Funding Priorities Based on American Values
A budget is a reflection of our priorities as a nation. America's working middle class has sacrificed enough with drastic cuts to services. Meanwhile, 2010 tax revenues were the lowest in over three generations, and tax rates are at historic lows. The surefire way to balance the budget is to create jobs, close corporate tax loopholes and require the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. We have a revenue problem and a priorities problem — not a spending problem.
- Feb 10Letter to U.S. House Urging Extension of Unemployment Insurance and Payroll Tax CutBoth initiatives are essential to sustaining the economic recovery that appears to be gaining some momentum.
- Feb 06AFSCME letter opposing Line-Item VetoProposed budget changes would adversely impact jobs, education, health care, training and other vital services.
- Feb 02AFSCME letter opposing unbalanced budget reformsBills would undermine Congress’ attempts to craft budgets that accurately reflect the economy and national needs.
Fighting Back
2011 was a pivotal year for the working middle class. It started with the scapegoating of public service workers for the country's economic woes, and continued with unprecedented attacks on...
One Nation Working Together 10-2-2010
Thousands of AFSCME members participated in the One Nation Working Together march and rally in Washington, DC on October 2, 2010.
Doors
AFSCME's latest television spot, entitled "Doors," focuses on the choice voters face in the November mid-term election. More here: http://www.afscme.org/press/29088.cfm The television spot will run for two weeks in media...
Hey Republicans, Thanks for Throwing American Workers Under the Bus
Just in time for Labor Day, AFSCME has released a new video reminding voters of the critical choice they face in the November elections. You see, this summer Congress handed...
- Feb 08 Unemployment Insurance Under Attack, Again Two-month stopgap extension set to expire, ending benefits for 6 million unemployed workers. (Blog)
- Feb 06 New Poll: Americans Concerned About Unfair Tax Policy That Aids the Wealthy Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Americans want a tax system that’s fair to everyone.... (Blog)
- Jan 27 Mitt Romney and the 1% If they have their way, Mitt Romney and the wealthiest people in America won't have... (Blog)
- Jan 25 Tax Fairness Is Common Sense Mitt Romney’s federal tax return proves the tax system unfairly benefits the super-rich. (Blog)
- Jan 23 Middle Class Surprised to Hear Santorum Say They Don’t Exist GOP Presidential candidates charge ‘class warfare’ to protect their own interests. (Blog)
- Jan 19 Mitt’s 15 Percent Tax Rate Highlights Tax Burden of America’s Middle Class Romney’s speaking fees alone place the mega-millionaire in the top 1 percent nationwide. (Blog)
- Jan 09 Shortchange on Taxes Means Shortchange on the Middle Class New IRS report shows a growing federal tax gap of $450 billion a year. (Blog)
- Dec 21 Less Holiday Cheer for Working Families Thanks to House GOP Republicans reject a bipartisan Senate compromise to extend unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut.... (Blog)
- Dec 09 Video: Debunking GOP Claims of Voter Fraud On MSNBC, Sec.-Treas. Saunders explains how the Republican agenda threatens working families. (Blog)
- Dec 02 Jobless to Congress: Extend Unemployment Benefits More than 2 million unemployed Americans could lose their safety net in February. (Blog)
- Nov 30 AFSCME Speaks Out Against Perilous Legislation A constitutional balanced budget amendment would force devastating spending cuts totaling $1.5 trillion. (Blog)
- Nov 29 Most Vulnerable Hurt By Attacks Against the Public Sector When nothing gets done on jobs legislation, the working middle class gets hit hard. (Blog)
- Oct 06 Why the GOP Won’t Vote on the American Jobs Act Putting more people to work is the last thing House Republicans want to accomplish. (Daily Kos)
- Sep 27 State Worker Benefits Threatened as U.S. Supercommittee Considers Cuts A congressional supercommittee is seeking another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, which may cut deeply... (Bloomberg)
- Aug 03 Labor Steamed at Debt Deal, But Do They Blame Obama? President Obama met for more than hour with the executive committee of the AFL-CIO Tuesday... (ABC News)
- Aug 02 Stalemate in Senate Leaves 4,000 Out of Work at F.A.A. Senate negotiators tried and failed on Tuesday to end a stalemate over temporary financing for... (New York Times )
- Aug 02 Fewer cops, more potholes: How debt deal could hit states hardest The debt-and-deficit bill will slash aid to states already reeling from the recession. (Christian Science Monitor )
- Jul 22 Unions Go After Gang Of Six Deficit-Cutting Plan: 'It Would Kill Jobs' Unions are coming down hard on the so-called "Gang of Six" deficit-cutting plan, blasting the... (Huffington Post)
- Jul 14 Why Unemployment Makes the Tea Party Happy Tea party Republicans see political benefit from increasing unemployment with Pres. Obama at the helm.... (Firedoglake)
- Jul 13 Debt Ceiling Medicaid Cuts: Union Lobbies Democratic Senators For Help AFSCME urges moderate Senate Democrats to reject debt ceiling proposals that would cut Medicaid funding.... (Huffington Post)
- Jul 10 Labor angered by Obama's willingness to cut Social Security in debt ceiling deal “I think this is a huge political mistake,” said AFSCME legislative director Chuck Loveless. (The Hill)
- Jun 24 Austerity Is Already Here, and It's Killing the Recovery State and local government spending has already declined, dampening growth and hiring. (The Atlantic)
- May 18 Unions to lawmakers: Take away corporate tax expenditures to pay down deficit Organized labor and other groups are pushing Congress to eliminate corporate tax breaks and use... (The Hill)
- May 15 Federal worker pensions emerge as target in debt-reduction talks Republicans have proposed saving more than $120 billion over the next decade by requiring the... (Washington Post)
