Domestic Weekly Update July 13, 2010
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DCOrganizational UpdatesFollow-Up with Your Members of Congress to Ensure They’re Weighing In on Tax Legislation (July Action)Thank you to all those who were able to join us on our July 2010 RESULTS Joint Conference Call last Saturday. On this call, we had the unique chance to explore both the Domestic and Global issues that dedicated RESULTS volunteers have taken on. It was an amazing learning opportunity and great motivation to continue our work on ending poverty. If you were not on the call, you can listen to a recording of the call on the RESULTS website. As we all know, we certainly have more work to do in this endeavor. Specifically, the July Action is not complete until we receive confirmations that our Members of Congress (MoCs) have weighed in directly with the representatives and senators who are writing tax legislation. It is not enough for us to simply call and urge them to support our position; we want them to also contact their colleagues on the tax writing committees in support of our position. We want colleague to colleague contact. To make an impact on these issues, we have set the following goals this month:
Follow up from your letters, phone calls and lobby meetings and urge your MoCs to act. Politely push their tax aides until you get confirmation that your representative or senator has weighed in his or her support for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit with key decision-makers. Stress the importance of these tax credits for low-income working families. The July Action Sheet has some great tips on how to have a good conversation with these aides about out issues. Also, please be sure to contact your regional coordinator and let him/her know when you have a confirmed colleague to colleague contact. We cannot stress enough how important it is to ensure that Congress does not wait until after elections to move forward with tax legislation. There is no telling how the political climate will change and if they wait until last minute, they are more likely to do something easy and short-sighted, such as extending all the tax cuts (including those for the wealthy) and only for a year. Or worse, they could fail to do anything because voices from the grassroots were not loud enough. Let’s make sure they hear that failure is not an option. TAKE ACTION: Take the July Action. Contact the members of Congress and their tax aides and urge them to protect low-income workers and their families by making the 2009 changes to the EITC and CTC permanent. You can call Congress toll free at (800) 826-3688. Remember, what we are asking for are colleague to colleague contacts. See our July Laser Talk as a guide for this type of request. You can find the names of the tax aides on our Elected Officials page of the RESULTS website. Be sure to use any stories or data from your VITA site visits in your conversations. You can find district-level data for EITC on the Brookings Institute’s website and you can find state level data on the CTC on the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities’ (CBPP) website. For a compete synopsis of our 2010 campaigns, please see our updated U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary page. We again thank Bread for the World for allowing us to use their toll free number. House Mark Up of Child Nutrition Bill This WeekFollowing last week’s hearing by the House Education and Labor Committee on the bipartisan child nutrition reauthorization bill, the Committee will mark up the bill Wednesday, July 14. The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 (H.R. 5504) would help set American children on a path of healthy eating and healthy living at a time when approximately 22 percent of the nation’s children lack access to quality food and one in three children are overweight or obese. Today, over 32 million children rely on federal child nutrition programs. The bill would dramatically expand access for millions of children to healthy meals year-round in schools, child care, and community based settings, and for the first time, establish nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria. We expect the Full Committee Markup to be webcast. See details at http://edlabor.house.gov/markups/ While RESULTS is pleased that the House bill at approximately $8 billion in funding over ten years has moved closer to the president’s goal ($10 billion in new funding over the next ten years) than the Senate’s Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 ($4.5 billion over ten years), there is still room for improvement. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is urging efforts to broaden the bill to include expansion of the afterschool meals program. This pilot program exists in 13 states and the amendment to broaden it nationwide will add an additional $1 billion a year for ten years as President Obama has requested. For FRAC’s statement, fact sheet, and testimony regarding the legislation, go to http://www.frac.org/Legislative/action_center/ TAKE ACTION: Help reduce childhood hunger. Urge your representatives and senators to include the full $10 billion increase (over ten years) for child nutrition programs by taking our online action. For a compete synopsis of our 2010 campaigns, please see our updated U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary page. Call Congress in Support of Head Start and Child Care FundingThis week, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (“Labor HHS” for short) Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to meet to mark up its funding bills. The Senate is expected to follow suit next week. The annual Labor-HHS bill sets funding levels for early childhood programs, and RESULTS has been a long time advocate