts fall short

  By Federal Taxes, Published op-eds, Social Justice

Originally appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot News, July 3, 2011 Ten years ago last month, President George W. Bush signed a bill cutting taxes by $1.35 trillion over 10 years. It was the first of several Bush tax cuts that ended up costing two and a half trillion dollars over a decade. Dan Gleiter, The Patriot-News Ten years later, what have we gotten for this tax cut? Where is the prosperity President Bush promised? Pennsylvania’s official unemployment rate in June 2001 was 4.8 percent. Today, the seasonally adjusted rate is 7.4 percent. Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent. Today, it is hovering around 9 percent. At the end of last year, supporters of Bush’s policies pushed through an extension of the Bush tax cuts for another two years. Many lawmakers say they want to extend the tax cuts again into 2013 and beyond, which would almost double the federal… Continue reading

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The design behind the Republican voucher plans: Medicare and Education

  By Education, Health Care, Medicare, Published op-eds, Vouchers

Appeared in  the “Your View” op-ed column in the Allentown Morning Call on Friday, July 1, 2011 John Locke wrote that “a long train of abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people” Two voucher proposals, the Ryan Medicare plan in Washington and the Piccola education voucher plan in Harrisburg, show us the real design of the Republican Party today— to help the very rich by harming working people. Both proposals claim to address real problems. Congressman Ryan’s plan is meant to deal with the long term costs of Medicare. State Senator Piccola’s plan supposedly helps low-income kids who attend failing schools. However, the proposals will not meet those goals. The Medicare plan does nothing to reduce the costs of senior health care. Indeed, it repeals the Affordable Care Act which would reduce those costs by $500 billion in the first ten… Continue reading

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Take Action to Stop the Corbett Cuts to Education Now

  By Penn ACTION, Take political action

The budget battle in Harrisburg is coming to a close.  It’s critically important that you make your voice heard this week to let your state legislators know that you want them to make basic and higher education a priority for Pennsylvania.  Can you take a few minutes now to send an email to your state Senator and then follow-up with a phone call? Don’t let Harrisburg politicians let giant gas and oil companies get away tax-free while our children pay the price with underfunded schools and we are forced to pay higher property taxes. We want: To continue the funding at the levels that have improved education in Pennsylvania over the last 2 years. To address the inequitable cuts – poorer districts should not be getting higher cuts. To use the legal amount (75%) of the revenue surplus and other available resources such as a drilling fee, to restore funding to… Continue reading

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Pennsylvanians thank Senator Casey for standing up for Medicare

  By Medicare, Penn ACTION

On Thursday, June 2nd, about 65 Philadelphians brought together by Penn ACTION, Action United, the Alliance for Retired Americans and SEIU gathered with residents of the Philadelphia Senior Center to personally thank Senator Casey for his vote against the Ryan budget bill that would change both change Medicare as we know it to a voucher system, which would double or possibly triple health insurance costs for seniors and cripple Medicaid. In the 24 hours leading up to the event, we received 100 letters from members of Penn ACTION thanking Senator Casey for supporting Medicare and Medicaid. These letters came from people who are on Medicare, people in their 50s looking forward to receiving Medicare, and even those in their 30s who are still a long way from receiving the benefits. The told many stories: about how Medicare helps people their healthcare bills so they can afford other goods; about how… Continue reading

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Take action: Call Mayor Nutter in support of the earned sick time bill!

  By Earned sick time, Penn ACTION, Take political action

At a time when working people are being kicked around in Harrisburg and Washington, Philadelphia’s City Council, today, stood against the tide and passed the earned sick time legislation. This legislation is a great victory for working people, as it enables workers to earn time that they can use when illness keeps them out of work. And like most legislation that helps working people, this bill helps the entire community as well. It is in all of our interest for people who have a cold, flu, or other communicable disease, to stay home rather than spread the disease to the rest of us. And that is especially important for people who work in restaurants and child care providers. The bill now comes before Mayor Nutter whose administration has qualms about it. So now we need to call Mayor Nutter at 215-686-2181, and tell him how important it is to sign… Continue reading

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Help hold Rep. Pat Meehan accountable for his support of the Ryan Budget

