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It’s about security for working people and the middle class

  By Social Justice, US

  Our 2011 Program: It’s about security for working people and the middle class or Why and how we must expose and fight back against the dirty little secret of right wing economic policy As a multi-issue organization, Penn ACTION will be taking on a lot. But while we will be engaged in many different struggles—health care, women’s health, unemployment insurance, fair taxes, education, and starting this week, the fight to preserve Social Security—there is a core commitment and a unified strategy that lies behind all our work. The core commitment is to provide security for working people and the middle class. Market Economies and Insecurity We know that a market economy can be a great generator of income and wealth. But from the beginning, capitalism has also been a generator of uncertainty and insecurity. Capitalism initially generated great wealth not just by creating opportunities for entrepreneurs but by generating insecurity, specifically… Continue reading

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Citizen’s hearing and rally celebrates the anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act

  By Health Care

Harrisburg, PA (March 23, 2011) — While members of Congress convened in Pennsylvania’s State Capitol to consider a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, real Pennsylvanians held a “consumers’ hearing” in the Rotunda to tell the true story about the landmark law. Consumers testified to the benefits of the Affordable Care Act — from ending preexisting conditions and other abusive insurance practice to covering preventative care services for seniors to expanding access to quality, affordable health insurance for small businesses and individuals. “My husband and I were able to put our 24-year-old son back on our family’s health insurance plan because of the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows us to do so,” said Theresa BrownGold, one of the consumers to testify. The “consumers’ hearing” took place while the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a field hearing at the State Capitol focused on repealing… Continue reading

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March 23 Citizen’s Hearing and Rally for Health Care Reform

  By Health Care

On the anniversary of President Obama’s signing of the Affordable Care Act, March 23,, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is coming Harrisburg on March 23 to take testimony about why it should be repealed. Governor Corbett is scheduled to testify. Some corporate CEOs are scheduled to testify. Some Republican state legislators are scheduled to testify. You haven’t been invited to testify. Nor have any of the people of Pennsylvania who will benefit so much from health care reform. But we intend to be heard. CITIZEN’S HEARING AND RALLY FOR THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT The Capitol         Harrisburg PA, March 23, 2011          10:30 am From Wisconsin to Washington, DC, right wing extremists are trying to roll back the programs, policies, and protections that support working people and the middle class in America. The attack on the Affordable Care Act is just one more example. On March 23, the right… Continue reading

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Let Rep. Gerlach Know: We Won’t Go Back!

  By Penn ACTION, Sexual and gender equality, Women and Health Care

On February 18, Rep. James Gerlach voted to: prohibit funding of the Affordable Health Care Act cut the entire $317M of federal funding for family planning services deny Planned Parenthood federal funding for any purposes Every one of these votes is a vote against women and prevents them from accessing a full range of health care services. On February 23,  Penn ACTION visited the Trappe office of Rep. James Gerlach (PA-06) to discuss the Congressman’s disappointing participation in the recent attacks on women and health care.   On Wednesday afternoon, two Penn ACTION staffers met three constituents of Rep. Gerlach at the Congressman’s Trappe office.    Two of the constituents chose to talk privately to Rep. Gerlach’s staffer about the Congressman’s recent votes threatening women’s health.  While that meeting was happening, we stood on the sidewalk outside the office with the third constituent, Mary, protesting Rep. Gerlach’s participation in the… Continue reading

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Wisconsin Politics Comes to Pennsylvania: Huge tax cut for corporations

  By Pennsylvania Budget

Late last week, when many of us were focused on the struggle in Wisconsin between working people and the middle class on the one hand, and the corporate backed governor of Wisconsin on the other, that fight came to Pennsylvania. Republican Governor Tom Corbett’s Department of Revenue adopted new tax regulations that will reduce the corporate income tax by $200 million in 2010 and $833 million over two years. (If you don’t need to read more to know what you think about that, sign the Penn ACTION / Keystone Progress petition against this corporate giveaway here. And, at almost the same time AdultBasic, which provides health insurance for 42,000 working Pennsylvanians who do not qualify for medical assistance, ran out of money. Governor Corbett did nothing to save AdultBasic. What would it have cost to extend AdultBasic for another year? Just a bit less than the $200 million in Tom… Continue reading

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Don’t let Corbett sneak through his $833 million corporate tax giveaway!

