When President Obama formally unveils his fiscal 2014 budget on Wednesday, a lot of the progressive movement focus will be on his plan to cut Social Security benefits through a reduced cost-of-living adjustment called the “chained CPI.” But there will be another scandalous policy decision reflected in that budget as well, and this one is [...]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter Hedrick Smith is definitely on a mission these days, barnstorming the country not only to promote his latest book, “Who Stole the American Dream?,” but to help us change the focus of the Washington political debate from debt and deficits to restoring the economic prosperity of working-class Americans. [...]
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The Congressional Progressive Caucus Back to Work Budget, as expected, did not prevail on the floor of the House of Representatives today. It went down to defeat, 84-327. In fact, it did not even win support from a majority of Democrats. But it did win a dramatic outpouring of support from ordinary Americans, which was [...]
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Adele Stan, the Washington editor of AlterNet, says that as crazy and extreme as some of what is said and done at the Conservative Political Action Conference seems to be, progressives should still be concerned about the ability of conservatives to win the political narrative. She explains why in my interview with her after her [...]
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There are 124 member of Congress who need to hear from you now about your support for the Congressional Progressive Caucus Back to Work Budget. Between now and an anticipated vote on Tuesday, these offices need to be flooded with calls from constituents saying, “Please vote for the Progressive Caucus Back to Work Budget.” This [...]
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We were hoping that the Senate Banking Committee would give Mary Jo White, President Obama’s choice to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a tough grilling at today’s confirmation hearing. What we got most often instead looked more like a friendly backyard grill party. She is “a diehard Yankees fan” who “likes to crack [...]
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One of the consequences of the federal spending sequester now in place is that $4 billion is being cut this year from transportation and infrastructure programs, according to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking member Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., including $1 billion from programs administered by the Department of Transportation. In a long menu of [...]
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The smackdown that President Obama delivered today to people who assert that he and others are exaggerating the impact of the sequestration for dramatic effect is worth publishing in full: Q: What do you say to the people like Mayor Bloomberg — who is no critic of yours in general; he endorsed you — who [...]
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I have a message for Tyler Cowen, the occasional New York Times columnist and George Mason University professor who was quoted this morning in a Times story on the effects of the upcoming federal spending sequester: We’re done taking our lumps. “It may be time to take some lumps,” Cowen says in his blithe dismissal [...]
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While progressive organizations, Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration correctly focus on the damage the federal spending cuts to be forced by the March 1 sequester will do to the overall economy and to vital government services, USAction is using Wednesday to underscore that there is some federal spending that is overdue to be [...]
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