Current Actions

Bring our troops home now!
This is critical. The House is expected to vote as early as TODAY on McGovern's amendment calling for an end to the Afghanistan War.

After more than ten years, hundreds of billions in U.S. taxpayer money, the lives of nearly 2,000 American service members, and countless Afghan lives, it's clear that a continued American occupation is not in either nation's interest.

Send a message to your Representative in Congress and tell them to bring our troops home now.
Please share your story
Within the next six weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a landmark ruling on health care reform. No one knows how the nine justices will rule. We need to be prepared for anything.

Immediately after the Court rules, both sides will engage in a Herculean effort to influence public opinion – which in turn will influence the outcome in November as well as efforts to once again pass health care reform next year if needed. The best way that we can influence the court of public opinion is to show what is lost because of the Court’s ruling.

Can you please share your story with us?

We will then share your stories with the media, with our affiliates (all of which are preparing instant demonstrations following the Court’s ruling) and we will share them with members of Congress and candidates for Congress. Your story can help sway the country, so please tell it.

When you share your story, please be specific about how the health care reform bill has helped you or your family.
Tell the GOP: Don't play politics with women's lives!
Republicans' efforts to exclude certain types of victims from protections are absolutely appalling.

Every woman in America deserves protection from domestic abuse, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. We can’t put some women in danger just because they aren’t the right type of victim.

Will you send a message to your Representative in Congress and tell them to support the real VAWA bill introduced by Gwen Moore (D-WI) — not the homophobic, racist, anti-victim Republican version in the House?
Don't let student loan rates double on July 1st!
With tuition debt now outpacing credit card debt in America, we need to make college more affordable — not less. But Republicans would rather almost 8 million students see their student loan rates double than close a tax loophole that allows the ultra-rich to cheat on their taxes. That's just wrong.

If Congress doesn't act soon, the average student will see on increase of $1,000 in interest payments — pricing out many hardworking students from pursuing their dreams.

With the Senate scheduled to vote tomorrow, we need you to take action TODAY. Tell the Senate to not let student loan rates double before it’s too late!
End the War NOW - not in 2014
At a time when we are forced to make tough sacrifices at home — we simply cannot afford more years of elevated troop levels in Afghanistan. While we commend the President's leadership in pushing for an end to the Afghanistan war, the President's timetable for withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan needs to be accelerated.

Our brave sons and daughters have put their lives on the line for far too long. Let's bring them home. Tell Congress to end the war NOW.

Over one million individuals and small business owners will benefit from the creation of the Health Benefits Exchange in Illinois. The Exchange will operate as a marketplace to compare and buy quality and affordable health insurance. Governor Quinn has the power to establish the Exchange by Executive Order.

Will you sign our petition calling on Governor Quinn to issue an Executive Order today?

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Renew the Violence Against Women Act now!
Republicans' attempts to defeat the Violence Against Women Act are just sickening. Do Republicans actually believe some women shouldn't be protected from violence?

Violence against a woman — any woman — is always wrong. It shouldn't matter her sexual orientation, whether she is a legal resident or a Native American — if a woman's life is in danger, law enforcement should have the power to use all the tools at their disposal to ensure her safety.

Will you send a message to your Senators and tell them to stop playing politics with women's lives and renew the Violence Against Women Act now?
Don't let student loan rates double on July 1st!
Americans now owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, with total outstanding student loan debt in America expected to exceed $1 trillion this year. But the problem will only get worse if Congress doesn't stop student loan rates from doubling. College will be out of reach for more and more students because of unaffordability and cost. And that's a big problem since college grads are significantly more likely to have full-time employment than those who don't attend.

If we are going to turn our economy around, we need to invest in our students and tackling skyrocketing tuition and interest rates is the way to do it. Will you tell Congress to not let student loan rates double before it's too late?
Stop Funding the F-35 Now!
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the perfect example of waste and abuse in the military budget. With repeated delays and skyrocketing costs, ten years after the program began, we have little to show for it.