of quality early childhood development policies. Research shows that children who participate in a quality program during their preschool years are better prepared to learn, have higher self-esteem, and more developed social skills when they start kindergarten. RESULTS strongly supports increased investments in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program that provides comprehensive services to low-income children and their parents, and Early Head Start, a child development program for pregnant women and low-income families with infants and toddlers. We also advocate for investments for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) which provides child care assistance to low-income families and provides critical funds to states to help them improve the quality of child care. Unfortunately, Head Start serves less than 50 percent of eligible preschoolers, Early Head Start serves less than 6 percent of all eligible families, and CCDBG serves only one out of seven eligible children. The 2009 economic recovery bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), included $2.1 billion in temporary funding for Head Start ($1.1 billion of that is for Early Head Start). ARRA also included an additional $2 billion in CCDBG funds to provide services to an additional 300,000 children and their families. These programs face a funding “cliff” when ARRA funding runs out at the end of this year. To protect services and jobs from cuts, RESULTS supports at least an $800 million increase in appropriations for CCDBG and a $989 million increase in funding for Head Start and Early Head Start. For more background, see our Early Childhood Power Point Presentation from this year’s International Conference, and our lobby leave behind letters: TAKE ACTION: Call your representative’s and senators’ offices and tell the person answering the phone that child care and Head Start are essential programs for children and families. Urge that the senator/representative support at least an $800 million increase in appropriations for CCDBG and a $989 million increase in funding for Head Start and Early Head Start, and voice their support to House Labor HHS Subcommittee Chairman David Obey and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt or Senate Labor Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin and Ranking Member Thad Cochran. If you are unable to call, use our Head Start and child care online alert. If you are not sure who your representatives are, you can search by zip code on the RESULTS elected officials page. For a compete synopsis of our 2010 campaigns, please see our updated U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary page. Iowa Editorial Writer Receives Cameron Duncan Media Award for Work on Domestic IssuesYesterday, Des Moines Register editorial writer Andie Dominick formally received this year’s Cameron Duncan Media Award from RESULTS. The award is given each year to a reporter or editorialist who has produced outstanding work in the past year on issues of poverty. The choice of Andie to receive the award was announced at the RESULTS International Conference, but due to scheduling she was not able to accept it in person. Yesterday, RESULTS Domestic Outreach Organizer Jos Linn presented her the award in Des Moines, IA. Andie’s work at the Register has been exemplary. She has been an editorial writer there for nine years and has a proven track record for highlighting specific issues of domestic poverty, particularly health care. Before and during the health care debate, she wrote strong editorials in support of a national health program, a.k.a single-payer health care. However, once it became clear that this “Medicare-for-All” option was off the table, Andie pushed lawmakers in her editorials to pass the strongest possible reform bill, including one with a public health insurance option. Like many Americans, Andie and the Register were not pleased with all aspects of the final reform bill. However, in the end the paper supported passage of the bill as a significant step forward. She has continued to advocate for improvements to the bill and other health care programs. In addition, she has also highlighted issues related to child care, education, the elderly, and the environment. Upon receiving the award, Andie wrote “Thank you so much for this year’s Cameron Duncan Media Award. It is an honor to be recognized by an organization that cares so much and works so hard to improve the lives of people all over the world. We share an interest in ensuring all Americans have access to health care and have been a part of this country making great strides toward that goal the past year. Thanks for recognizing my work and for the work you do as well.” RESULTS again congratulates Andie on receiving the award and her invaluable work in bringing critical issues of poverty to the fore in the media. Fundraising UpdateAs you know, RESULTS Domestic staff and volunteer leaders are spearheading a fundraising campaign. Our goal is to raise $50,000 in new funds by December 31, 2010, in addition to matching the $14,000 raised by our domestic groups in last year’s Friends and Family fall fundraising campaign. We are happy to report that we have made significant progress toward our goal in the last few months. To date, we have already raised $33,300 toward our goal. This amount includes large and small contributions from individual donors and grant monies received. Thank you to all of you who have already given to support our domestic work. But our work is not done. Let’s build on this momentum, and use the examples from this year’s great fundraising events in Houston, Seattle and Chicago as inspiration, to meet and exceed our goal. We are only $30,700 away from our total goal ($16,700 in new funds plus $14,000 in annual