  By Pennsylvania Budget

While Pennsylvania is facing a $4 billion deficit, Gov. Tom Corbett approved a corporate tax break of $833 million last week. He did it with almost no notice, hoping that Pennsylvania’s citizens wouldn’t find out.  It was done with such little notice, that even reporters and PA legislators were unaware of this giveaway until we told them. Well, we found out and we’re outraged.  Just this week Corbett told us we couldn’t afford to continue healthcare for the working poor.  But somehow he can find $833 million for billionaires and CEOs, sticking middle class families with the bill. Tell Corbett and your legislators to stop this outrageous giveaway! This is not only a giveaway to special interests, it’s a job destroying tax break.  It could cost Pennsylvania another 5-15,000 jobs.1 Politicians like Corbett are using our real economic problems as an excuse to pay back their corporate donors at the… Continue reading

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Corbett’s Unconscionable $833 million tax cut for corporations

  By Pennsylvania Budget

No money for Adult Basic but millions for big business Budgets are moral documents that set for the priorities of our government. Late last week, the Corbett Administration made clear that its top priority is helping American corporations not Pennsylvanians when it adopted new tax regulations that will reduce the corporate income tax by $200 million in 2010 and 833 over two years.1 With the state facing a $4 billion deficit that may lead to massive cuts in spending on education and health care, and with the AdultBasic program expiring at the end of the month, a reduction in corporate taxes is simply unconscionable. The Governor of the Commonwealth should not be putting the profits of corporations over the needs of people. The $200 million that the Corbett administration is giving away to corporations is more than the amount necessary to continue AdultBasic, which provides health insurance for 42,000 Pennsylvanians… Continue reading

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Noted attorney Larry Stier dead at 83–Sullivan County Democrat

  By Family Stories

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 By Kathy Daley LIBERTY—Lawrence Stier graduated from the best law school in the nation but he didn’t flaunt it and those he encountered wouldn’t have guessed it. “Larry was friendly, warm and low-key, so most people had no idea he graduated from Harvard Law School,” said local attorney Garry Greenwald. “He was a superb attorney, very, very bright, a fabulous judge and a decent man,” Greenwald noted. You could tell when had to sentence someone to jail that it was difficult for him. But he knew that he had to apply the law.” Stier, age 83, of Liberty died Sunday morning of complications from cancer. Continue reading

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Modeling activism: a eulogy for my father

  By Family Stories

This is a little longer version of the eulogy I gave for my father at his funeral today. I think he would have liked it although I can hear his voice saying, “It’s too long.” I want to tell you some things about my father’s life. But, before I do, I want to say something about how he died. As most of you know, he had been sick with pancreatic cancer since May. Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease for which there is no cure. Death usually comes very quickly. My father lived almost ten months. He had two different rounds of chemotherapy. The first round seemed to have slowed the disease for a time but ultimately stopped working. The second round worked for a while, too, but then he had a bad reaction to it. That, and the spread of the disease, is probably what weakened him so much… Continue reading

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My father and the rally for Wisconsin workers

  By Family Stories, Pennsylvania, Politics, US

There is a rally for Wisconsin’s workers this week in Philly. Please join labor and other organizations including Penn ACTION to stand up for labor on Thursday 2/24/11 @ 11:30 PM at Thomas Paine Plaza in front of the Municipal Services Building across from Philadelphia City Hall. I won’t be there because my father died on Sunday and i’m with my family in upstate New York. But I’ve been thinking about how much my father benefited from public services that are now under attack and how much he was able to contribute to the public good because of those benefits. My father was able to go to college and law school because of the GI Bill. That education made it possible for him to provide for his family and also to dedicate himself to working with community organizations that built a regional hospital and a synagogue / community center. He… Continue reading