Current estimates place the lifetime operational cost at $1.5 trillion, more than three times the original estimate of $420 billion. That's $18,439.33 per taxpayer!

Please sign our petition calling on Congress and the President to stop funding this unnecessary piece of military hardware and start focusing on nation-building at home.

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Tell them we want Food not Bombs
In a bid to protect the bloated Pentagon budget from any cuts whatsoever — Republicans are pushing for drastic cuts to food stamp programs that 46 million American families rely on just to get by.

Even the Department of Defense is calling for bigger cuts than the Ryan Republicans. But rather than making cuts to the bloated defense budget, the Republican leadership would rather take food out of childrens' mouths.

Contact your Representative right now and demand they fund food stamps, not war and weapons!
Tell your Senators to vote for the Buffett Rule
Today the Senate will take a vote on common sense. They will vote on the Buffett Rule — establishing a minimum tax rate of 30% on any income over $2 million.

This is a no-brainer. We need to invest in America in order to end the jobs crisis. But the superwealthy have rigged the rules to pay a lower rate of taxes than middle class families.

It's time to end the absurdity. Tell your Senators to stand with the 99% and vote for the Buffett Rule.
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Does your state legislator stand with the 99%?
Preserving the unsustainable tax breaks for Rhode Island's most fortunate residents has done nothing more than starve our state of millions of dollars and the resulting cuts have been devastating to our communities.

Representative Maria Cimini and Senator Joshua Miller introduced groundbreaking legislation to restore fairness to our income tax structure. Will you find out if your state legislators are on board, and if not ask them to sign on as a cosponsor today?
Urgent: Bad budget bill up for vote this week

Republicans are hailing Rep. Paul Ryan's budget as "heroic" and "gutsy," but in reality, the plan would end Medicare as we know it, eliminate the Affordable Care Act, drastically reduce Medicaid payments to states and cut nearly all programs to help lower-income families. All the while, Ryan's plan would increase Pentagon spending and give huge tax breaks to the richest 1%.

Standing in stark contrast is the Budget for All plan, by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The CPC plan emphasizes investments in job-creation programs and ending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%.

The CPC plan is proof that we can balance the budget while still investing in our future and protecting necessary programs like Medicare and Social Security for our future generations.

Send a message to your representative in Congress now and urge them to vote NO on the Ryan plan this week, and to co-sponsor the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Budget for All plan instead.
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Four years after the banks crashed the economy, not one CEO or Wall Street executive has been prosecuted.

It's time for justice to be served. And President Obama has appointed New York Attorney General and progressive hero Eric Schneiderman to head up a special task force to do it. But Schneiderman and his team are massively outnumbered and outspent. Their entire investigation is being run on roughly one-seventh of the budget of Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”

Sign here to tell President Obama and Congress to give Schneiderman's Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group the backup they need to put bank-sters in jail.
Stop Threatening War With Iran

Threatening to bomb Iran has long been a staple of GOP presidential campaign politics, but considering the heightened tensions in the Middle East -- thanks to our own actions -- this incendiary rhetoric is making the situation worse.

Between the burning of the Koran to the murders of 16 innocent civilians in Afghanistan, sentiment for the US presence in the region is low, and the support for war is ebbing at home as well.

Please sign our petition telling Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to stop making inflammatory threats about attacking Iran, and we'll deliver it straight to their campaigns and make sure they get the message.
Did your Senators vote for the Blunt Amendment?
A few days ago, the Senate narrowly defeated the Blunt Amendment, an archaic piece of legislation that would not only prevent women’s access to basic birth control coverage, but would allow any employer the right to refuse coverage of any health service they find religiously or morally objectionable.

This represents a huge victory for women's health but it was a very close call -- with only 51 Senators voting to defeat the measure.

We need to let Congress know that we will not stand for another direct assault on women’s health. Will you check to see if your Senators voted against the Blunt Amendment – and either thank them for their opposition, or tell them to get in line?

