UE Political Action Updates

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Proposes Better Off Budget, Reflecting UE Priorities

May 7, 2014

Even before the snow melted, budget season returned to Washington. On March 4 President Obama offered a 2015 budget proposal, and  Republicans who in recent years have used obstruction, threats and even shut down the government to try to get their way, presented their budget appropriately on April Fools' Day. But on March 12 the Congressional Progressive Caucus – an organization of members of Congress to the left of Obama – announced its budget proposal which it calls the Better Off Budget.

UE Leaders Press Illinois Congressman on TPP, Fast Track

April 8, 2014
Chicago

A UE delegation met on March 31 with Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and legislation “Fast Track” trade authority to the president. The UE group included Western Region President Carl Rosen, Local 151 President Cliff Hall, Local 1110 President Armando Robles, and International Representative Leah Fried. They met with Rep. Quigley and his District Director Mary Ann Levar.

Help Stop Latest "Free Trade" Attack, UE National Board Urges Members

January 24, 2014
Pittsburgh

Meeting at the UE’s national headquarters on January 23-24 UE’s General Executive Board (GEB) adopted a resolution opposed to legislation currently being considered in Washington that would allow “free trade” agreements to be rapidly shoved through Congress with almost no debate. This “fast track” legislation is being pushed by the Obama administration, the Republican leadership, and major corporations and big business organisations. If they succeed in passing fast track, it will likely lead to approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the most damaging “free trade” deal yet.

UE and WWJ Members Arrested in Immigrant Rights Protest

November 7, 2013
Chicago

Eight UE people were among the 150 arrested in civil disobedience for immigrant workers’ rights on November 6. Organized by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the protestors rallied in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Downtown Chicago and blocked traffic on Clark Street for almost an hour.

They were demanding that Republicans in Congress stop blocking a vote on immigration reform and that President Obama halt deportations, which have totaled nearly 2 million during his administration. 

"HANDS OFF OUR SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE!"

October 25, 2013
Washington

The federal government shutdown and threat of default have passed, at least for now. But now the concern is what happens in budget negotiations between congressional Republicans, Democrats and the Obama White House.

For the bipartisan Washington elite and their sponsors on Wall Street, the goal of these negotiations must be a “Grand Bargain” that is centered on “entitlement reform.” Translated into plain English, that means they want the two parties to get together and agree to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the pensions of veterans and federal workers.

This is What a Two-Party Political Train Wreck in Washington Looks Like

September 30, 2013
Washington, D.C.
Chris Townsend, Political Action Director

Congress and the federal government are in crisis mode once again, with almost nothing being done to address the growing size and scope of the many massive problems facing working people. Fanatically anti-worker Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives -- and Senate -- have driven Congress to the brink of yet another federal government shutdown, by working feverishly to defund and wreck the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

For Medicare, Means Testing Means Trouble

July 8, 2013

Medicare, as well as Social Security and many other programs, is in jeopardy in the current budget standoff in Washington. In his budget proposals unveiled in April, aimed at reaching a “grand bargain” with Republicans and ending the across-the-board “sequester” cuts, President Obama not only offered to cut Social Security by rigging the cost-of-living formula. He also offered cuts to Medicare through “means testing.”

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