The House Republican leadership is trying to do to Puerto Rico what the International Monetary Fund is doing to Greece: put the demands of international bondholders ahead of the needs of the majority of working people, and replace democratically elected government with a "control board" that can overrule the democratic government to impose an austerity agenda so international bondholders can be paid more. Sen. Bernie Sanders called on Senate colleagues to oppose legislation that would establish a control board. Sanders said the House bill, H.R. 5278, “would make a terrible situation even worse” by requiring the governor of Puerto Rico to submit a fiscal plan to an unelected oversight board comprised of seven members, a majority of whom would be chosen by Republican leadership. Puerto Ricans would choose no members. The oversight board would enact its own fiscal plan to cut the budget, slash pensions, raise taxes, privatize and sell public assets without the approval of Puerto Rico’s democratically elected government. The legislation requires that any restructuring of Puerto Rico’s debt be “in the best interest of creditors.” H.R. 5278 would also exclude Puerto Rico from the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules and allow the governor of Puerto Rico to slash the minimum wage to just $4.25 an hour for a period of up to five years. [1] Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez [D-IL], one of five Puerto Ricans in Congress, said: “I cannot support this legislation because it runs counter to basic values of democracy, fairness and justice.” He wrote, “The profits and profiteering of investors are likely to be weighed as heavily or more heavily by the Board in its decision-making and that fails my test for what is needed for Puerto Rico.” He also pointed to reductions in the minimum wage, the exemption from overtime rules, questionable protections for pensions earned by Puerto Rican workers, and expedited permitting of energy and construction projects without environmental checks as reasons he opposes the legislation. [2] The AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, UFCW, USW, and the UAW oppose the bill. In a letter to the House, the unions wrote that the bill “provides no economic stimulus, and in fact takes money out of the economy by reducing the minimum wage and overtime protections" for union members they represent in Puerto Rico. [3] Urge Congress to oppose the bill unless the "IMF" control board provision is removed by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-to-senate-democrats-do-we-stand-with-puerto-rico-or-wall-street-and-the-tea-party 2. http://gutierrez.house.gov/press-release/rep-guti%C3%A9rrez-tells-natural-resources-committee-he-cannot-support-promesa-bill-puerto 3. http://thehill.com/policy/finance/economy/280696-labor-unions-oppose-puerto-rico-debt-bill; http://www.world-psi.org/en/unions-reject-us-bill-seeks-impose-fiscal-oversight-board-puerto-rico

I'm Senator Tammy Baldwin, and I'm taking on Wall Street's 1%. Our economy should work for middle class families and not just the 1%. Unfortunately, it's hard to level the playing field when Wall Street CEOs and Hedge Fund Managers are writing their own rules. That's why I'm leading the effort to stop Wall Street's revolving door and am proud to have Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Barbara Mikulski join my fight. The Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act would prohibit the practice of incentivizing private sector employees to take jobs in the government, make federal employees recuse themselves for two years in cases involving their former employers, and close the lobbyist loophole. Here’s how it happens: There is a fast-spinning revolving door between the government and private sector industries. Employees in the private sector can actually accept incentives from their companies to take jobs in the government. Then, once they become government officials, they only have to wait one year before regulating their old companies. The same thing happens in reverse. Federal employees can take jobs at companies they oversaw immediately after leaving the government. They can become “outside advisors” or “strategic counselors” and lobby their former government colleagues in an unofficial capacity that allows them to skirt legal requirements registered lobbyists have to meet. Americans should be able to trust that public servants are, in fact, putting the interests of the people first. But, it’s not easy when private-sector employees, namely from the financial services industry, take jobs in the government where they are tasked with overseeing their former companies. This practice is rife with conflicts of interest. Join me and sign my petition urging Congress to take action to restore trust in government by stopping the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington.

The University of Washington is cutting Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the College of Arts and Sciences. These positions provide the bulk of instruction at the University, and cuts undermine the core mission of our school. Stop the cuts now. Find alternative sources of funds to maintain education and scholarship at UW.