We can’t let the right-wing win on their assault on women’s health. So we need to send a strong message to Congress -- that women’s access to basic health care should not be threatened. Please take a moment to send a message to your Senator, demanding they stand on the side of women's health.
Make Wall Street Pay Its Fair Share

It has been over three years since Wall Street's reckless practices destroyed our economy, resulting in millions of job losses and foreclosures.

And while Wall Street was rewarded with a $700 billion bailout, our communities are still struggling to get back on track.

It's time to make Wall Street pay for the havoc they created.

A Financial Transaction Tax has been introduced in the House and Senate to make Wall Street pay its fair share. But nothing will get done unless we, the American people, put the pressure on Congress and compel them to act.

Please sign here to demand that Congress makes Wall Street pay its fair share.
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Tell Congress to end the big oil bailout

Every year Congress hands out billions in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry – a colossal gveaway that wealthy oil, gas and coal companies don't need.

With our country facing massive cuts to important things like clean energy and natural resources, we cannot afford to waste tens of billions of dollars each year in giveaways to the oil, coal and gas industries. And fortunately, we don't have to. The President's budget eliminate these handouts and reduce our national debt by $41 billion over the next ten years while bettering the environment and public health.

Please sign here to demand that Congress eliminate subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
Support the Paying A Fair Share Act
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has introduced the “Paying A Fair Share Act” in the Senate. This bill would make it so millionaires and billionaires who pay lower tax rates than the middle class would have to pay a 30 percent effective tax rate.

Under the current laws, loopholes and special provisions allow some of the wealthiest Americans to pay lower effective tax rates than middle class families. The President asked Congress to change this injustice, and Sen. Whitehouse has heard the call.

Please sign our petition below and we'll deliver it to Sen. Whitehouse’s office this month. By showing your public support, this will help his office generate momentum to encourage other Senators to sign on too.
Do your Senators support the Buffett Rule?

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Over 50,000 of us have already signed on to support Sen. Whitehouse and his bill to tax the super-rich.

But it's not Sen. Whitehouse and progressive champs like him that we need to convince. If we're going to make the Buffett Rule the law of the land, we need to convince moderate Democrats and even some Republicans.

Will you check if your Senators are on-board with the Buffett Rule yet -- and if not, ask them to sign on as a cosponsor today?

Note that personal messages are the most persuasive -- can you take a moment to customize your message with reasons for why you support the Buffett Rule?
Support the Paying A Fair Share Act

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has introduced the “Paying A Fair Share Act” in the Senate. This bill would make it so millionaires and billionaires who pay lower tax rates than the middle class would have to pay a 30 percent effective tax rate.

Under the current laws, loopholes and special provisions allow some of the wealthiest Americans to pay lower effective tax rates than middle class families. The President asked Congress to change this injustice, and Sen. Whitehouse has heard the call.

Please sign our petition below and we'll deliver it to Sen. Whitehouse’s office. By showing your public support, this will help his office generate momentum to encourage other Senators to sign on too.
Stories from the front lines

USAction is helping lead the fight to extend unemployment insurance through 2012 with no cuts and no barriers, but we can’t do it without your help. Share your story today.

Stories change the conversation in Washington from policy to people from job-killing cuts to fulfilling human needs. The GOP won’t be able to win because we’ll use stories from across the country to tell America what they’re trying to do.

Will you help us win this fight by sharing your story with us?

Stories will help us fight back against these onerous GOP provisions which:

- Make it harder for ordinary Americans who lose their jobs to access unemployment insurance;
- Subject workers to mandatory drug tests;
- Disqualify workers who were not fortunate enough to finish high school; and
- Place arbitrary hurdles between the unemployed and assistance that will disproportionately impact people of color and our low income neighbors.
Cut Pentagon Spending Now

Making a rare public appearance last month at the Pentagon, President Obama unveiled a bold new approach for our military. After years of endless war, President Obama has withdrawn our troops from Iraq and indicated that the days of obsolete, Cold War thinking are over. Obama's speech was a major step towards a smaller Pentagon budget.

This is a move in the right direction, but we need to go farther.

