Cities are already suffering from budget shortfalls, decreasing tax revenues, foreclosures, and unemployment. Now they’re being hit hard by cuts to the federal block grant program. From the New York Times:
The shrinking federal program, called Community Development Block Grants, was devised by the Nixon administration to bypass state governments and send money directly to big cities, which were given broad leeway to decide how to spend it. This year the federal government is giving out just $2.9 billion — a billion dollars less than it gave two years ago, and even less than it gave during the Carter administration, when the money went much further.
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Cuts to the block grants program were cited in a recent report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which noted that the number of vacant properties in America has jumped to 10 million from 7 million in 2000, threatening to attract crime and cause blight. “With sustained high foreclosure and unemployment rates and further declining home values, local officials said that continued, flexible C.D.B.G. funding would help them maintain efforts to address vacant properties in their areas,” the report noted.
Stabilizing neighborhoods that have been hard hit by foreclosure seems like a really good idea. Over 10 million vacant properties in the US is a recipe for disaster.
But mayors see it as an invaluable tool — one of the few federal programs that sends money directly to big cities, without going through the middlemen at the state level. Before its creation, mayors had to apply for small grants in many specific areas — leading to complaints of the this-food-is-terrible-and-the-portions-are-so-small variety. Tom Cochran, the executive director of the United States Conference of Mayors, said that mayors were thrilled when the Nixon administration agreed to consolidate the various grants into a single block grant program, which could be used broadly for community development, with local officials choosing their priorities. It was signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford.
It makes sense to let the cities decide what their own needs are, and not force them into one size fits all solutions.
The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses. CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the Nation.
With poverty and homelessness on the rise, it seems more than a little short sighted to cut the funding for this program, especially given that this funding is a proven source of job creation.
He beat out some tough competition, but Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart’s board of directors, is the top vote getter in the 11th annual Jobs with Justice (JWJ) Scrooge of the Year election.
Walton deemed a “billionaire bully” by Brave New Films, has an estimated net worth around $21 billion, JWJ reports. As a family, the Waltons control 49 percent of Wal-Mart and are, says JWJ, the richest family in the United States, with a combined net worth is $93 billion. The Walton Family has as much wealth as the bottom 30 percent of American families combined—more than 35 million families.
The family’s dividends from their Wal-Mart stock alone are more than $2 billion a year. Just using their dividends, they could ensure that a million Wal-Mart employees make at least $12 an hour instead of the current average of $8.81 an hour.
Just last month Wal-Mart, under Rob’s leadership, slashed health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees and their families—right before the holidays. What a scrooge!
Click here to learn more about the runners up, the American Legislative Exchange Council, Publix supermarkets and Eddie Hull University of Massachusetts director of housing and residential life.
Update 3:55 p.m.: It looks like the House Republicans have bowed to overwhelming public pressure and agreed to the short-term extension.
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“Have we become so dysfunctional that even when we agree on things we can’t do it?” President Barack Obama asked today. It’s a good question.
We’re still not really close to an agreement on an extension of unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut that will expire in ten days. The easy answer is for the House to pass the short-term extension passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin in the Senate—but the Tea Party radicals who keep Speaker John Boehner on a short leash are preventing that. The President is pushing hard to try and break the deadlock this week.
The consequences of failing to pass an extension? Millions of people cut off from the lifeline of unemployment insurance, and 160 million people facing a payroll tax hike. “”So many of these debates get reduced to which party is winning and which party is losing,” Obama said in a statement today, “but we should remind ourselves this is about the American people.”
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Obama said that more than 30,000 people have written in to explain what the end of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits would means to them. For working-class and middle-class families, those dollars represent heating oil, food, gas for your car to get you to and from work, or school supplies. For the economy as a whole, it’s fewer dollars that van flow to local businesses.
“This is exactly why people get so frustrated with Washington,” Obama said. He’s right. It’s time for Boehner to get it together and pass the Senate’s bipartisan compromise, and then get to work on an extension for the rest of 2012.
If you thought the end of “Recall Summer” meant the end of the Main Street Blog’s Wisconsin Roundup, think again. With over 500,000 Wisconsinites stepping up to oust Governor Walker with more on the way, the news is coming fast and furious.
