Domestic Weekly Update December 15, 2009
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DC, and Beyond
Organizational Reminders and Updates
Join 2010 Domestic Planning Call Tonight, 7:30 pm ETJoin the 2010 Domestic Campaigns Conference Call tonight at 7:30 pm ET. This call will overview our ideas for next year’s RESULTS Domestic legislation campaign and we want your input on what we are looking at. On the call, we will provide an update on health care reform and then discuss our proposal for a 2010 campaign on expanding economic opportunity to the poor through expansions of low-income tax credits and asset building strategies. Part of the discussion will include information found in our Economic Opportunity PowerPoint presentation, found at: http://www.results.org/images/uploads/files/economic_opportunity_ppt12-09.ppt. If you have access to a computer during the call, we welcome you to follow along (we will let you know during the call when we are using the PP presentation). TAKE ACTION: Plan to join the 7:30 pm ET conference call TONIGHT by dialing (218) 486-1611 and enter passcode 2883622#. We value your input and urge you to participate. Not only can you weigh in on your ideas for our 2010 campaign, but you’ll also have the opportunity to tell us what tools and resources you would like from staff to help you effectively advocate for our legislative priorities. Call Senators TODAY in Support of the Sanders Single-Payer Amendment!We’ve just learned that a vote on an amendment introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) single-payer amendment could be voted on early tomorrow. The amendment, number 2837, replaces the current Senate health care bill with a single-payer, national health program as set for in the American Health Security Act, S.703. He is joined by cosponsors Senators Roland Burris (D-IL) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). This is an historic vote — it will be the first-ever floor vote in Congress on single-payer legislation. RESULTS supports a national health program as the long-term solution for our health crisis. S.703 introduced by Senator Sanders, provides health care to all Americans. It eliminates co-pays and deductibles while restoring choice of physicians. Although the amendment is not expected to pass, it is very important to have a strong showing of grassroots support for a national health program. It will help set the stage for passing single-payer health care in the future. TAKE ACTION: Call your senators TODAY toll free at (888) 797-8717 and tell them to vote in favor of the Sanders single-payer amendment. Urge your community action networks that you have been mobilizing the last few weeks to call as well. Call Senate offices and say: My name is ________ and I am a RESULTS volunteer and a constituent from (your city). I strongly support a national health program like Medicare for All. Senate amendment #2837 introduced by Senator Sanders would create a single-payer, national health program that would ensure that every person in the U.S. gets quality, affordable health care. Please urge Senator ________ to show support for health care for all by voting YES on Senator Sanders’ single-payer amendment. Thank you to Faithful Reform and Health Care for the toll free number. Faithful Reform is working to unite all persons of faith in helping secure meaningful health care reform. RESULTS’ Faith in Action Project has worked with Faithful Reform throughout this process. If your work in RESULTS and/or on health reform is motivated by your faith, please don’t hesitate to identify yourself as a person of faith when calling members of Congress. Use Traditional and “New” Media to Push for Strong Health Care Reform (December Action)As the health reform debate continues in the Senate (see below), we want to keep the pressure on senators to strengthen the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. In addition to activating your community action networks during the debate per the November Action, our December Action urges you to generate media in support of passing a strong bill out of the Senate. This includes the traditional RESULTS work of generating op-eds and letters to the editor, as well as using new media like blog commenting and Facebook to generate support. We are urging the Senate to strengthen and expand the Medicaid program as in House’s Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R.3962). Voice your support for getting real health care reform passed as soon as possible. Nothing is set in stone in this process (see below) and we cannot assume that investments in Medicaid and community health centers that exist today will be in the bill tomorrow. Members of Congress need to know that their constituents want a health bill that helps the people who most need it and expanding Medicaid and CHCs is the most effective way to see that those living in poverty get coverage and access to quality, affordable health care. TAKE ACTION: Take the December Action. Use traditional and new media calling on your members of Congress by name to support strong health reform and urge them to strengthen and expand both the Medicaid program and America’s investment in community health centers. In addition to sending letters to the editor and submitting op-eds, also use Facebook and other social networking sites to get the word out. Add RESULTS to your Facebook friends list and “donate your status” to RESULTS. See the action sheet for information on how to donate your status on Facebook. Also, continue to set up conference calls with House and Senate aides to talk about expanding health care to America’s most vulnerable. House and Senate offices are already “pre-conferencing,” i.e. working out a compromise between the House and Senate bills, so our input is still critical to this process. Tell aides to:
See our updated health care reform grid on our Recent Developments in Health Care Reform page. Senate Health “Compromise” Now Being CompromisedSenate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) worked all last week on putting together a “manager’s amendment” to reach agreement on an alternative to the “public plan” that both progressives and moderate Democrats can support. This amendment, which effectively will become a substitute for the bill on the floor, will include other provisions as well, including some deals necessary to help secure the 60 votes needed to pass this bill. A team of ten progressive and moderate Democrats worked out some provisions to be included in the manager’s package, which Majority Leader Reid has sent to the Congressional Budget Office to be scored. As noted in last week’s Domestic Update, possible options included a two-year extension of CHIP, an optional Medicare buy-in for older Americans, and some market reforms. However, after giving initial indications of support for the compromise last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman ((I-CT) is now saying he will filibuster any bill with a Medicare buy-in and public option. Reports are that Senate leadership will likely give into Sen. Lieberman’s demands (the White House is reportedly urging this too) and drop the Medicare buy-in and possibly any form of public health insurance option. RESULTS is very disappointed at the news that the Senate may drop the public option and/or the Medicare buy-in. Not only would these provisions help provide more people with quality, affordable health care, they would also help keep health care costs down. RESULTS has endorsed a Medicare for All health system and supports policies that move us toward that goal. The Senate debate has turned out to be much different than anticipated. While many amendments were filed, very few have actually been voted on, and it is unknown how many will actually get a vote. As the “sausage making” process continues, these amendments are of particular interest to RESULTS:
Whether these and other amendments will get voted on is unclear. Rumors are that Sen. Reid may file the Manager’s Amendment this week and then promptly file for cloture on the bill. If that happens, a vote on cloture, i.e. to end Senate debate, could happen as soon as this weekend. We will keep you updated on what happens as things move forward. Fundraising Update: Heading into the Home StretchBe sure to get those challenge grant donations in this month! We are heading into the final stretch of our $30,000 challenge grant. We only have a little over two weeks left to maximize this great opportunity. Remember, this is a dollar-for-dollar match for any new donations made in November and December 2009. “New donations” means amounts in excess of what you gave last year or donations from new donors. Let’s make sure we meet this goal by making sure donations are received by December 31. It is not too late to send out donation request letters, but the time to do so is now. If you have not sent our your request letters, send them out this week and plan to follow up with a phone call or e-mail to see if they were received. If you do not get them out before Christmas, please consider making a personal request via phone or e-mail urging donors to donate online using our online donation form. PLEASE REMEMBER: The deadline to give is December 31 so your Friends and Family letters must be mailed asap. Also, if you make a donation for the challenge or ask your friends and family, please write or ask them to write “Matching Challenge Donation” in the memo line of the check or in the comments box on our online donation form. Plan to Wrap Up Your 2009 Fundraising Efforts by January 15. Thank you to all of you who have participated in our fundraising drive this fall. You are again doing a wonderful job at raising important financial resources for RESULTS and our work in bringing an end to poverty around the world. So as to bring this campaign to a close, please plan with your groups to wrap up your efforts by January 15 (this applies mainly to those doing Friends and Family Campaigns). We want to have a “closing date” for the campaign so we can determine how successful this particular effort is. Send out any donation request letters ASAP so that donations can be made before the end of the year. Also, please look at your individual and group goals for the campaign and assess whether you will meet your goals. At this point, it is important to have an accurate picture of what is likely to be raised. While we obviously hope you meet (and exceed) your goals, please know that if you do not quite make your target, your efforts are still vital to our success and greatly appreciated. Thank you again and please work with your groups in the coming weeks to wrap up yet another successful fundraising campaign. Resources To Help Your Fundraising Activities. Use our House Party Toolkit and Letter Writing Toolkit to plan your fundraising activities. Also, you can include Mini annual reports in your letters and at your events (see our full Annual Report for 2008 as well). We also have RESULTS/REF thank you cards available for follow-up to your activities. If you would like us to send you copies, please e-mail Cynthia Stancil at cstancil@results.org. Quick NewsHead Start Funding Up, Child Care Funding Frozen. On Sunday, the Senate passed the $1.1 trillion omnibus fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill 57-35. Roll Call reports that three Democrats — Sens. Evan Bayh (IN), Russ Feingold (WI) and Claire McCaskill (MO) — voted with Republicans against the bill. Congress has now passed all required spending bills except the Defense bill. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) part of the omnibus includes $7.2 billion for Head Start, an increase of $122 million over 2009. Unfortunately, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was funded at the FY2009 level. VITA Program Assists Low-Income Tax Filers. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is designed to help low-income individuals and families file their tax returns. In particular, they help tax filers tax advantage of low-income tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. Processing these returns is done by local volunteers. Right now, VITA sites around the country are starting to train volunteers for the upcoming tax season. As part of our Economic Opportunity for All campaign, we urge you to consider being a VITA volunteer. It will not only directly help those living in poverty, it will also better inform your advocacy work on their behalf. If you are interested, contact your local United Way and/or AARP offices, which coordinate VITA sites in areas around the country (if they do not handle the VITA program in your area, they probably know who does). Senator Baucus Doubts Senate Will Pass Permanent Estate Tax Extension On Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) told Congress Daily that the permanent estate tax extension passed by the House on December 3 and not paid for, is “not going to sit too well over here.” The House passed H.R.4154 on December 3, which makes 2009 estate tax levels permanent. For more information, see our Recent Developments in Economic Opportunity Legislation page. AnnouncementsGroup Planning Materials Coming Soon. In January, we will again urge you and your groups to begin the annual group planning process. Group planning allows your group to plan your goals and means to achieving them over the next year. To help you, we will provide you will materials to facilitate the process so you can articulate your goals and report them back to the RESULTS office in an easy and efficient manner. Keep an eye out for these materials in the coming weeks. We will also discuss group planning on the January 9 national conference call. Listen to Last Saturday’s Conference Call. If you were not able to listen to the RESULTS December National Conference Call this past Saturday, you missed a good one. We heard from RESULTS Executive Director Joanne Carter on the progress we have made this year on both our domestic and global campaigns. We also heard from volunteers about actions they have been taking in creating the political will to end poverty, as well as legislative updates on our domestic and global campaigns. If you were not on the call, we should have a recording of the call available later this week at http://resultsmusings.blogspot.com/. Updated RESULTS PowerPoint on Health Reform Now Available! Want to re-educate yourself on RESULTS health care work in 2009? Want to provide a great recourse for your community action networks on health reform? Use our updated Health Reform 2009 PowerPoint presentation for yourself and others as the health reform debate moves forward. You can download the presentation at: http://www.results.org/images/uploads/files/2009_health_care_for_all.ppt. Thanks to RESULTS Domestic intern Ann Beltran for updating the PowerPoint to reflect the latest developments. Help RESULTS Add 500 New Facebook Friends. The RESULTS Facebook page keeps everyone connected and updated on the latest RESULTS news and events. The more friends we have, the more we can spread our message and grow our movement to end global poverty. We want to add 500 more friends to RESULTS and we need your help. Suggest to your friends to add RESULTS to their friends list. Simply paste http://www.facebook.com/RESULTS.org?ref=ts#/RESULTS.org?ref=ts&suggestfriends into your browser and a window will appear that will allow you to connect your friend to RESULTS. Selected friends will get a suggestion from you to add RESULTS as a friend; it’s that easy! For questions about Facebook, please contact Eric Harris (eharris@results.org). Check out the RESULTS blog! Did you know that RESULTS has a blog on our new website? If you find something you like, please be sure to post a comment. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) December 15: 2010 Domestic Campaigns Conference Call, 7:30 pm ET. Plan to join us for a discussion of possible 2010 Domestic legislative campaigns. We want your input on what issues we should work on next year. Just call (218) 486-1611 and enter passcode 2883622# to participate. Also, if you already have ideas that just can’t wait about possible 2010 domestic campaigns, please e-mail Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) with your ideas. December 24–January 3: RESULTS offices closed. No Domestic Update on December 29. Happy Holidays! January 9: RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call, 12:30 pm ET. June 20–22, 2010: RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference, Washington Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC. RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, x116 (dodson@results.org); Alan Gold, x106 (gold@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). Grassroots Fundraising Support: Stacy Carkonen, (206) 715-4986 (scarkonen@results.org). The RESULTS Domestic Update is sent out every Tuesday over e-mail to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our domestic campaigns. |