Sign our petition below to the House and Senate members of the Defense Appropriations committees, asking them to vote for Obama's proposed cuts AND make deeper cuts too.

We will deliver the petitions in person to members’ offices this month. Now is the critical time, as they're writing the defense budget bills that will be voted on this summer, even as they are getting wined and dined by lobbyists for the huge military contractors. These members are the critical targets, because their committees will be deciding what the 2013 defense budget looks like. They need to hear from you, and they need to know that we are all watching closely what happens next. Please sign the petition now to cut Pentagon spending.
End the War NOW - not in 2014
At a time when we are forced to make tough sacrifices at home — we simply cannot afford more years of elevated troop levels in Afghanistan. While we commend the President's leadership in pushing for an end to the Afghanistan war, the President's timetable for withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan needs to be accelerated.

Our brave sons and daughters have put their lives on the line for far too long. Lets bring them home. Tell Congress to end the war NOW.
Tell Congress to end the big oil bailout
Exxon Mobil, the most profitable company in the world, just announced net profits of $9.5 billion for the first quarter of 2012. Yet every year we give billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil so they can continue to pollute our air and gouge us at the gas pump.

With our country facing massive cuts on programs like education and health care, we cannot afford to waste tens of billions of dollars each year in giveaways to the oil, coal and gas industries. Eliminating these handouts could reduce our national debt by $122 billion over the next ten years while bettering the environment and public health.

Please demand that your Representatives eliminate subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
Jobs for the 99%
What we believe:

We are the 99% -- middle class and working families who are being severely squeezed by Wall Street Speculators and tax dodging corporations that cut our wages and ship our jobs overseas. We can’t cut our way out of this economic crisis. We need: JOBS.

ECONOMIC SECURITY – Full Extension of the Unemployment Insurance and NO CUTs to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and Pell Grants to make college more affordable.

ACCOUNTABILITY – Millionaires, wealthy corporations and financial speculators need to pay their fair share to get us out of the mess they got us into.

Which side are you on? Sign below to declare your support for the JOBS for the 99% agenda.
Jobs - not cuts
Congressional Republicans want to reduce government spending by cutting service to those who need it most, while giving tax breaks to those who need it least. Their budgetary shell game would eliminate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as we know it, punishing working families and pushing millions of our neighbors into poverty.

Sign here to tell Congress to OPPOSE cuts to these essential programs, and focus on jobs and economic fairness instead.
We need jobs, not cuts

President Obama's American Jobs Act is a ray of hope for millions of struggling Americans, especially in opposition to the job-killing, cuts-only approach of the right wing.

Congress should quickly pass these provisions and then it should keep going and pass a robust public job creation plan.

NOW is the time for Congress to act. Please tell Congress to put America back to work.
Occupy Wall Street: Support the Movement
Stand in solidarity with #OccupyWallStreet!
Stop Discrimination Against Unemployed Workers
We need jobs, not cuts

President Obama's American Jobs Act is a ray of hope for millions of struggling Americans, especially in opposition to the job-killing, cuts-only approach of the right wing.

Congress should quickly pass these provisions and then it should keep going and pass a robust public job creation plan.

NOW is the time for Congress to act. Please tell Congress to put America back to work.
Stop Discrimination Against Unemployed Workers

Unemployed need not apply?

Excerpt from an actual job listing

"Help wanted."

For millions of unemployed Americans, these two words are a beacon -- a light at the end of a dark tunnel in which they found themselves after Wall Street speculators wrecked our economy. For the unemployed, "Help wanted" means there is hope.

But we've recently learned an outrageous fact -- many employers are discriminating against the jobless by prohibiting them from even applying for open positions. Their "Help wanted" signs come with a caveat -- if you are unemployed, you need not apply.

For millions of U.S. workers, such discrimination is shocking and devastating. And we must make it stop.

So now we need your help. Please sign the petition below asking major employment websites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, to refuse ads from companies that prohibit the unemployed from applying.
Stop Discrimination Against Unemployed Workers
***Breaking News***

Congress has accepted 250,000 of your signatures and introduced legisaltion to ban discrimination against the unemployed. Sign below to see video and a full report!

