The bill now has over 150 co-sponsors in the House, and Democratic leaders are considering taking up the bill before the end of the year. The press conference focused on the need to increase voter confidence in American democracy and how passing the bill would allow candidates to run without relying on large contributions, big money bundlers, or lobbyist donations.

“Even the best-intentioned lawmakers are subject to the realities of modern campaigning,” Raúl said in announcing the event. “We need to change that reality by giving power back to voters and taking it out of the hands of the corporations and lobbyists who effectively buy elections. No level of government should be for sale in the United States. We need to pass the Fair Elections Now Act before another generation of American voters becomes convinced that their votes are less important than corporate money in November. Our dysfunctional pay-for-play politics has done enough damage – the people are telling Congress that enough is enough, and it’s time Congress listened for a change.”

Social Security has been running surpluses for the last quarter-century, banking those surpluses in a special account, the so-called trust fund. The program won’t have to turn to Congress for help or cut benefits until or unless the trust fund is exhausted, which the program’s actuaries don’t expect to happen until 2037 — and there’s a significant chance, according to their estimates, that that day will never come.

Meanwhile, an aging population will eventually (over the course of the next 20 years) cause the cost of paying Social Security benefits to rise from its current 4.8 percent of G.D.P. to about 6 percent of G.D.P. To give you some perspective, that’s a significantly smaller increase than the rise in defense spending since 2001, which Washington certainly didn’t consider a crisis, or even a reason to rethink some of the Bush tax cuts.

We’re going to hear a lot more about the need to cut Social Security, Medicare and other programs the American people support and depend on to maintain a good quality of life when they retire. It’s important to keep fiscal reality in mind when Republicans (and some Democrats) start throwing around phrases like “going broke” and “rethink our commitments.” Social Security is non-negotiable, and it’s not falling off a cliff. It’s as simple as that.

The awards were given based on applicants’ voting record, sponsored and co-sponsored legislation, and efforts to promote laws that support working families. In addition, applicants were asked to submit the policies and practices in their own offices that support working families and give employees flexible workplace options.

When he was informed of the award, he said he was “deeply honored” and saluted both groups’ “much-needed focus on the needs of working families.”

“I believe in giving children a good education, helping working men and women stay employed with good benefits, and making sure civil rights and equal pay are enforced in the workplace,” he said. “These are not niche or local issues – they affect millions of working families around the country, and we need to do more to support them.”

Raúl has actively pursued a number of measures designed to help working families, including:

-          Voting for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which became law last year. That law says paycheck discrimination begins when you start receiving unequal pay, not just when you find out about it, and successful complaints should be compensated accordingly. Raúl thinks the Fair Pay Act is a powerful way to hold companies accountable and make sure they take their responsibilities to their employees seriously.

-          Voting for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which became law in April. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the law will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years and extent employer-provided health care coverage to 9 million more Americans by 2019.

-          Co-sponsoring the Fair Elections Now Act, which would allow candidates for many political offices to qualify for public matching funds by raising money exclusively from small donors. This bill would return political power back to its small-donor roots and ensure that working families, not corporations, have the last word on where this country should be headed.

“We in Congress can’t underestimate the importance of practicing what we preach about equal treatment in the workplace,” Grijalva said. “I try to give my staff the same consideration I’d like every other working American to be given, and I’m happy to keep fighting for the people of Southern Arizona to make sure they can work, have families if they choose, and make life decisions based on their own preferences rather than economic insecurity or a lack of basic health care.”

For more information, see the Corporate Voices for Working Families Web site about the award.

Read more.

Rep. Grijalva believes that Congress’ first obligation is to the working people of the United States. He co-sponsors the Local Jobs for America Act, which would put about one million people to work in positions that directly benefit local communities, and has pushed tirelessly against continuing to fund two wars abroad at taxpayer expense when we’re already tapped out at home. He’s been pushing productive jobs measures and seen positive results for Southern Arizona, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $63 million for Tucson’s new light rail system to the recent announcement of the world’s largest solar plant being built near Gila Bend thanks to a federally guaranteed loan.