If 2011 was Emperor Walker’s first strike, 2012 may be the year the Badgers Strike Back. This is your Wisconsin Roundup:
• Our first catch of the day. Accompanying the effort to kick out Gov. Walker and Lt. Gov. Kleefisch are several parallel efforts to complete the take-back of the Wisconsin Senate. In August, only two State Senators were replaced, giving the Walker Republicans a one-vote majority – and that’s only if you count Dale Schultz, the moderate Republican who opposed the union-busting bill. With renewed energy among Wisconsin workers, organizers are looking to finish the job.
As of Sunday morning volunteers for the campaign to recall Sen. Van Wanggaard of the 21st district have collected at least 16,000 petition signatures, more than the 15,500 that would make him eligible for recall.
Like the recall targets last summer, Wanggaard’s support of Walker’s union-busting Act 10 spurred a great deal of anger against him. But as the Caledonia Patch reports, voters are also upset with the Racine area senator for his votes for Concealed Carry and the voter ID bill, as well as his promotion of charter schools while cutting public education.
Other recall targets include Sens. Pam Galloway (R-Wausau) and Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls). However, some organizers are after a bigger prize.
• The end of Fitzwalkerstan? When Walker gained nationwide infamy for his anti-worker activities, two brothers with close ties to Walker also got some unwanted attention: Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald and his brother Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). The radical agendas of the three men lead some in the Wisconsin blogosphere to joke that the state should change its name to “Fitzwalkerstan.”
While Jeff is now pursuing a run for U.S. Senate, Scott is facing a very grassroots recall challenge driven mainly by a woman from Fort Atkinson named Lori Compas. Like Wanggaard, Fitzgerald’s support for Act 10 isn’t the only motivator:
“I think a lot of people remember the outrage that they would break the law and Scott Fitzgerald himself would break the law,” Compas said. “He broke the Open Meetings Law. When you break the law as Senate majority leader while acting in your official capacity, you’ve got to answer for that.”
Not to mention the Scott’s appearance on Fox News, when he revealed that the Wisconsin GOP’s effort to bust unions was ultimately about defeating President Obama in 2012, not jobs. And not to mention the Fitzgerald Brothers paying lawyers $400,000 of taxpayer money to get a redistricting map that would keep them in power.
• Walker is Number One…in job loss. Walker and Co. are raining millions of dollars to defend his non-record on television. As one of our blog commenters put it: “I told my husband a few hours ago (as we saw yet another proWalker commercial) to make sure there wasn’t anything heavy near the TV because I’m ready to toss a brick right at the screen.”
But while consultants and ad-makers are getting rich off of Walker’s agenda, actual Wisconsinites continue to hurt. For the fifth month in a row, the state of Wisconsin lost jobs. Remember that the controversial collective bargaining rights-stripping law went into effect in June. That makes Gov. Walker Number One in job losses in the country.
Assembly Member Peter Barca, who you might remember from this video, took to Daily Kos to call out Walker on touting his agenda all over the airwaves while failing to live up to his key campaign promises on jobs:
The day the jobs numbers came out, Democrats responded directly to the figures.
Meanwhile, the governor put out releases about appointing a new executive director at the Office of Justice Assistance, signing legislation relating to unlicensed drivers and one about saving Charlotte the Deer from being killed by his Department of Natural Resources.
Instead of criticizing the national economy, or the methodology used by the federal government or other states, or my press release – it is time for Gov. Walker to tell the people of Wisconsin why he promised them 250,000 jobs and has given them nothing but excuses for five months straight.
As 2011 comes to a close, Wisconsinites have an amazing year to look back on. Let’s hope that in 2012, they make history once again.
The following is a statement from Working America.
The recent move to block unemployment insurance, which is set to expire December 31st, will devastate millions of working families already struggling to get by in this Wall Street-created economic crisis.
As House Republicans take leave of their duties to the American people, and big banks and financiers enjoy their bailouts and record profits, jobless Americans will continue this holiday week and next to demand responsible governance from their lawmakers who claim to hold their interests at heart.
In places like New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon and more, working families will gather together, make phone calls, and send messages to lawmakers pushing for immediate extension to unemployment insurance – an uncontroversial measure that keeps jobless people afloat in this scant job market and provides immediate economic stimulus to communities.