  By Health Care, Medicare, Penn ACTION, Take political action

Have you been wondering when Congressman Meehan will be hosting a town hall?  Do you have questions about his votes on critical issues like Medicare and taxes?  Well now is your chance.  Congressman Pat Meehan has set up a Twitter account to take questions from his constituents. Can you join us for a virtual rally tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, between 12pm and 2pm by tweeting a question on Medicare? We want to ask Congressman Meehan the hard questions. He didn’t ask what we thought on Medicare before voting on the Ryan budget bill, so now is our chance. Can you join the rally by tweeting a question on Medicare to Congressman Meehan? Please be sure to use the #AskPat hashtag so that everyone joining us in this event can see each other’s questions.  Just click on the #AskPat hashtag or search for #AskPat at Twitter to see what people are… Continue reading

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The Cost of the Bush Era Tax Cuts

  By Federal Budget, Penn ACTION, Taxation

Ten years of the Bush Tax Cuts have cost us $2.5 trillion.  They were a $2.5 trillion dollar gamble that if we pushed enough money into the pockets of millionaires, billionaires and giant corporations, some of it would fall out and land on the rest of us.  We know what happened – that money stayed in those overstuffed pockets.  But, as Think Progress says, it didn’t have to be that way: Here are ten alternatives we could’ve pursued instead: – Give 122.7 Million Children Low-Income Health Care Every Year For Ten Years – Give 49.2 Million People Access To Low-Income Healthcare Every Year For Ten Years – Provide 43.1 Million Students With Pell Grants Worth $5,500 Every Year For Ten Years – Provide 31.5 Million Head Start Slots For Children Every Year For Ten Years – Provide VA Care For 30.7 Million Military Veterans Every Year For Ten Years –… Continue reading

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Help Rebuild the American Dream

  By Penn ACTION, Take political action

On July 16 and 17, Penn ACTION and other US Action affiliates, MoveOn and other national organizations are sponsoring a series of American Dream house meetings. The main goal of these house meetings is to focus on the long term progressive agenda. We’ll share stories our personal and political difficulties and their interconnection; talk about where we are as a country; and develop offer ideas to move us in the right direction. I’d like to invite you, as a Penn ACTION activists, to host one of those meetings. You can do it in you home, at a your church, at a local coffee shop or even a bar. We and MoveOn will invite local activists to join you at your meeting. And we will provide some help to you in planning and carrying out the meeting and in doing follow up after it is over. To sign up to host… Continue reading

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Stop the education cuts petition: 34,000 signatures, delivery events ongoing

  By Education, Penn ACTION, Take political action

About a month ago, Penn ACTION joined with Education Voters to launch a petition against Governor Corbett’s million dolar cut to education. The petition took off like wildfire and in a little oer three weeks, 34,000 people had signed. (If you haven’t signed yet, you can do so here.) Last week we began recruiting volunteers to deliver the signatures to legislative offices. We have set up a separate web site www.stoppaedcuts.org at which we are posting reports and photos about our delivery events and recruiting more people to join them. So far we have made 40 deliveries. We recently completed deliveries to Bucks County and received press coverage of our efforts there and in Montgomery County. We are also planning a Harrisburg event at which we will deliver all 34,000 petition signatures to Governor Corbett. Details coming soon. Delivering a set of petition signatures is something you can do in… Continue reading

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HCAN Activists Disrupt Aetna Annual Meeting Call Aetna to account for “hypocrisy” about the Affordable Care Act

  By Health Care, Penn ACTION

Penn ACTION dropped by Aetna’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia to ask why the company says it is supporting the Affordable Care Act while it funnels millions of dollars of secret contributions to the Chamber of Commerce, which ran ads against the Affordable Care Act and members of Congress who supported it.  Don’t miss the great press coverage, which came from outlets all over the world. You can see coverage from the Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hartford Courant, Bloomberg and the AP here.  Here’s our press release describing the event: The Chairman and CEO of Aetna Insurance, Mark Bertolini, was telling attendees at the annual meeting that his company was working hard to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA) when 8 protestors burst into the room shouting “We Need Health Care; Aetna’s Not Fair.” Continue reading