Increasing transparency makes it easier for workers to know if they're underpaid. These two orders give more power to the hard-working people who serve the federal government in contract positions. We applaud the president's leadership and we urge the Senate to build on it by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act tomorrow. The private sector should follow the government's example and close the pay gap for all workers.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), along with Progressive Caucus Members Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), John Conyers (D-MI), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Sam Farr (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Mike Honda (D-CA), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA) Gwen Moore (D-WI), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Mark Takano (D-CA) applauded the passage of an extension of emergency unemployment insurance by the Senate and called on Speaker Boehner to put the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives as soon as possible.
Yesterday's decision, like Citizens United before it, hands more political power to the highest bidders. Instead of strengthening our democracy, Chief Justice Roberts and the conservative wing of the Court continue to chip away its foundations. Our democracy doesn't work when a small minority makes it impossible for the majority to participate, but that's what McCutcheon and Citizens United have done.
House Republicans have proven once again that they can't be trusted when it comes to Medicare. Instead of taking this opportunity to pass a bipartisan agreement that finally fixes Medicare physician payments, Republicans decided to attack the Affordable Care Act and leave seniors wondering if this problem will ever be solved.
We applaud the president for taking steps to make sure hard-working Americans are paid fairly. The order will directly benefit middle-class families, ensuring that hard-working employees get paid overtime when they work overtime. Eighty-eight percent of salaried workers don't currently qualify for overtime protections because they make over $455 per week, which still leaves a family of four in poverty.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus' Better Off Budget reverses the damage their austerity agenda has inflicted on hard-working families and restores our economy to its full potential by creating 8.8 million jobs by 2017.
When we write better tax policies, we can provide a world-class education for our kids, fix our crumbling roads and bridges, and fund cutting-edge scientific research the way we used to. We should close loopholes that reward companies for parking profits overseas and for destabilizing our climate. We can stop making it profitable to ship American jobs overseas. We can expand and make permanent the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit, which help working families thrive.
Too many Americans are working seventy or eighty hours a week and living in poverty. Working in a job that pays the federal minimum wage should mean a working parent can take care of her kids. The CBO report released today confirms that paying Americans a wage they deserve helps hard working families get out of poverty and increases wages for those who need it most.