***Breaking News***

"Help wanted."

For millions of unemployed Americans, these two words are a beacon -- a light at the end of a dark tunnel in which they found themselves after Wall Street speculators wrecked our economy. For the unemployed, "Help wanted" means there is hope.

But major websites like Monster.com have been running classified ads that tell unemployed people not to apply for open jobs. And when we called them on it, Monster.com responded by sending us a “cease and desist” letter, demanding that we stop mentioning them.

But we didn't "cease and desist". And to fight back, over 250,000 people have signed this petition calling for an end to discrimination against the unemployed. Next Wednesday, all the signatures are being delivered to Congress.

For millions of U.S. workers, discrimination based on their employment status is shocking and devastating. And we must make it stop. If you agree that discriminating against unemployed people is wrong, then please sign below and be included in our deliver yo Congress next week.
End discrimination against same-sex couples
U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Chris Coons have proposed the Respect for Marriage Act, which will repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and restore the rights of all lawfully married couples to receive the full benefits of marriage under federal law. Right now, legally married same-sex couples cannot jointly file their taxes, take unpaid leave to care for a sick spouse, receive Social Security spousal benefits or receive equal family health and pension benefits as federal civilian employees.

Already 145 members of Congress are cosponsoring the bill. But we need more to get on board if this bill is going to become law. Will you please sign this petition asking your Representatives and Senators to cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act?
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Obama's in - no more tax breaks for millionaires

Thanks in part to the support and encouragement of USAction/TrueMajority members, President Obama is drawing a line in the sand and promising to make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share of taxes.

It's a big step, but if we want to restore fairness to the tax code, we need the President to stay strong. Sign here to thank the President, and ask him to stick to his guns in negotiations with the Republicans.
Vote NO on the Plan to Kill Medicare
Congressional Republicans want to reduce government spending by cutting service to those who need it most, while giving tax breaks to those who need it least. Their budgetary shell game would eliminate Medicare as we know it, punishing seniors, young people, women and America’s working families.

Sign here to tell Congress to vote NO on the GOP plan to cut Medicare.
Light a virtual candle for the shooting victims
While we don't know all the details of Saturday's terrible tragedy in Arizona, we do know that Rep. Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords was shot while serving her constituents. Six others lost their lives, including a nine-year-old little girl and U.S. District Judge John Roll.¹

Take a moment to light a candle and leave a note. Linda Brown, the Director of our local affiliate the Arizona Advocacy Network, will personally deliver all your comments in the next few days.
FIX THE SENATE
The Senate is broken. Fix the filibuster.

In June, Republican Senators were able to keep millions of unemployed Americans from receiving their benefits for over a month, using a "filibuster" to prevent any vote. Last month, they used it again and almost killed a bill to give health care coverage to the injured 9/11 Ground Zero rescue workers. It's now used over and over and over — 259 times in the last four years!

It's time to fix that rule and put the Senate back to work.

Tell your Senators to Fix the Filibuster and end the tyranny of the minority.
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Tell Congress to tax the bankers

During his State of the Union, President Obama took the fight to Wall Street, saying, "if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need".

Obama's proposal is a good start, but fixing our broken economy will also take more investment in jobs and a lot more regulation to protect consumers from Wall Street's recklessness.

Use this page to tell Congress to get serious about reforming our economy by expanding the President's bank tax idea, and using the money to put regular Americans back to work.
Tell Obama to tax the bankers

The same banks we bailed out with taxpayer money are planning to pay themselves billions in bonuses while record numbers of Americans are still unemployed.

But President Obama can get our money back and stop these outrageous bonuses by enacting a new tax on banks. France and Britain are already taxing them, and enacting a similar levy on banks in the U.S. could raise enough money to pay back everything we loaned Wall Street and still invest in green jobs, education and infrastructure.

Use this page to tell Obama to enact a bank tax now: