Mayor Bloomberg and 17 mayors from cities across the country today wrote to Members of Congress to outline the importance of maintaining funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps).
SNAP is a critical program for 47 million Americans, particularly children and seniors, who rely on food stamps to protect against hunger and poverty during periods of financial hardship.
The proposed Farm Bill on the floor of the House of Representatives this week would cut over $20 billion from SNAP, severely impacting the ability of these vulnerable families to put nutritious meals on the table. Instead of cutting benefits for these families, Congress should look at ways to strengthen the SNAP program. They should test and evaluate approaches that would limit SNAP’s subsidization of products, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, that are contributing disproportionately to obesity and instead provide incentives to promote healthful eating through the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
In New York City more than $4 billion is spent annually on health care costs related to obesity and the SNAP program should be at the forefront of promoting good nutrition. Congress should also strengthen SNAP by partnering with state and local governments to enhance anti-fraud efforts among SNAP retailers. This will ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used for SNAP benefits and not lining the pockets of fraudulent retailers.
Win Without War Applauds House Passage of McGovern-Jones Afghanistan Amendment to the FY2014 NDAA
Washington, DC- Win Without War applauds the passage by the House of Representatives of legislation supporting a full and accelerated end to the war in Afghanistan and expressing the sense of Congress that any post-2014 US military force in Afghanistan requires new and explicit authorization.
“Today’s overwhelming vote is an important milestone as, for the first time, a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives joined with the American public in demanding an end to America’s longest war,” said Stephen Miles, Coalition Coordinator of Win Without War. “Unfortunately today’s vote comes too late for the more than 2,200 American servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.”
The bi-partisan amendment was sponsored by Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA) and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith (D-WA) and was adopted by a vote of 305-121. The amendment specifically strikes language from the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act that supported a continued US military presence post 2014 and expressed the sense of Congress that any such presence requires specific Congressional authorization by June 1, 2014.
Today’s vote was the culmination of several years of legislative efforts led by Reps. McGovern and Jones. After coming close to victory in 2011, House Republican leadership refused to allow a vote on similar legislation in 2012. Legislation modeled on this initiative and offered by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) was however passed by a vote of 62-33 in 2012 in the U.S. Senate.
“Today there are more than 60,000 troops in Afghanistan, fighting a battle that has no military solution. It’s long past time we brought them home before any more blood is shed and any more tax dollars are wasted,” said Miles.
“If the Democratic Party doesn’t stand with the poor and the vulnerable then I don’t know what the hell we stand for,” says Rep. Jim McGovern.
Meanwhile, on June 17, the earliest date that the House could take up the farm bill, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will hold a series of demonstrations across the country calling on influential Democratic members of Congress to prevent the cuts from taking place. PDA is holding actions at the district offices of Pelosi, Hoyer, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
On Monday evening, the Senate voted to cut roughly $4 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), m
Congressional Progressive Caucus member Rep. Jim McGovern speaks on House floor against cuts to food stamp program
ore commonly known by its former name, food stamps. The 66-27 vote on the farm bill—a massive omnibus bill that funds federal agricultural and food policy through the Department of Agriculture—could pave the way for even more substantial cuts to SNAP to take place. By the end of the month, the House is expected to take up its own version of the farm bill, which includes a staggering $20 billion in cuts to the program over the next ten years. Depending on how the House votes and the way in which the bills are reconciled, millions of food stamp beneficiaries could be at risk.
While not as drastic as the House’s version, which substantially alters eligibility requirements for the program and threatens to throw millions off the program’s rolls, the Senate’s cuts to SNAP are far from negligible. The legislation passed includes new limits on SNAP eligibility for college students and restrictions on the ability of states to disburse food stamp benefits in conjunction with the low-income heating-assistance program. It even includes a seemingly non-sequitur provision that would prevent lottery winners from receiving benefits.
Only two Democratic senators voted against the bill—Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island. Supporters of the Senate bill included liberals who oppose the cuts in the House version, like Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Many of these Democrats seemed willing to accept some SNAP cuts in exchange for making some progress on passing a farm bill.
“While I dislike the SNAP cuts in the Senate bill, I believe that Senator Stabenow”—the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee—“has done her best to minimize the SNAP cuts, especially relative to the House bill, which indiscriminately and needlessly slashes the SNAP program,” Harkin told In These Times.
