Legislative Alert: The Regulatory Accountability Act (H.R. 3010)

[Excerpt] The AFL-CIO strongly opposes the Regulatory Accountability Act (H.R. 3010), which will be marked up later this week. This legislation would upend more than 40 years of labor, health, safety and environmental laws and threaten new needed protections

Legislative Alert: Interest Rate Reduction Act (H.R. 4628)

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-C10. I am writing to urge you to vote against the Interest Rate Reduction Act (H.R. 4628), which would eliminate the Prevent and Public Health Fund in order to offset the cost of capping student loan costs, and instead support an alternative that would cap the interest rate on needs-based student loans at 3.4% without slashing important disease prevention programs. H.R. 4628 is little more than a ploy to score political points by pitting one worthy legislative objective against another

Legislative Alert: Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011 (H.R. 1745)

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-CIO. I am writing to urge you to oppose the Jobs. Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011 (H.R. 1745), which would allow states to deny federal unemployment insurance benefits to over four million Americans unemployed for over 6 months so they can lower taxes for business. This senseless piece of legislation would undo the thirteen month extension of unemployment benefits enacted by Congress last December as part of a bipartisan deal to extend tax cuts for the wealthy

Legislative Alert: S.J. RES 36

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I urge you to vote against S.J.RES 36, a Resolution aimed at blocking a rule to update and modernize the procedures used by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to supervise elections for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union

Legislative Alert: Nomination of Goodwin Liu

[Excerpt] I am writing on behalf of the AFL-CIO in support of the nomination of Professor Goodwin Liu to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Liu is extraordinarily well-qualified and I urge you to vote for cloture, and to vote for his confirmation

Legislative Alert: Brown/Merkley Amendment to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP 21) (S. 1813)

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I am writing to urge you to support an amendment offered by Senators Brown and Merkley to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century Act, or Map 21 (S. 1813). The Brown/Merkley amendment would close loopholes in current law that allow federally assisted projects to avoid Buy America requirements to procure foreign iron, steel, and manufactured goods

Legislative Alert: FY12 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

[Excerpt] The AFL-CIO urges conferees to the FY 12 Agriculture Appropriations Bill to retain a common-sense reporting requirement, one which was first included by House Republicans in the FY04 bill: Provided, That no funds made available by this appropriation may be obligated for FAIR Act or Circular A-76 activities until the Secretary has submitted to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives a report on the Department\u27s contracting out policies, including agency budgets for contracting out

Legislative Alert: The 21st Century Postal Act (S. 1789)

[Excerpt] This week the Senate will debate and amend S. 1789, the 2Ist Century Postal Act, to address a crisis facing the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS is an essential communications network and national asset that touches every household, business and community in your state. More than 7.5 million workers\u27 jobs and nearly a trillion dollars of the U.S. economy depend on this reliable institution

Legislative Alert: Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (HR 3606)

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I am writing to express our continued strong opposition to the \u27Mumpstart Our Business Startups Act (H.R. 3606), and to urge you to vote no when it is considered by the House later this afternoon. Although the House passed the bill by a wide margin on March 19th, the ensuing Senate debate brought into starker relief the very serious risks the bill poses to our financial regulatory sector. Over the past couple of weeks, every major investor organization, the editorial boards of many major newspapers and even the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission have warned that H.R. 3606 could reopen the door to the kind of market manipulations and stock bubbles that caused our current economic crisis

Legislative Alert: Affordable Care Act (H.R. 9)

[Excerpt] On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I urge you to vote against legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act and against H. Res, 9, a symbol of Republican support for the status quo masquerading as reform