It’s going to take a lot of work to get the American economy back on track, and Rep. Grijalva believes Congress needs to start right away. We need to keep teachers in the classroom, cops and firefighters on the streets, and first responders protecting our neighborhoods. We also need to build a green infrastructure that not only gets people working but lays the foundation of a new, sustainable economy for the future. It’s time for Washington to hear Arizona and the rest of the country and approve the bills that can make this happen.

Rep. Grijalva arranged startup funding for the program in 2008 and has been its strongest supporter in Congress. The University now has the largest adaptive athletic program in the country and a highly regarded rehabilitation faculty. The Resource Center supports reintegration and academic success for veterans with disabilities and documents its work through empirical studies designed to be replicated elsewhere in the country.

“Making sure veterans have the assistance and resources they need to succeed is a great public service, and I’m proud to have supported this program from the beginning,” Rep. Grijalva said when the school learned it had received the funding from the Department of Education. “Reintegration is often difficult for wounded veterans, and the University has been making that transition possible for hundreds of Southern Arizonans each year. Veterans everywhere should get the assistance they need to integrate fully into civilian life if they so choose, and that’s why I continue to support this program.”

The program has received Congressionally directed funding for the past three years, and Rep. Grijalva has vowed to continue his support in the future. The VETS office, which is staffed and managed by veteran students, assists approximately 500 student veterans on campus each year.

Learn more about the program at the U of A VETS page.

Consider the following: Despite widespread shortfalls in education funding around the country, the $10 billion that would have saved 140,000 teacher jobs across the nation – all of it offset – has been cut. The $37.12 billion in war funding, on the other hand, is not paid for. Every single penny adds directly to the national debt. This is not good for national security. This is continuing a failed policy at the exact wrong time.

The bill before the House denies our children the right to an education and takes away their future earning power. It also adds to the economic burden they will eventually have to bear. This is a moral outrage. We find it unacceptable that this Congress places a greater priority on foreign wars than urgent domestic needs. We have compounded our moral short-sightedness with utter fiscal irresponsibility.

After the dramatic revelations of this week, it is clearer than ever just how daunting a task our troops face in Afghanistan. We are trying to build a modern, democratic state in an area divided by tribal and ethnic identities that has successfully resisted foreign powers for centuries. We are fighting for one side in a civil war, killing civilians, building resentment toward the United States, and making it nearly impossible to gain the popular support that could make success possible.

As multiple reports have shown, pervasive corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan siphons resources so that even worthwhile projects are doomed to fail. This is not how we want to spend borrowed money. Our people at home are facing a difficult job market, lower funding for education, and a shattered Gulf economy that needs significant attention. We need to prioritize and make the right choices, not continue as before out of inertia or a lack of urgency. We urge the president to consider how this spending really improves the lives of Americans and how it can be spent in more productive ways.

Cross posted on Daily Kos

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story at Netroots Nation, a large conference for progressive activists and media, Grijalva lamented how “one of the most important mechanisms [to cut the deficit] was left out of the [health reform] bill.”

But he and more than 120 other members of Congress revived the idea in legislation introduced Thursday, which is projected to save billions of dollars. And they’re using that to challenge the GOP and conservative Democrats, who have claimed it’ll be too costly, to get behind it.

“You’re the deficit hawks,” Grijalva said, referring specifically to Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats, “and we’re giving you a tool to be able to deal with the deficit.”

The measure would offer consumers the choice of a public plan alongside private plans in the insurance exchanges set up by the sweeping health reform law enacted in March. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that it would reduce insurance costs and lower the federal deficit by $68 billion through 2020.

Read the rest of the story here

Appearing at a panel discussion at Netroots Nation , the lawmakers argued that the public was not discriminating in its anger with Congress’ legislative inertia. And while a fair chunk of the Senate was immune from direct, electoral blowback, every member of the House would have to deal with the taint.

“They say the senate has a luxury of time, six-year cycles for elections,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. “But these last 18 months have, in memory, have not only been the most frustrating but the inertia created in the Senate is what is jeopardizing Democrats and progressives’ opportunities in the midterms. It is not our lack of action. It has been their lack of action.”

Read the whole article at Huffington Post