The focus now turns to the House, which could take up its version of the farm bill as early as June 17. The massive cuts in its bill come from eliminating the “categorical eligibility” option offered by some states. The existing provision allows households with gross incomes above the eligibility requirement, but with disposable incomes below the federal poverty line, to qualify for SNAP benefits—a situation that often applies to households with high child-care or housing costs. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this change in eligibility requirements would eliminate benefits for almost two million Americans, many of whom are children and the elderly. Eliminating “categorical eligibility” would also mean that hundreds of thousands of children who receive free school meals—in particular, those whose eligibility is based on receipt of SNAP benefits—would lose access to that program.
One of the most common criticisms of SNAP, whose number of beneficiaries has increased by 70% as a result of the economic crisis, is that the program has become too bloated and increasingly subject to fraud. But Kari Hamerschlag, a senior food and agriculture analyst at the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research and advocacy organization that focuses on public health and the environment, disputed those charges. She acknowledged that unemployment and the expansion of jobs in low-wage sectors have meant that more people need food stamps than ever before. But she said the prominence of critiques that target the program’s effectiveness have more to do with the political interests of legislators than with any meaningful problems with SNAP.
“It’s actually one of the most efficient programs we have, and one of the programs with the least amount of fraud,” Hamerschlag said. “In fact, the crop insurance program [which both versions of the farm bill expand] has far more fraud than the SNAP program. The difference between the two is that if you receive SNAP benefits, there is a means test and it’s always the very poor that benefit from this program. It’s very different from the crop insurance program where the very rich can benefit from the program.”
At this stage, it will likely be difficult to prevent any cuts from taking place. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the cuts in Congress, conceded that “the odds are against us.” McGovern has co-authored an amendment to restore funding to SNAP, which has garnered the support of over 130 Democrats in the House so far.
In an interview with In These Times, McGovern blamed the Republican Party’s hostility toward social spending and general ignorance of the issues facing low-income people for the severity of the cuts. But he also expressed frustration with members of his own party for failing to speak out on the issue. “If the Democratic Party doesn’t stand with the poor and the vulnerable then I don’t know what the hell we stand for,” McGovern said.
Neither House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) nor House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) have signed on to the amendment calling to restore SNAP funding.
“There’s this view that there’s no political consequence, if you cut programs to hurt poor people, then you won’t lose an election,” McGovern said. “Whereas if you overturn a tax cut or if you vote against a trade agreement or vote against the gun lobby, there’s a political consequence. I think many of my colleagues are gambling that if they vote to chip away at the safety net in this country, then nobody will notice, nobody will care, [and] that they won’t lose their election.”
While the response to SNAP cuts in Washington has so far been limited, opponents of the cuts are planning on ramping up their pressure on Congress in the coming weeks.
Twenty-six members of Congress, including McGovern, have pledged to live on a SNAP budget between June 13 and 19. They will be joined by representatives from an array of anti-poverty organizations, like the Food Research and Action Center, NeighborWorks America, the American Association of Retired Persons and religious groups.
Meanwhile, on June 17, the earliest date that the House could take up the farm bill, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will hold a series of demonstrations across the country calling on influential Democratic members of Congress to prevent the cuts from taking place. PDA is holding actions at the district offices of Pelosi, Hoyer, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
In particular, PDA’s actions aim to connect the massive cuts to SNAP with a $5.1 billion increase in military spending the House is simultaneously considering as part of the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act.
“The organizing we’re doing is to make those connections to show wasteful military spending in the face of worsening unmet human needs,” PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter told In These Times.
PDA, like Rep. McGovern and others, is pushing to restore all funding to SNAP. If that effort fails, McGovern said he plans to oppose the bill in its entirety. In that scenario, blocking cuts to SNAP in the House could depend on an unlikely alliance of Democrats and Tea Party Republicans defeating the bill. Ironically, the House’s right-wing fringe—a voting bloc of about 50 Republicans who believe the spending cuts do not go far enough—may prove instrumental in postponing cuts to food stamps.
