Blog
Tell Mitch McConnell: Stop Blocking Change in Iraq
Americans United for Change released a new ad, asking Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to change the course in Iraq.
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Americans United For Change Web Team | 03.27.07 | | Link to this post
Know your Congressman?
Americans United for Change is running targeted ads against Congressmembers who voted against the Employee Free Choice Act.
You can hear the ads for Jim Gerlach (PA-6) and Randy Kuhl (NY-29) here:
To learn more about Gerlach and Kuhl, click the links below: (PDF)
Americans United For Change Web Team | 03.09.07 | | Link to this post
In the first 2 hours ...
Americans United For Change's Brad Woodhouse recently appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight:
AUFC Web Team | 01.04.07 | | Link to this post
Announcing the CAN Campaign
This week, Americans United For Change launched the Change America Now (CAN) Campaign -- and we think it’s going to be even bigger than Grandpa Gorilla.
We just sent the following announcement to the Americans United For Change community:
Dear Friend,
Now that the dust has settled, I want you to know about the next big thing for Americans United For Change. And when the last "big thing" was a fifty-foot purple gorilla, you know the next one won't disappoint.
Welcome to the CAN campaign, Americans United For Change's joint venture with more than 40 of the nation's leading progressive organizations. We have all come together to do what we do best: hold legislators accountable for their positions, challenge President Bush and push a progressive agenda. And with so many promises made in the last election cycle, our job has never been more important.
The call for change on Election Day was loud -- now it's up to us to make sure our Representatives and Senators hear our demands. In the best spirit of the Holiday Season, take a moment to send them a CANgram now:
http://www.cancampaign.org/cangram
We cannot allow Congress to squander such an historic opportunity. Thanks to new leadership, we can actually raise the minimum wage, fix Medicare Part D, make college affordable, and promote sustainable energy -- and that's just the beginning!
That's why we've joined groups like USAction and Campaign for America's Future in launching the Change America Now campaign (CAN). Using every tool at our disposal, we're going to put pressure on legislators to get with our program and support the progressive economic elements of the 100 Hours Agenda that House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has set out:
Make college more affordable by cutting the interest rates for student loans in half
Lower the cost of prescription drugs by directing Medicare to use its purchasing power to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies as part of Part D
Repeal tax breaks and other multi-billion dollar subsidies for Big Oil and invest in alternative sources of energy
Raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour
Sound good to you? Then tell your representatives in Washington now:
http://www.cancampaign.org/cangram
What a wild ride it's been. When Americans United For Change first started out, we chased Rick Santorum, President Bush and their privatizing cronies around the nation with Grandpa Gorilla to sound the alarm about their effort to dismantle Social Security through privatization. And it worked!
The issue caught fire around the nation, costing some of privatization's biggest proponents their jobs. But that was just the icing on the cake: now that we don't have to stop a rubber-stamp Congress from hurting the country, we can actually push the House and Senate to do its job and pass a range of bills to help America's working families.
Get started now:
http://www.cancampaign.org/cangram
Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Jeremy Funk, Americans United For Change
Americans United For Change Web Team | 12.14.06 | | Link to this post
Grandson Gorilla on Fox News
Brit Hume, of Fox News, recently reported on the future of Social Security and Grandson Gorilla made an appearance. Check out the video below:
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.30.06 | | Link to this post
Missouri Voters: The Ball is in Your Court
Jim Talent knows a good deal when he sees one -- that's why he doesn't hesitate to take massive pay raises, while hundred of thousands of his constituents work for minimum wage. And Senator Talent continues to oppose raising the minimum wage for working families, while his salary has gone up by over $30,000. From http://www.missouriprovote.come:
The Missouri Citizen Education Fund released the following press release detailing an important state proposition that would raise the minimum wage in Missouri from $5.15 to $6.50. Check it out below:
New MCEF Report Compares Congressional and State Legislative Pay
Increases to Increases in Minimum Wage Pay
(Jefferson City, MO): State Representative John Bowman and State
Representative Paul LeVota joined Ron Berry of Missouri Citizen
Education Fund (MCEF) today at the Capitol to release a new report
that shows how elected officials from the US President to Missouri
State Legislators have received increases in pay to accommodate higher
cost of living over the past nine years while minimum wage earners
have received none. The report, titled Lawmakers Getting Ahead While
Leaving Missouri Minimum Wage Workers Behind, also shows how
Congressional pay has increased by $31,600 through automatic
adjustments from 1997-2006. This amount is almost three times what a
full time minimum wage workers earns in a year.