The UW Board of Regents’ insufficient action on the matters of tenure and Civil Service changes dramatically affects the entire state by stifling the ability of the UW (as a statewide entity) to serve its historic mission of being committed to the “search for truth” and to “improve the human condition”.

My phone did not work for close to 3 weeks because this asinine clown kept forcing the people who actually keep the phones working to go on strike by making demands they knew the CWA could not accept. Where can I go to burn my Verizon bill? Looking to move to At&T.

I care about my home state of West Virginia and about its future. We can be an energy leader for the future as long as we're not stuck in the past and burdened by political fueled blaming. We need to step up and take the challenge of educating our coal miners and others in the state for new opportunities.

Stop abuses to US workers by big business

To save my local region from economic disaster. And relieve congestion with general purpose lanes. And to keep airspace above the Interstate in the control of NC, not foreigners.

A Resolution to Denounce the TPP and to request your Senators do the same. WHEREAS, the Trans Pacific Partnership will have far reaching negative effects on all our lives; and WHEREAS, the majority of voters, many unions, businesses and other groups have repeatedly pointed out several of the major flaws in this document; and WHEREAS, allowing this flawed document to become law will have far-reaching disastrous effects, not only on our nation’s sovereignty but our national security as well; and WHEREAS, repeated requests to our elected officials have gone unanswered or answered with a point of view contrary to the wishes of the voters; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the We, the People of the United States of America do hereby respectfully request a change of position by our elected officials; and, be it FURTHER RESOLVED, that We, the People of the United States of America demand that our Senators cast “NO” votes when the TPP comes up for ratification in the US Senate later this year.

A Resolution to Denounce the TPP and to request our Senators from Washington State do the same. WHEREAS, Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell have publicly voiced their support for the Trans Pacific Partnership; and WHEREAS, the majority of voters, many unions, businesses and other groups have repeatedly pointed out several of the major flaws in this document; and WHEREAS, allowing this flawed document to become law will have far-reaching disastrous effects, not only on our nation’s sovereignty but our national security as well; and WHEREAS, repeated requests to our elected officials have gone unanswered or answered with a point of view contrary to the wishes of the voters; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the We, the People of the State of Washington do hereby respectfully request a change of position by our elected officials; and, be it FURTHER RESOLVED, that We, the People of the State of Washington demand that both Sen. Murray and Sen. Cantwell cast “NO” votes when the TPP comes up for ratification in the US Senate later this year.

Now the Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative have reached a deal with 11 other nations on a new, secretly negotiated, massive so-called "free-trade" agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The public and the press did not have any access to the negotiations, and even Members of Congress had limited access. However, over 500 official corporate “trade advisors” representing Wal-Mart, Haliburton, Dow chemical and others have not only had access to, but also influenced, the negotiations. As the long fought for, recent release of the TPP text proves, the agreement will greatly empower corporations to challenge new consumer, health, safety, labor, privacy, and environmental regulations and have a devastating impact on CT small businesses and local farmers. The TPP would allow foreign corporations to bypass our domestic justice system to sue governments for domestic laws that they consider to undermine their “future profits” through the investor-state dispute settlement or ISDS. CT residents must reserve the right to determine our own consumer, health, safety, labor, privacy, and environmental regulations without the threat of our governments being sued by foreign corporations. Do not surrender our rights to trans-national corporations. Despite massive popular opposition to the TPP (despite media silence) on the part of citizens of all party nations, the Obama administration is trying to bring the TPP up for a vote in Congress within months under the anti-democratic Fast Track procedure. Fast Track legislation, which limits Congressional debate on trade agreements and only allows an up-or-down vote with no amendments, was passed in June 2015 despite no votes from nearly all of the Democratic Congressional Delegation with the notable exception of Jim Himes (4th district). CT residents, like all Americans, are in the fight of our lives to urge Congress to oppose the TPP. We also urge members of the CT Legislative Assembly as well as city and town councils to speak out against the TPP.

I am a Puerto Rican American who along with the other 8.5 million, cares about Puerto Rico, its culture and its heritage!