9:00am – Saturday June 15th
——- Penn Bistro 615 Penn Ave. New Brighton
Full buffet breakfast $6.00 Hear about a new corporate trade agreement and discuss what we can do. What is Fast Track legislation and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), aka “NAFTA on Steroids?” The TPP will override ‘Buy American’ as well as labor, environmental, safety, financial, drug, and agricultural US laws. Congressman Alan Grayson calls the TPP “Trade Treachery.”
Speaker: Mr. Don Siegel, IBEW 3rd District Int’l V.P.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago. Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us the possibility to roll back a key part of what has amounted to an “executive coup” against the US constitution.
Since 9/11, there has been, at first secretly but increasingly openly, a revocation of the bill of rights for which this country fought over 200 years ago. In particular, the fourth and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which safeguard citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government into their private lives, have been virtually suspended.
The government claims it has a court warrant under Fisa – but that unconstitutionally sweeping warrant is from a secret court, shielded from effective oversight, almost totally deferential to executive requests. As Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency analyst, put it: “It is a kangaroo court with a rubber stamp.”
For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense – as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time – as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads –they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.
Bipartisan Victory as Republicans and Democrats Agree Poor People Should Go Hungry
Experts say the safety net for the poor and vulnerable should be strengthened, not cut. Not even a little.
– Jon Queally, staff writer
The Senate pushed its version of a Farm Bill through a procedural cloture vote on Thursday, paving the way for a full Senate debate on the massive piece of legislation that will guide agricultural and food policy over the next five years.
A worker unloads a pallet of food at a warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/MCT) Advocates for the poor, however, are up in arms as representatives from both major political parties are readying dramatic cuts to the nation’s food assistance program that will negatively impact millions of the nation’s most vulnerable families.
As the new Farm Bill moves towards its final stage in the Senate, proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) threaten to cut at least $4 billion from the key program over the next decade.
Michigan’s Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who authored large portions of the Senate’s bill, has defended the slashed funding to SNAP by saying the cuts are not nearly as drastic as those put forth by the GOP-controlled House.
But anti-poverty advocates, not to mention numerous economists, say the current economy demands increased support for those living on or near the edge of hunger, not an erosion of the life-saving assistance.
Act to Expand Social Security Financing & Pass Improved Medicare for All
Four central labor councils have passed an identical resolution calling
upon the September AFL-CIO convention to organize an offensive campaign
for expanding Social Security financing and passing improved “Medicare For
All” legislation.
The resolution, which was initiated by the Troy Area Labor Council, has
also been passed by the Greater Louisville Central Labor Council, the
Greater Green Bay Central Labor Council and the Capital District Area
Labor Federation in Albany, NY.
The resolution calls upon the AFL-CIO to organize a Solidarity Day march
on Washington and on the West Coast “to demand an expansion of Medicare to
cover everyone and to defend Social Security by removing the cap on income
and tax all income in a similar fashion.”
The resolution calls for taxing all income for the purpose of Social
Security including dividends, interest, capital gains, and rental income
as well as removing the cap on wages and salaries now set at $113,700.
Currently, those who earn up to $113,700 pay 6.2% in Social Security taxes
on every dollar. Those who earn over that amount do not pay taxes on
their earnings above that level even if they make millions. Currently the
income of the wealthy in dividends, interest, capital gains, etc. is not
taxed at all for Social Security.
On Medicare the resolution calls for “implementing a single Payer Medicare
for All system as outlined in HR 676,” Congressman John Conyers’ single
payer legislation which has 42 House co-sponsors. The legislation would
cover everyone for all medically necessary care without co-pays,
deductibles or premiums. The removal of the private health insurance
industry would bring costs under control while expanding care.
In Minnesota, the Machinists’ State Retirees’ Council (IAM) is sending the
resolution to all central labor councils in that state. In Pittsburgh,
the president of a steelworkers local (USW) is submitting it to the
Allegheny County Labor Council.
The AFL-CIO convention opens September 8th in Los Angeles, CA. Central
Labor Councils, Area Labor Federations, and State AFL-CIO Federations as
well as international unions may submit resolutions. Resolutions can be
sent to Elizabeth Shuler, Sec.-Treas. AFL-CIO, 815 16th St. NW,
Washington, DC 20006. #30#
More than 150 arrested at NC legislature during Monday protests
Published: June 3, 2013 Updated 5 hours ago
A demonstrator is arrested for an act of civil disobedience inside the Legislative Building on Monday, June 3, 2013. The sixth in a series of protests led to the arrest of 151 people, the largest mass arrest since the N.C. NAACP began organizing the weekly civil disobedience events in April.
