Domestic Weekly Update July 20, 2010
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DC
Organizational Updates
Make Sure Your Congressperson States their Support for Low-Income Families to Committees in Charge of Tax Legislation (July Action)Last Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a full committee hearing on “The Future of Individual Tax Rates”. You can watch this in its entirety here. In this very important gathering, Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and other senators on the committee questioned top economists and tax practitioners about the impacts of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts on the growth of the economy and how to move forward with their impending expirations. Although the perspectives of the panelists varied, they agreed on one thing — that extending tax cuts for the middle class was necessary during this time of economic hardship. Chairman Baucus echoed these sentiments by stating that, “Americans are struggling to make ends meet, and we need to do all we can to put more money back in the hands of workers, middle-class families and small businesses so our economy can grow. I support extending the middle-class tax cuts permanently, as soon as possible, so working families can keep more of their hard-earned money.” The Senate Finance hearing was an important sign that senators are beginning to grapple with tax legislation, though committee markup is not expected until after the August recess. Contrary to previous reports, it also appears that the House Ways and Means Committee will also not mark up legislation until September. This gives us more time to make our voices heard before tax legislation is introduced! RESULTS believes that low-income working Americans should not be left out of legislation extending the 2001 tax cuts. In the Finance Committee’s hearing, David Marzahl, President of the Center for Economic Progress and founder of the National Community Tax Coalition, openly stated his support to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) as part of extension to the middle-class tax cuts. Unfortunately, his explicit support of the low-wage, working class was one of very few. Even when senators like Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) chided the tax cuts for America’s wealthy and held them as one of the primary contributors to the nation’s plummeting economy, language around low-income families specifically was heavily absent. This tells us one thing: we have senators who are potential champions of low-income tax credits; we just have to make sure they continue to state their support explicitly when discussing extensions to middle-class tax cuts. A great way to accomplish this goal is to take the July Action! We want to receive confirmations that your Members of Congress (MoCs) have weighed in directly with the representatives and senators who are writing tax legislation, stating their support for expanding the EITC and CTC explicitly to the Senate Finance or House Ways and Means Committee. We have set the following goals this month:
TAKE ACTION: Take the July Action. 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 (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) 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. You can call Congress toll free at (800) 826-3688. 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 Education and Labor Committee Passes Bipartisan Child Nutrition BillThe House Education and Labor Committee passed their child nutrition bill last week on a bipartisan basis. 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. It would also expand after school meals from a pilot project in 13 states to a nationwide program. You can see the text and vote tallies of the various amendments here: http://edlabor.house.gov/markups/2010/07/hr-5504-improving-nutrition-fo.shtml. In a rare public statement regarding action on legislation, First Lady Michelle Obama said, “This important legislation will combat hunger and provide millions of schoolchildren with access to healthier meals, a critical step in the battle against childhood obesity. I urge both the House and Senate to take their child nutrition bills to the floor and pass them without delay. The President looks forward to signing a final bill this year, so that we can make significant progress in improving the nutrition and health of children across our nation.” We need to keep up the pressure to make sure the full House and Senate move this legislation forward, and that the White House provides leadership calling out this legislation as a national priority. For those who lobbied in Washington (or back home) on this issue, now is a great time to follow up with staff in DC during the next two weeks and then at home when members of Congress are in your districts for the August recess. TAKE ACTION: Help reduce childhood hunger. Urge your representatives and senators to pressure leadership to bring the child nutrition bills to floor votes by taking our online action. Or, even better, call the aides that handles nutrition policy and follow up with our lobby leave behind letters (which you can use for talking points): And, we urge you to call the White House to urge President Obama to make child nutrition reauthorization a top priority. Call NOW to Get a Meeting with Your Representative and Senators in August!Congress is getting ready to go on summer recess next month: the House will be out of session from August 2 through September 10 and the Senate will be out August 16 through September 10. A “recess” means that representatives and senators are in their districts and states for meetings with constituents. Call the local scheduler today and ask for a time to meet — be creative! You can meet at their office, at a local coffee shop, or a community event. And don’t forget to sign up for their e-mail lists on their websites to find out when they will be holding town hall meetings and other events for constituents. Use our Activist Milestone on face-to-face lobby meetingsto guide you and find a sample letter to send to your scheduler. House Subcommittee Boosts Head Start and Child Care FundingThe