Fearing they didn’t have the votes to defeat a bipartisan Senate compromise that would extend unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers and a payroll tax cut for workers, Republican House leaders scuttled a vote on the bill today. Then they left town for the holidays. Both the UI program and the tax cut expire Dec. 31.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) previously indicated he supported the compromise that passed the Senate 89-10 with 39 Republican votes. However, when the Republican tea party wing vociferously objected, he changed his tune and opposed the bill. Republican leaders then blocked an up or down vote and 229 Republicans voted to kill Senate bill through parliamentary trickery.
Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), says that the compromise was negotiated “with the involvement and blessing of the Speaker of the House.” She also says that Senate bill rebuffed attempts in an earlier House bill that scapegoated unemployed workers and “enacted dangerous changes to the basic UI program which undermined its very purpose and effectiveness.”
While a two-month deal is not ideal, time is running out to protect the unemployed from being victims of the worst partisan games Congress has ever seen. Congress is preparing to recess for five weeks. By the time members return to D.C. to begin negotiations anew, close to 1.8 million long-term unemployed will lose their only life-line. As Speaker Boehner well knows, this stalling tactic virtually guarantees that benefits for the long-term unemployed, those already hit hardest by the recession and slow recovery, will lapse for a dangerously long period of time.
Thanksgiving feels like it was just yesterday, but for many of us the holiday season means another trip to spend time with friends and relatives from across the political spectrum. And no amount of Christmas ham, fruitcake, and cookies shaped like snowflakes can quell the ideological battles that can erupt at family gatherings.
Once again, we want you to go in armed with the right information. When Uncle Fred starts talking about what he heard on Fox News, and Aunt Maggie starts her spiel about what Linda told her about Nancy Pelosi at the grocery store, we want you to be ready to respond.
And the events of December have given you even more ammo. When the brother-in-law comes at you with some Rush Limbaugh, ask him why House Republicans don’t want to cut taxes for the middle class, but they fight tooth and nail against a surtax on multi-millionaires. Dad says the Affordable Care Act is a disaster? Talk about the 2.5 million young adults who now have health coverage. Gingrich fans at the table? Ask how they feel about his views on child labor laws.
Remember: You’re not necessarily going to change Uncle Fred’s mind over one plate of roasted chestnuts. But you might get someone listening to your conversation to think a little bit differently about unions, or Occupy Wall Street, or Paul Ryan’s attempts to take Grandma’s medicine. Try as they might, Fox and (their) Friends can’t shake basic values of fairness, hard work, and a strong American Middle Class out of your relatives’ heads. If you can make the case that, as Paul Wellstone said, “we all do better when we all do better,” there aren’t many arguments you can lose.
1. Keep the tone conversational and natural and ask evocative questions. Does your uncle want to abolish the Department of Education? End government regulations of anything – including inspections of the meat you’re eating? You’re unlikely to change his mind. But you can keep the tone conversational and natural with your other relatives. Ranting about issues usually doesn’t work and often ends up polarizing people. Ask evocative questions that everyone, even the uncle, can talk about.
Example: “CEOs are making record profits right now. So how do more tax breaks for them create jobs?”
2. Make an observation, or get a fact out there that is relevant to the conversation. At the end of the day, your goal should be to insert facts and proven statements into their thoughts so that the next time your sparring partner is talking about this issue, they have new ideas to consider.
Example: “The richest 5 percent of households obtained roughly 82 percent of all the nation’s gains in wealth between 1983 and 2009. The bottom 60 percent of households actually had less wealth in 2009 than in 1983, meaning they did not participate at all in the growth of wealth over this period.
3. Talk about issues, not politicians. While Governor Rick Perry’s memory lapses and the latest political gaffe are easy fodder, issues are far more important.
Example: “Wall Street control of government is a big problem. When there’s a revolving door between lobbyists on K Street and Capitol Hill, you have total corporate control of government.”
4. End with a solution.
Example: “We need to invest in jobs, not corporations. See our 9 Demands for the 99 Percent a list of concrete steps the 99 percent want to take to keep the movement going. Or add your own demand.
Wondering why this Congress has an approval rating that has hit a historical-record low of 11 percent? Just check out the surreal means by which the mad Tea Party that runs the House Republican caucus halted unemployment insurance and middle-class tax cuts today.
