COVID-19 & Healthcare

Progressive Caucus Releases ‘Back to Work’ Budget

by


CPC-sidebysideby Pamela Powers Hannley

On Wednesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) released its "Back to Work" Budget. Think of it as the polar opposite of the Republicans' "Stab Americans in the Back" budget penned by Congressman Paul Ryan and released earlier in the week. Special thanks to Congressman Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the CPC. Each year, the CPC releases a common sense budget plan. When will Washington DC listen, when will the Lame Stream Media cover it? Go to this link to tell your Congressional representative to vote for the Back to Work Budget.

Here is the summary from the CPC…

7 million new jobs in one year

$4.4 trillion in deficit reduction

We’re in a jobs crisis that isn’t going away.  Millions of hard-working American families are falling behind, and the richest 1 percent is taking home a bigger chunk of our nation’s gains every year. Americans face a choice: we can either cut Medicare benefits to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or we can close these tax loopholes to invest in jobs.  We choose investment.  The Back to Work Budget invests in America’s future because the best way to reduce our long-term deficit is to put America back to work.  In the first year alone, we create nearly 7 million American jobs and increase GDP by 5.7%. [Details and graphics after the jump.]

Arizona Republic editorial: Brewer’s Medicaid-expansion plan good for Arizona

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic today in an editorial opinion supports Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration Plan. Brewer's Medicaid-expansion plan good for Arizona:

Gov. Jan Brewer officially put her plan on the table on Tuesday.

It is a straightforward — and forward-thinking — approach to expanding Medicaid.

Her toughest opponents are her fellow Republicans in the Legislature,
and that’s too bad because this is a fiscally sensible plan.

Brewer is looking out for Arizona’s best interests. She wants to
restore coverage to those who lost it during the Great Recession and
expand coverage to bring in a generous federal match under the
Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Her plan would bring in $1.6 billion in federal funding in fiscal
2015 alone. It would bring 300,000 people under medical coverage.

The humanitarian argument is compelling. It is simple decency to make
sure sick people get the care they need. Arizona voters have supported
this idea twice at the ballot box.

Restoring Arizona campaign in support of Gov. Brewer’s Medicaid (AHCCCS) Restoration Plan

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The nonprofit organization Restoring Arizona has been established to support Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) Restoration Plan. Restoring Arizona has posted several resource materials to its web site:

Use the links below to access additional resources to help you get the facts about Medicaid expansion in Arizona.

Restoring Arizona is also running this ad on television (below the fold).

Gov. Jan Brewer rolls out her Medicaid (AHCCCS) Restoration Plan

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Tuesday, Governor Jan Brewer rolled out her long anticipated Medicaid (AHCCCS) Restoration Plan. Brewer unveils legislation to broaden Medicaid eligibility:

Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled draft legislation Tuesday
detailing her plans for expanding Medicaid, while putting a human face
on the contentious issue in hopes of convincing skeptical GOP lawmakers
whose votes she needs to get it approved.

During a rally at the state Capitol designed to kick-start
legislative debate over the governor’s proposal to broaden eligibility
under federal health-care reform, Brewer said expansion would bring in
billions of federal dollars and save the lives of people who would
otherwise be without health coverage.

“I’ve always been proud to be a member of a pro-life
party. With this legislation, we’re talking about people’s lives,” the
governor said. “I refuse to stand by and let this many people needlessly
suffer, especially when we have a solution.”

Video below the fold.

John Nichols: Don’t Let the ‘Crooks’ Roll Back Years of Progress (video)

by

JN-close106-sm72-sigby Pamela Powers Hannley

Author and historian John Nichols warned a packed house of Tucson progressives and unionists that now is not the time for complacency. Now is the time to rise up and fight against the forces of greed who are trying to rob the American people of their rights and their earned benefits.

Nichols, writer for The Nation and frequent commentator on MSNBC, held the audience in wrapped attention for 90 minutes as he carefully explained what the current Washington DC budget and debt reduction talks could mean for the American people if right wing conservatives like Congressman Paul Ryan and the Fix the Debt Coalition get their way.

The Fix the Debt Coalition is a group of 127 billionaires, "lesser millionaires", and corporate CEOs who are rolling out a $60 million advertising campaign to promote the new Simpson-Bowles Plan for debt reduction, according to Nichols. The original Simpson-Bowles Commission– dubbed the Cat Food Commission because of its cuts to senior citizen benefits– was infamously unpopular when it was proposed originally. The Simpson-Bowles redux may be even worse.  

How would the billionaires' club "fix the debt"? By reducing Social Security payments to the elderly and disabled, by raising the eligibility age for Medicare, by dramatically cutting Medicaid support for the poor, by eliminating the Affordable Care Act and changing Medicare to a voucher program for future recipients, by imposing austerity on 99%, and by [wait for it] lowering taxes on billionaires and corporations. 

"They are proposing to take from our vulnerable seniors, from our disabled– and let's be honest they're probably going to take the lunch money from the poor kids. They're going to take all that, so they can give the rich guys a tax cut," Nichols warned. More details and a video clip of Nichols' talk after the jump.