Reps. Bowman and LeVota co-sponsored a bill to increase Missouri's
minimum wage during the 2006 Legislative Session in order to increase
the hourly wage from $5.15 to $6.50 and to index it to keep up with
inflation in the future. "Minimum wage has lost its purchasing power
since the last time it was increased in 1997. Food, gas,
rent-everything has gotten much more expensive and a minimum wage
paycheck won't stretch far enough anymore to pay for basic
necessities. Congress gets regular raises, the Governor receives
increases, state legislators receive increases-it only makes sense
that minimum wage earners should receive an increase as well," said
Representative Bowman.
"Elected officials work hard for their salaries, but so do minimum
wage earners. This is an issue of common sense fairness. President
Bush's salary has doubled from $200,000 to $400,000 since he took
office in 2001. It's been almost twice as long since minimum wage
workers have had any increase at all," said Ron Berry, spokesman for
MCEF. The last time Congress increased minimum wage was 1997. This
is the second largest stretch of years that minimum wage has gone
without any adjustment for inflation since 1938 when it was
established.
Proposition B, on the November 7th ballot, offers Missouri voters the
chance to vote directly on raising minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50
starting in January 2007. Proposition B would also index the state
minimum wage to CPI, allowing for annual adjustments to accommodate
impact 256,000 minimum wage earners in Missouri. Typically, families
with minimum wage earners depend on those earners for over half of the
family's total earnings. Almost half of families with an affected
worker depend solely on the wages of the minimum wage earner.
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.27.06 | | Link to this post
Americans United For Change in the News
CBS news reported on President Bush's penchance for the phrase "Stay the Course," and used our TV ad "Change the Course" in their piece. Check out the story:
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.26.06 | | Link to this post
It’s Time for a New Course
Check out this great video we found on another website:
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.24.06 | | Link to this post
Another Raid on Social Security?
President Bush is at it again.
The President just announced in a recent interview that he will try to renew his efforts to privatize social security. When will he learn it isn't smart to monkey with our social security?
Last year, Americans United For Change successfully stopped his relentless schemes to privatize social security, and this year will be no different. Check out the interview and see President Bush make his outlandish claims:
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.24.06 | | Link to this post
A Message from Nancy Pelosi
Here at Americans United For Change, we know what is at stake in our country this November. Too many governmental leaders have misplaced priorities -- and its time for a change. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, also believes that we need a new direction in our country and she sent a message to our Americans United For Change community. Here is the message:
Dear Friend,
You know how high the stakes are -- so I'll get right to the point: there's never been a more critical time to highlight the priorities everyday Americans share.
Right now, working families suffer because corporate lobbyists write the laws. Our seniors can't get the drugs they need because the drug companies get everything they want. And President Bush continues to threaten one of our society's greatest accomplishments -- Social Security -- with his risky privatization schemes.
Congress needs to focus on an agenda that benefits the American people:
- Impose new rules and regulations to break the link between lobbyists and legislation
- Allow the government to negotiate with drug companies and fix Medicare Part D
- Stop Social Security and Medicare privatization plans in their tracks
- Raise the minimum wage to $7.25
- Cut the interest rates on student loans in half
- Roll back subsidies to Big Oil and gas companies
- Enact all the recommendations made by the independent 9/11 Commission
And that all needs to be done in the first 100 hours!
Working together, we will make that happen. Please help Americans United For Change today:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/100hrs
There's a lot at stake in the coming weeks, but we must never lose focus on the task at hand: building a better country. Your work changes the national debate, raising awareness about the misplaced priorities of the current leadership.
Last year, Americans United For Change led the national media campaign against Social Security privatization -- and won.
Now, with so much more at stake, will you help us win again?
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/100hrs
Onward to victory.
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Americans United For Change Web Team | 10.23.06 | | Link to this post