House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (“Labor-HHS”) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY 2011 funding bill June 15, and included a $866 million increase for Head Start and a $700 million increase for Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG). If enacted, these increases will maintain the bulk of funding for CCDBG and Head Start included in ARRA. The bill now advances to the full House Appropriations Committee. This year, it is extremely likely that because of tight timing a vote on the bill by the full House will be delayed until after the November election and Congress will pass a Continuing Resolution. The Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to meet July 22 or shortly after. For more background, see our Early Childhood Power Point Presentation from this year’s International Conference, and our lobby leave behinds: 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 update U.S. Poverty Campaigns Summary page. Continue Reaching Out to VITA Sites — Strategies for Getting Clients to Tell Their StoriesOn July 6, RESULTS staff members Ann Beltran and Girmay Zahilay visited a multi-service organization called Homestretch in Northern Virginia in order to learn more about the VITA site it encompasses and how our organization can better intersect with organizations like it. Homestretch strives to “empower homeless families with children under age 18 in Northern Virginia to attain permanent housing and self-sufficiency by giving them the skills, knowledge and hope they need to become productive participants in the community.” Specifically, RESULTS spoke with the staff in charge of asset building strategies and tax preparation (similar to a VITA preparers), and received great insight into the people they serve, the areas of tax policy they’d like to see improved, how we can better advocate on their behalf, and how we can better empower those who are impacted to advocate on behalf of themselves. Because bigger, multi-purpose organizations that include VITA as a part of a range of services are more likely to work with families throughout the year, we highly recommend seeking VITA sites that are housed within these multi-service organizations in order to increase the odds your group will connect directly with low-income taxpayers who can tell their stories to policymakers during the August congressional recess. TAKE ACTION: Take the May Action: Understanding the Local Impact of the Child and Earned Income Tax Credits. Contact a VITA site coordinator in your area and see if you can set up a meeting between him/her and your RESULTS group. Use the National Community Tax Coalition to get connected to a site near you. The action sheet has a link to the NCTC website, where you can click on a “Find a VITA site” button and it will take you to a quick form to fill out. Once NCTC has your information, they will send you an e-mail with a local VITA contact. You can also try to locate a VITA site through the IRS by calling (800) 906-9887 or checking their website VITA site list (note that this is not a complete list of VITA sites). If you are not finding any local contact information, you can also call 211 from local phone; some communities provide VITA information on their 211 line. In addition, local community action programs may be able to help. Quick NewsSee Your MoC’s Grade with New Vote Kids Resource. Against a grim backdrop of deep cuts in kids’ services in states across the nation, Vote Kids (the 501(c)(4) for Every Child Matters) has released a scorecard on how all members of the 111th Congress voted on bills affecting children. Among the votes examined were those pertaining to SCHIP, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2010 budget, and health insurance reform. This is a great resource to help you prepare for lobby meetings, letters and phone calls. Check it out today! Take Action on the Estate Tax. A few weeks ago, we mentioned that the Senate had introduced a new estate tax bill, the Responsible Estate Tax Act (S.3533). Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA-39) has now introduced a companion version in the House. While this bill is not RESULTS’ ideal version of the estate tax, this is a reasonable compromise between our position and those who want to cut or repeal it. As part of Americans for a Fair Estate Tax, RESULTS has signed onto a letter to Congress in support of S.3533. Use our online action to urge your members of Congress to support the RETA. Children’s Savings Account Bill Introduced in the Senate. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced legislation creating children’s savings accounts for every child born in the U.S. The bill, the American Saving for Personal Investment, Retirement and Education Act (ASPIRE), S.3577, is similar H.R. 4682, the House version of the ASPIRE Act. Each child would receive an initial $500 deposit made by the government, with low-income children eligible for an additional contribution. Withdrawals would be permitted for educational purposes when the child turns 18 and for additional uses at age 25. Don’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. AnnouncementsPlease Complete the RESULTS Conference Survey. Please take a few minutes to complete our Online Survey about the 2010 RESULTS conference. If you were at the conference and attended any lobby meetings, please fill out our new Online Lobby Report Form. You can also find helpful resources from the conference on our International Conference page. Vote for Grassroots Board Positions. We have three persons running for the open seat on the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund Board. 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. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) August 2–September 10: House on summer recess. August 14: RESULTS Domestic National Conference Call, 12:30 pm ET. August 16–September 10: Senate on summer recess. 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, x116 (dodson@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). Note: Jos will be on vacation July 19–25, and Meredith will be on vacation July 22–August 2. We apologize for any delay in returning calls and e-mails. 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. |