4-25-07, 10:40 pm
Gabcast! Poltical Affairs #13 - Congress Stands Up to Bush and Pushes Civil Rights
Democrats Stand Up to Bush on the Iraq War; PA Joins a Media Coalition to Protest Postal Rate Hike; Legislation is Needed to Reduce the Gender Pay Gap; and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is Re-introduced in Congress.
This past week, congressional leaders from both houses met in conference to negotiate the final version of a $124 billion spending supplemental. The final bill includes a timetable for withdrawal that would begin no later than October 1 and requires that President Bush be accountable to Congress for the war in Iraq.
The announcement of the outcome of the conference brought sharp words for the President from Democratic leaders.
In a speech, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration’s incompetence and dishonesty.'
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who led Senate Democrats during the conference, told reporters that “On Iraq, the American people want a new direction, and we are providing it.”
In addition to a redeployment timetable, the supplemental provides funds for the war, increased spending for veterans' benefits and health care, additional funds for the Gulf Coast recovery, and other items typically found in spending supplementals.
Congressional Republicans refused to fight the timetable provision at the conference and left criticism up to the White House. Both Vice President Cheney and President Bush questioned the loyalty of members of Congress and accused them of 'emboldening the enemy.'
This claim appeared to contradict a statement last week by Defense Secretary Robert Gates who described the congressional debate as 'helpful.'
The anti-war group Americans Against Escalation in Iraq reported that hundreds of thousands of voters contacted their representatives during the congressional recess last week to insist that Congress stand by its vote to change course in Iraq.
Groups like Americans United for Change and VoteVets.org are targeting some Senate Republicans as well as several House Republicans in a TV and radio ad campaign. The ads are highlighting their refusal to side with the vast majority of Americans who want to bring the war to an end.
VoteVets.org has even teamed up with MoveOn.org to create a television ad campaign produced by Oliver Stone to increase pressure on congressional Republicans.
In related news, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama delivered a major foreign policy speech in Chicago this week during which he accused President Bush of abandoning the global leadership afforded by his office. Bush, said Obama, squandered the goodwill and unity the world offered the US after the attacks in September 2001.
Obama expressed a concern that Bush's incompetence would lead many Americans to stop viewing their own security and well-being as connected with that of the rest of the world. Obama called for a multifaceted foreign policy that combined aid programs, multilateral unity and strength, adherence to international law, and diplomacy.
Obama said, 'This will require a new spirit – not of bluster and bombast, but of quiet confidence and sober intelligence, a spirit of care and renewed competence. It will also require a new leader.'
PA Joins Media Coalition to Block Postal Rate Hike
Political Affairs magazine has joined with over 100 other publications and media organizations to oppose a planned US Post Office rate hike. The proposed hike unfairly burdens small publications with higher postal rates, and grants special favors to major media corporations.
In fact, the hike proposal was submitted by TimeWarner, one of the largest media corporations in the world. The plan was selected by postal regulators without public input.
So far more than 50,000 letters from supporters of the independent media have been sent to Congress and the Postal Board of Governors protesting the plan.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) has pledged to convene a hearing on the matter in his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Let's be clear. This is a First Amendment issue. Rate hikes that unfairly target small publications and benefit the wealthy corporate media undermine the right to a free press.
Political Affairs isn't an organ of corporate America. It is a voice of and for working people. With these new regulations our voice could be silenced.
Please tell Congress and the Post Office to stop the rate hike and protect the First Amendment. Go to PoliticalAffairs.net, scroll down the Take Action column, and click on the 'Stop the Post Office' icon for more information and to let your voice be heard.
Legislation Needed to Reduce Gender Pay Gap
April 24th was Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how far into the calendar year the average woman must work to earn as much as a man earned last year.
Full-time women workers are paid an average of 77 cents for every dollar men are paid. Women of color are short-changed even more as African American women are paid only 68 cents and Latinas just 57 cents on men's dollar.
The WAGE Project estimates that this persistent wage gap costs the average full-time US woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her work life.
A new study by the American Association of University Women finds that education doesn't help overcome the difference. Women are paid about 80 percent of what men are paid one year out of college. But within 10 years, the gap grows to 69 percent – even after accounting for such factors as the number of hours worked, occupations, or parenthood.
An AFL-CIO survey of working women found that 57 percent of the respondents believe their employers do not compensate them equal to their male counterparts.
The most successful tool for closing the gender pay gap has been the union. According to labor statistics, women who belong to unions earn 31 percent more than their non-union counterparts.
Legislative efforts to close the pay gap include two bills introduced in this session of Congress. The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act would provide legal remedies for victims of the gender gap, outlaw gender-based wage discrimination, and establish the principle of comparable worth.
Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said, 'Day-to-day, women struggle to make ends meet and provide for their families. [The gender gap] hurts their ability to save for a home, for medical emergencies, or for retirement. We need this legislation now more than ever.'
Men have a stake in supporting equal pay. Women adversely affected by the gender gap are their mothers, sisters, intimate partners, and children. Additionally, men who work in fields predominantly held by women are also victimized by the gender gap.
In the end the gender gap is a tool of super-exploitation and division. The billions stolen from women each year through the gender gap do not end up in the pockets of male co-workers. They end up on the corporate bottom line as profit.
Using right-wing propaganda to convince men that either they have an interest in maintaining the gender gap or that it doesn't exist divides working people by gender. It weakens the unity needed to create a democratic society where each has an equal voice and receives a just reward for their contributions.
Non-Discrimination Bill Re-introduced in Congress
A measure that would outlaw discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity was re-introduced in Congress yesterday. The bipartisan bill, known as the Employment Anti-Discrimination Act (or ENDA), would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote an employee based on the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Expressing strong support for passage of the bill, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, 'In far too many states, it is still absolutely legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.'
Nancy Wohlforth, Co-President of Pride at Work, AFL-CIO, the LGBT voice in the labor movement, said, 'The fundamental precepts of the labor movement are centered around the recognition that workers must be assessed only on their job-related performance. Yet, all forms of workplace and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression remain lawful in the majority of US states.'
Currently 33 states lack legal bars against discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 42 states allow discrimination in the workplace based on gender identity.
H. Alexander Robinson, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization for the African American LGBT community, said, 'We envision a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith and community, regardless of race, gender-identity or sexual orientation. ENDA is particularly important because it will provide protections in the workplace, the source of most people’s livelihoods.'
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman singled out for praise the bill's inclusion of transgender workers for protection against discrimination. Foreman said, 'We vowed we would not support an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that left behind the transgender members of our community.'
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