Will Congress choose need or greed? Cutting the federal deficit means making some tough choices. The new report, Food Choices: Families or Corporations and online petition asks Congressional super committee members to look at bloated federal subsidies for giant corporations before they cut food assistance struggling families depend on. Released in partnership with the Praxis Project, the report details Continue reading
Wells Fargo was put on notice last week as Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC), the Alliance for a Just Society, and community members took their grievances with the Wall Street bank to the streets of Denver. The week started out with a delegation of homeowners, union members, immigrants, and students delivering their set of demands to Western Regional CEO Tom Honig, and vowing Continue reading
How, what, and where we eat everyday is strongly influenced by the federal government, in partnership with major food corporations, through a piece of legislation called the Farm Bill. Many of the social determinates of health that impact our communities find their roots in the Farm Bill a massive piece of legislation up for renewal in 2012. We need to Continue reading
Kicking off a month of New Bottom Line actions sweeping across the country, yesterday Washington CAN and the Alliance for a Just Society helped spearhead statewide protests against Wall Street banks’ raiding of our economy and our political system. The Association of Washington Business – the state’s corporate lobby – was holding a policy summit at Suncadia, a swank golf Continue reading
Two years ago on January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. In a divided 5-4 decision, the majority ruled that corporations are free to spend unlimited sums of money in our country’s elections.
There’s been plenty of debate about what this ruling means for our elections and for deep-pocketed special interests. But there’s been virtually no attention paid to what it means for small businesses, or what small business owners think about the Citizens United decision. That is, until now… Continue reading
Alliance affiliate Idaho Community Action Network today applauded the Obama Administration’s proposed rule change allowing spouses and children of U.S. citizens to stay together in the United States while family members work to gain permanent U.S. residency. Continue reading
The election in November of 2010 shifted the political ground both in D.C. and in many state legislatures. These political changes brought efforts to repeal the ACA and to reduce the national commitment both to Medicaid and to critical programs funded as a part of reform. The efforts by the political right to reset the national agenda challenge every gain we’ve made. Although the fight for health care has moved from front page news to the trenches, we have seen some impressive achievements this past year: Continue reading
Something amazing happened in Montana on December 30. The State Supreme Court ruled on whether Montana has to throw out its century-old ban on corporate spending in Montana elections in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling. What did the state court decide? Well, to summarize in two words: heck, no. Continue reading
The Occupy protests that have sprouted up in over a thousand cities nationwide have had a profound effect on the political landscape. Barely four months ago, the dominant narrative was that the country is broke and we have to tighten our belts through “fiscal austerity,” with nary a mention of income inequality and who pays the price of “austerity” policies (hint: not the 1 percent). Today, even Republican presidential nominees are sniping back and forth about who is the wealthiest, and the framing of the 99 percent movement is widely used by politicians and in the media. Continue reading
While Fortune 500 corporations duck out of state taxes, legislators continue to put public services on the chopping block, but still the 1% isn’t being told that they need to do their part when it comes to balancing state budgets.
Last week, the Washington Community Action Network fought back at a special session of the legislature:
On Tuesday, Washington CAN! and our allies headed to Olympia to protest the Special Session and the additional $2 billion in budget cuts that are going to be made. Tuesday’s events focused on the personal stories of those affected by the cuts, putting a face to the growing 99% movement.
Click here for Washington CAN’s full report-back.
Over the past two weeks, the House of Representatives has been inundated with an alphabet soup of anti-regulatory legislation. Last week, the House debated and voted on the RAA (Regulatory Accountability Act) and RFIA (Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act), and this week on the REINS Act (Regulations in Need of Scrutiny from the Executive Act). Continue reading
Bill Daley is the Federal Issues Policy Director at The Alliance for a Just Society.
On November 21st, the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee of Deficit Reduction, aka the “Super Committee”, issued this statement: “After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline.” What does failure mean? What happens next? Continue reading
The Alliance for a Just Society is supporting the call for thousands of Americans to go to Washington, DC in the first week of December to make the voices of the 99% heard and counter the influence of the 1%. Alliance affiliates from Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and Virginia will all make the trek to DC, bringing local displaced workers with them to join thousands from across the country. Continue reading
Yesterday morning in Washington D.C., the Alliance for a Just Society helped crash a swanky fundraising event where Senator John Kyl was trawling for cash from corporate bigwigs. Kyl sits on the congressional joint committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit. While Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security hang in the balance, corporations and the one percent continue are counting on Kyl and the other “supercommittee” members to protect their outsized tax breaks. Continue reading
Last week, the immigrant rights movement had a major victory in Arizona. State Senate President Russell Pearce was the driving force behind Arizona SB 1070, the infamous bill that gave local police the power to act as immigration officials. Pearce lost his senate seat on November 8th in a historic recall election, sending a clear message that anti-immigration measures might not be quite as popular as Senator Pearce believes. And while the ousting of Pearce is a big moral win for the movement, reiterations of his bill are working their way through legislatures all across the country. Continue reading
With the deadline for an agreement from the Congressional Supercommittee less than a week away, small business owners in the Main Street Alliance network are calling on Congress to support policies that bolster the 99 percent and reject any budget-cutting deal that destroys more jobs and further weakens their customer base.
From New York City to Washington State, Main Street Alliance business owners launched a customer education campaign this week in support of the 99 percent movement with posters in their windows that read “Small Business: We Are the 99%.” Continue reading
We’re starting to get the 1% to pay attention. But this system’s still rigged against us: Wall Street is still making billions and taking our homes, and Congress can’t pass a jobs bill. To amplify the economic emergency, Thursday, November 17, has been declared a massive day of action to show “We Are The 99%”. We are proud of our Alliance affiliates who are organizing a Day of Action in their hometowns. Please join them and show your solidarity for the 99%:
On Saturday November 5th, the Alliance and its affiliates joined hundreds of thousands of activists from across the country for “Bank Transfer Day, a “deadline” of sorts calling for people to shift their funds from for-profit banking institutions to not-for-profit credit unions.
