Happy New Year to All
Broken Senate Rules Continue to Delay the People’s Business
Want to hear how the Senate rules don’t work from an inside
source?
Click on this interview with the “Secret Senator,” who talks
about obstruction and other political games that have stalled action
on important issues for working families throughout the two years of
the 111th Congress.
The House of Representatives passed more than 400 bills that
never were discussed by the U.S. Senate because of these broken
Senate rules.
That’s why CWA, Common Cause, and many progressive groups are
working for real reform of the Senate rules, to end the secret holds
and delaying tactics that prevent important legislation from even
being discussed.
Bargaining rights for public safety officers and support for
Sept. 11 emergency responders who became ill following their work at
Ground Zero are just the most recent bills that have fallen victim
to Republican delaying tactics.
The Senate rules about holds and filibusters aren’t part of the
U.S. Constitution and can be changed by the new Senate after members
are sworn in early in January.
Want to make your voice heard?
Check out this petition that calls on Senators to make the
filibuster a “real filibuster,” by requiring Senators to stay on the
floor and explain to the American people why the minority is right,
whether it’s about bargaining rights or other issues important to
working families.
Ground Zero Responders Bill Remains Blocked by Abuse of Senate
Rules
As this CWA Newsletter closed out, some Senate Republicans led by
Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) were continuing to stall discussion of
the bill to provide health care and compensation to Sept. 11
responders at Ground Zero. The legislation would help ailing police
officers, firefighters, telecom workers and others – including many
CWA members -- who were on the ground in the earliest days following
Sept. 11.
Coburn, taking advantage of the broken Senate rules, has pledged
to try to block the bill by forcing up to three votes on whether
Senators will even agree to discuss the bill. That means several
days or more would be required just to move the bill to the Senate
floor and begin debate.
Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) made
changes in the bill’s funding to win more support, but the measure
continued to lack of the 60 votes needed to begin debate.
The bill would create a 10-year program to treat and monitor
individuals with medical conditions that resulted from exposure to
toxic dust and other materials at the sites of the terrorist attacks
or during debris removal. It would also reopen enrollment in a fund
that provides money to those injured during the attack or debris
removal, and to the families of those who died during the attacks.
FCC Vote Moves U.S. Forward on Broadband
The vote by the the Federal Communications Commission approving
Chairman Genachowski’s initiative to adopt open Internet rules means
the U.S. can move forward on broadband buildout in a way that will
create quality jobs, sustainable communities and enable the U.S. to
catch up with the rest of the world.
The FCC’s action will protect an open Internet while providing
the needed incentives for investment and economic development. The
plan codifies the FCC’s open Internet principles, which call for no
discrimination, full transparency, no blocking and free speech, and
cover wireless technology while acknowledging technological
differences.
As CWA’s 2010 “Speed Matters” report on Internet Speed
demonstrated, the U.S. has a long way to go to meet the standards of
a true 21st century broadband infrastructure. Currently,
half of Americans' broadband connections do not meet the FCC
standard of 4 megabits per second (mbps) download and 1 mbps upload.
Read more at
www.speedmatters.org.
For residents in rural communities and lower-income urban areas,
the digital divide persists. CWA and other organizations, including
national civil rights and environmental groups, are calling for more
initiatives to support broadband buildout and adoption, as part of
the FCC’s national broadband plan.
CWA Members Ratify Contracts at AT&T Advertising Solutions,
Internet Services
CWA members at AT&T Advertising Solutions, formerly AT&T Yellow
Pages, and AT&T Internet Services have overwhelming ratified
separate agreements. Members had voted down earlier tentative
agreements; bargaining resumed and new settlements were reached.
At Advertising Solutions, the four-year agreement covering 1,500
workers throughout District 6, in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri
and Arkansas, was ratified by a 76 percent vote. The three-year AT&T
Internet Services agreement, ratified by an 87 percent vote, covers
5,000 members in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and California
(Districts 3, 4, 6, and 9.)
JwJ Voters Name Cold-Hearted McConnell 'Scrooge of the Year'
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was the meanest of the
mean in 2010, say online voters in the annual Jobs with Justice
“Scrooge of the Year” contest.
McConnell declared that preventing President Obama from being
re-elected is his most important agenda item, more important than
rebuilding the economy, putting Americans back to work, providing
health care to ailing 9/11 responders or anything else that working
families might look for.
“McConnell could have shown great leadership to support people in
need at a time when so many are struggling, but this Scrooge doesn’t
care about governing or making this country a better place to live,”
JwJ said. “McConnell’s goal is to do whatever is necessary to hoard
power for himself and his party.”
The JwJ chapter in Kentucky plans to deliver the Scrooge of the
Year award in person to McConnell’s office in Louisville.
McConnell got 42 percent of the thousands of votes cast over the
past several weeks. The health insurance and pharmaceutical
industry, with its focus on profits at the expense of patients, was
first runner-up with 22 percent of the vote. Read more at
www.jwj.org.
Happy New Year to All
From all of us at CWA Communications, best wishes for a happy and
healthy New Year.