RALEIGH — Jennifer Ferrell stopped so her husband could take her picture. Then she waved goodbye to her 3-year-old twins and marched into the Legislative Building to get handcuffed.
“I’m excited. I’m not nervous,” the 34-year-old Raleigh resident said as she walked in a line of demonstrators. “I’m passionate. I’m not crazy.”
For weeks now, Ferrell heard about protesters getting arrested at the statehouse to demonstrate against the Republican majority’s legislative agenda. And like many Monday, she felt compelled to add her voice to the chants and her wrists to the handcuffs. “I knew it was time to stop watching and do it myself,” she said.
Authorities arrested 151 people in the rotunda between the legislative chambers during the latest “Moral Monday” protest – the largest mass arrest since the N.C. NAACP began organizing the weekly civil disobedience events in late April.
The number is nearly the equivalent to the arrests at the four prior protests combined and brings the total above 300 this session.
The crowd of spectators also exploded, with hundreds rallying on the mall outside the legislative building, listening to speakers condemn Republican legislative leaders. “That’s extreme,” shouted the Rev. William Barber, the N.C. NAACP president, into a loud speaker as he listed legislation Republicans have approved this year. “That’s immoral, and we must stand up and wake up right here, right now.”
Police estimated the crowd at 1,000 – about five times more than the last protest – but organizers counted 1,600.
“On Saturday, May 4th the New Hampshire AFL-CIO unanimously passed a
resolution supporting HR 676 and the adoption of a national single payer
health care system that covers all Americans for all necessary medical
care including prescription drugs and dental,” reported President Mark
MacKenzie.
New Hampshire is the 42nd State AFL-CIO Federation to endorse HR 676,
Expanded and Improved Medicare for All, sponsored by Congressman John
Conyers (D-MI).
“HR 676 will save hundreds of billions of dollars by eliminating the
private health insurance industry with its high overhead and profits,”
said MacKenzie.
“As President of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO I am proud to have our members
actively participate in the movement to win passage of HR 676 and to make
health care a human right.”
On May 21, 2013, HR 676 gained another co-sponsor in Congress with the
addition of Danny Davis (IL-7). HR 676 now has 42 co-sponsors.
The Labor Movement across Pennsylvania flexed its muscle on primary election day, propelling many of our endorsed candidates to victory. In municipal, school board, and judicial races, and in two special elections for state house, it was a good day for working families, and for the candidates who support us.
“Elections have consequences;” said Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale. “After seeing the consequences of recent election cycles, labor members and a majority of voters from across the Commonwealth stood together yesterday in so many of these elections, and delivered victories for Pennsylvania’s workers.”
In the special election for House District 42, Dan Miller (D – Allegheny) won a commanding 20-point victory over his opponent to fill the seat of newly elected State Senator Matt Smith. Kevin Schreiber (D – York), running in the 95th House District to replace Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, also won on Tuesday by an impressive 15-point margin.
“The voters in HD 42 and HD 95 spoke loud and clear, in what will become a referendum opposing the failed policies of the Corbett Administration, in favor of a pro-worker, pro-community agenda;” added Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder. “The PA AFL-CIO would like to give special credit to the Allegheny and York / Adams Central Labor Councils, who spearheaded these Special Elections through their early recommendations and affiliate-field mobilization.”
Central Labor Council bodies from across the Commonwealth also endorsed in many local elections, and worked hard to propel their candidates to victory.
A worker unloads a pallet of food at a warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/MCT) Advocates for the poor, however, are up in arms as representatives from both major political parties are readying dramatic cuts to the nation’s food assistance program that will negatively impact millions of the nation’s most vulnerable families.
The Labor Movement across Pennsylvania flexed its muscle on primary election day, propelling many of our endorsed candidates to victory. In municipal, school board, and judicial races, and in two special elections for state house, it was a good day for working families, and for the candidates who support us.
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 