domestic fundraising). Already our Columbus, OH group is fundraising and our groups in Minneapolis, MN, Des Moines, IA, Santa Fe, NM, Chicago, IL (yes, they are doing two this year!) and Washington, DC are planning events for this fall. In addition, we are continuing to seek out and solicit grant monies to help in our work to end U.S. poverty. TAKE ACTION: If you know of local foundations or large donors in your community who might be interested in funding RESULTS domestic poverty work, or want to understand how you can help raise the resources needed to support our work, please contact Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) or Jos Linn (jlinn@results.org) to discuss next steps. And if you have not donated yourself this year, please go to the Donor page of our website to donate online. Please remember to write “RESULTS Domestic” in the comment box on the online form. Thank you all for your support of our domestic work and we look forward to celebrating a successful 2010 fundraising campaign! Quick NewsDon’t Forget to Take the Tax Credit Quiz! Be sure to challenge your knowledge of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) and help brush yourself up on the important details at the same time. Take the Low-Income Tax Credit Quiz today to see how well we’ve done on preparing you for this key time in Congress. Join Conference Call on Health Disparities Tomorrow. Join our friends at Families USA for a conference call on how the new health reform law addresses health equity for communities of color. RESULTS focused on health care disparities as part of our Health Care for All campaign in 2008 and we continue to monitor important changes in this area. This should be a very informative call. The call is tomorrow, July 14, at 2:00 pm ET. To register, go to http://fusa.convio.net/site/Calendar/1368477316?view=Detail&id=100101. Members of Congress Begin Drum Beat for More Reckless Tax Cuts. And so it begins. In the last few days, key members of Congress like Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA-7) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) have publicly called for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to be extended. Sen. Kyl even said that these cuts, which if made permanent would cost nearly $700 billion over the next ten years, should never be paid for. Yet, Sen. Kyl has demanded that any spending bills, including extension of unemployment benefits, must always be paid for. Arguments for extending the tax cuts for the wealthy will only get louder as the November election approaches. We cannot let these voices dominate the debate. Tying low-income and middle class tax provision to tax cuts for the rich only increases the chance that all or none of them will get extended. Congress needs to understand that helping working families stay afloat is a separate issue from helping wealthy people get wealthier. Take the July Action and tell Congress to put working families first. AnnouncementsPlease Complete the RESULTS Conference Survey. Please take a few minutes to complete our Online Survey about the 2010 RESULTS conference. Just like lobbying members of Congress, we cannot know what you want or don’t want at these events without your valuable input. You can also find resources from the conference on our International Conference page for information, including copies of our PowerPoint presentations on our campaigns, our Domestic legislative handbook, Domestic request letters, and pictures from the conference. Please Complete the Online Lobby Report Form. If you were at the conference and attended any lobby meetings, please fill out our new Online Lobby Report Form. This information is very important in tracking our congressional meetings and progress on our legislative priorities. It only takes a few minutes to fill out and provides us a wealth of important information. Also, please use this form for any future lobby meetings in DC or back home in your state. Vote for Grassroots Board Positions. As discussed on last Saturday’s national conference call, we have three persons running for the open seat on the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board. The RESULTS/REF Board has four grassroots board positions, which provide RESULTS volunteers a critical voice in the Board’s work in fulfilling RESULTS’ mission and vision. The nominees this year are Lydia Pendley, from the domestic group in Santa Fe, NM; Bruce Preville, from the global group in San Jose, CA; and Lynne Patalano, from the global group in Inland Empire, CA. All current RESULTS volunteers are eligible to vote. Cast your vote by using our online voting ballot on the RESULTS website. The voting period will end on September 1. New Outreach Action Now Available. If you are attending or tabling at an event soon, please be sure to take a copy of our July Outreach Action to pass out. Our Outreach Actions are one-page actions that you can print off and distribute to others urging them to take action on our issues. You can find all our current Outreach Actions on our website. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) July 14: Families USA health care disparities conference call. August 9–September 10: Congressional summer recess. August 14: RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call, 12:30 pm ET. September 1: End of voting period for open RESULTS grassroots Board member position. September 6: Labor Day holiday. All RESULTS offices closed. RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. If mailing a donation to our DC office, please address the envelope to the attention of Cynthia Stancil. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, (202) 783-7100, x.116 (dodson@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@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. |