In less than two weeks, the payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits will both expire—a major hit to the economy next year. But the House, in this vote, showed themselves perfectly comfortable with that outcome.
As I go through the details of how this economic relief measure actually went down, let’s remember that this is not some abstract matter of legislative arcana, or a purely political battle. This is about the payroll taxes paid by 160 million working people and the unemployment insurance that millions of families of the jobless depend on. This may seem like a silly Washington story, but when you look at the actual lives and pocketbooks of working-class and middle-class people, it’s a devastating failure.
As I’ve said before, there should be an easy answer here: everyone in Congress should be able to agree to cleanly extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance. The Senate tried and failed, thanks to Republican filibusters, to pass longer-term extensions of these provisions on their own and through the American Jobs Act. Finally, this weekend, they passed a bipartisan two-month extension that would give them time to continue to negotiate over the long-term options.
That was the theory, anyway, until the hard right of the House GOP caucus decided not to accept the bipartisan deal. Late last night, Speaker John Boehner planned to bring the Senate bill to the floor with the intent of defeating it—but was afraid he wouldn’t have the votes to kill it outright.
All that the House has to do to make the bill officially ready to be signed into law is hold a simple up-or-down vote on the Senate’s bipartisan bill. But during a 3 a.m. meeting of the House Rules Committee last night, the Republican majority devised a different plan — twist the voting procedure so that the Senate’s bill can be rejected while allowing the Republicans to save face by technically voting “aye.”
And the plan succeeded. In a 229-193 vote, the House Republicans killed the bipartisan Senate bill, in a downright acrobatic feat of legislative farce:
They didn’t give that bill an up-or-down vote. They gave it a down-or-down vote. The question before the House wasn’t “do you agree with the Senate bill?” It was “do you disagree with the Senate bill?” Thus a “yes” vote was actually a vote against extending the payroll tax cut and vice-versa; and even if the majority of the House had supported the Senate bill, it wouldn’t have passed. It was set up to fail.
So what happens now? The Senate is out of session, which means the House is kicking the issue back to an empty chamber. The House Republicans are insisting on the passage of their own bill, which would have cut 3.3 million people off of unemployment benefits, among other bad provisions.
There are 11 days to go, and Christmas hits at the end of this week. People who are depending on the economic boost of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance—like Working America’s 3 million members, half a million of whom are unemployed—can’t wait around for the House Republicans to grow up. Is it any wonder that 9 out of 10 Americans aren’t happy with their representatives?
The Obama Administration has proposed some new regulations to protect home care workers. From the New York Times:
Labor unions and advocates for low-wage workers have pushed for the changes, contending that the 37-year-old exemption improperly swept these workers, who care for many elderly and disabled Americans, into the same “companion” category as baby sitters. The administration’s move calls for home care aides to be protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.
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These workers, according to industry figures, generally earn $8.50 to $12 an hour, compared with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The White House said 92 percent of these workers were women, nearly 30 percent were African-American and 12 percent Hispanic. Nearly 40 percent rely on public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.
While industry experts say an overwhelming majority are paid at least the minimum wage, many do not receive a time-and-a-half premium when they work more than 40 hours a week. Twenty-two states do not include home health care workers under their wage and hour laws.
Home care workers assist elderly people with all aspects of their lives, including bathing, exercise, and remembering to take medications. They may also prepare meals, and do housework. They may be dealing with clients in varying stages of dementia. There’s a great deal of skill required to do this kind of work.
These are also workers who don’t get sick days, any sort of benefits, and if their client dies – well, that’s just too bad. No more paychecks for them.
Predictably, the opposition is gearing up:
“The president’s goal is commendable, but the likely result of this new rule is reduced hours for home care workers and higher costs for taxpayers,” said John Kline, a Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Work Force Committee, and Tim Walberg, a Minnesota Republican who heads the panel’s subcommittee on work force protections. “Moreover, our nation’s elderly may pay the greatest price in the form of more costly services and fewer opportunities to obtain the care they need in the comfort of their own homes.”
In other words: Caregivers are good enough to take care of the elderly, but what they do isn’t real work, therefore they don’t deserve the sort of protections that other workers are entitled to.
