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Take action today to block tax cuts for the rich!–and some notes on where we stand on the tax issue

  By Federal Taxes, Penn ACTION, Take political action

The Senate is scheduled to vote today on the tax cut plan President Obama negotiated with Senate Republicans. Click here  to send an email to Senators Casey and Specter to urge them to vote no and encourage President Obama to stand united with Democrats in the House and Senate to seek a better deal. Urge them to seek a deal that continues extended unemployment benefits, that stimulates the economy, that cuts taxes for working people and the middle class and that stands against unnecessary, wasteful tax cuts for the rich. Click here  to send that message now. An interesting week This has been one of the more interesting weeks since I began at Penn ACTION in June. Our actions and emails about President Obama’s tax compromise have created more controversy among the people on our email list than anything else we have done. So this is a good opportunity for me… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania leads the way to extended unemployment insurance!

  By Penn ACTION, Unemployment Insurance

Last week, it seemed likely that extended unemployment insurance would lapse at the end of the year or only be continued for three months. But then our national partner, US Action and the AFL-CIO held a press event with Speaker Pelosi and a number of Senators. Hearing from the unemployed themselves, brought the human dimensions of unemployment home to our political leaders. You can get a feel for the impact of those stories by looking at the first video, which the AFL-CIO put out. These stories stiffened the spines of the Democratic leadership and led them to insist that the unemployment insurance extension be included in any deal over taxes. In the course of the debate over the issue, Senator Casey referred more than once to how his meeting with the unemployed moved him.   Penn ACTION, along with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project and AFL-CIO brought half the unemployed people… Continue reading

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Tell Congress to fight for a better deal

  By Federal Taxes, Unemployment Insurance

The news is full of reports that President Obama has cut a deal with Republican leaders in Congress on taxes. There is one good element in this bill: the 13 month continuation of extended unemployment insurance for which we’ve been fighting. But the price the Republicans have demanded for this good policy is an unnecessary and unjust extension of the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and a further reduction in the estate tax. A growing number of Democratic Members of Congress are saying that extended unemployment insurance should not be held hostage to tax cuts for the rich. They are telling their leaders and the President to stand up and fight for a better deal. Their position reflects all of the polls, which show 70% of the public opposing a continuation of the Bush tax cuts. Congress will be voting on the deal before they go home for the holidays.… Continue reading

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Lies, damn lies, and statistics

  By Philadelphia, Social Justice, Taxation

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain Having made the transition myself, I know well that moving from academia to advocacy often requires some compromise with the standard of the academy. Academic rectitude requires one to point out the possible weaknesses in one’s views, to qualify statements about which one is uncertain and to be cautious before drawing start conclusion. There is little room for uncertainty, for qualification, and for caution in advocacy. But becoming an advocate shouldn’t mean that one gives up standards of intellectual honesty entirely. An advocate, especially one who trades on his standing as an academic, shouldn’t put forward conclusions when he has no good reason to do so. That, however, is what Robert Inman did in his op-ed piece in the Inquirer opposing the BPT proposal put forward by Bill Green and Maria Quinones-Sanchez. Inman… Continue reading

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Unemployed? Come to DC on December 1!

  By Penn ACTION, Take political action, Unemployment Insurance

Last week, the majority of Americans just celebrated the Thanksgiving Holiday with a feast. However, too many Americans, especially the 14 million who are unemployed, could not afford a feast this year. That’s why Penn ACTION has been fighting for fighting for the unemployed in many ways, including an event we did in Bucks County a little over a week ago. And it is why we are joining with the AFL-CIO and the Philadelphia Unemployment Project to take part in an event in Washington on Wednesday, December 1, to demand that Congress keep federal funding of extended unemployment benefits. If you are unemployed—or have suffered unemployment during the current recession and benefitted from unemployment insurance—please join us.  RSVP here  today or contact Robin Stelly at (203) 216-9719. (Given the short time frame before the event, we can’t guarantee you a seat on the bus if we don’t hear from you… Continue reading

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Fighting for Extended Unemployment Benefits

  By Penn ACTION, Unemployment Insurance

Last week, the majority of Americans just celebrated the Thanksgiving Holiday with a feast. However, too many Americans, especially the 14 million who are unemployed, could not afford a feast this year. That’s why Penn ACTION has been fighting for the unemployed in various ways, including an event we did in Bucks County the week before the holiday. On November 16, Penn ACTION organized over 15 Bucks County residents, including a number of people who have been unemployed during the recession, to call for the additional funding for extended unemployment insurance. We held an 11am news conference followed by an event outside Careerlink building on New Rodgers Road at which people looking for work signed petitions calling on Congress to extend Unemployment The same week we did a statewide call-in to Senators Casey and Specter, asking them to continued funding for extended unemployment benefits. Hundreds of Pennsylvanians joined in the… Continue reading

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Where do we go from here?

  By Uncategorized

Dear Friends, American had a really bad day on Tuesday. And Pennsylvania had it worse than most states. We are, as you know, a swing state and when the nation swings, we swing harder more than most states. Despite all the good work Penn ACTION did (preliminary details here), we lost five Democratic members of Congress who were strong supporters of health care reform. We lost races for Governor and Senate. And we lost the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. So where do we progressive go from here? We will be discussing this for some time, but let me share with you some initial thoughts. A referenda on the economy First, we have to see this election as what it was, a referenda on the sad state of the economy. There is little evidence that there was any substantial shift in the fundamental beliefs of Americans about politics. America is a… Continue reading

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-11-07

  By Twitter feed

@KeystoneProgres @DanPolitico Exit polls tend to have a slight GOP bias. Don't give up hope! in reply to KeystoneProgres # Powered by Twitter Tools Continue reading

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Penn ACTION in Election 2010

  By Penn ACTION, Penn Action and Election 2010

This has been a tough election for progressives. The political winds were against us and it turns out that there was little that we could do to stem them. I’ve written here about what we do next. But the disappointing results came despte our best efforts and those of other progressive around the state. The difficult political climate made fund raising for electoral work difficult but Penn ACTION brough close to $150,000 into the state for electoral work and carried out a number of important operations. On the C4, indpendent expenditure side, where we could explicitly work for a particular candidate, we Built a major canvass operation in support of Congressman Patrick Murphy in Congressional District Eight. We canvassed over 11 days and knocked on almost 17.000 doors, including 4158 on Election Day. Phoned 25,000 voters twice in Philadelphia, Bucks County and Montgomery to urge them to vote for Congressman Murphy Produced and… Continue reading