Despite greater human need – record inequality, increased poverty and long-term joblessness – management at the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) wants to make it harder for eligible people to get or keep benefits (Medicaid, SNAP, home care, etc.).

My name is Charles Gladden, and I’ve worked at the U.S. Senate for almost a decade, serving food to some of the most powerful people in the country – U.S. Senators, lobbyists and their staff. You would think that working at the Senate would be a good job, but the truth is I’m struggling. I earn so little that I’ve been homeless. It’s a big contrast from the people who I serve every day. But with your help, we can change that. As early as last year, I would finish my shift at the U.S. Senate cafeteria and would head to the McPherson Square metro stop, only a few blocks from the White House. It was my bedroom for the night. I spend countless nights sleeping on the streets, because my wages were so low, I could not keep a roof over my head. Because workers like me have been organizing under the banner of Good Jobs Nation, President Obama has taken action raising our wages to $10.10 an hour, preventing people who break the law from receiving tax payer dollars through contracting, and providing paid sick days so we can take care of ourselves and our families. Because of help from folks like you, I’m no longer homeless. But the truth is we need more to survive. I serve Senators and other powerful individuals, but still rely on public assistance to keep a roof over my head. Currently, the Democratic Platform Committee includes support for a Model Employer Executive Order—a critical initiative to protect low-wage workers. With the stroke of a pen, the next president could put 8 million low-wage federal contract workers like me on the path to the middle class. Join me, the Democratic Platform Committee, Members of Congress, U.S Senators, faith leaders, and 8 million other contract workers by calling on the next president to sign the Model Employer Executive Order! It’s time for the next President to put government on the side of workers once again.

At this time in our lives. Senior citizens should not be burdened with having to pay this tax.

A moratorium or ban on vacation rentals is NOT the best way to address vacation rental concerns. Concerns over noise and occupancy violations continue in our city, and we look to our City Council to be a leader in creating positive solutions to enhance residents lives. We are pleading with the City Council to not cause damage to the value of our homes, or the growth of our businesses. A ban will cause a drop in demand for homes here, and confusion in our local real estate market. Less demand will cause a drop in home values, weakening our local economy. A weaker economy will affect nearly all residents, not just vacation rental owners and management companies. Catering companies, restaurants, contractors, landscape and pool maintenance companies and many others will be especially at risk. Residents, business owners, employees and homeowners here want the City Council to help support the value of their homes, not harm it. Several ideas worth investigating, to help implement better enforcement, could include: 1. Implementing electronic signature technology to make renters aware of existing strict noise and occupancy restrictions BEFORE they rent, especially for properties not managed by local property management firms that already institute similar disclosures. Suggest the requirement to use a standardized form for ALL vacation rental homeowners. 2. Stronger commitment for fines for renters that violate the existing ordinance. This puts the responsibility back on a renter choosing to violate the existing city ordinance. Instead of considering $1,000 fines for homeowners that decide to violate a so-called moratorium (which is what the current moratorium suggests), renters should be held financially responsible for their behavior. In conjunction with the aforementioned electronic signature process, it would seem the technology exists that tenants would be required to leave their credit card info, at the time of booking, knowing UP FRONT it could be used in the event of a violation of the local ordinance the city needs to articulate it takes very seriously. This seems FAR LESS complicated than some of the elaborate and complicated solutions being discussed that include somehow devising a plan to determine density requirements or limiting ownership of rentals to one rental per person. Palm Springs is a city based on tourism. We are not like almost all of the other cities that have banned vacation rentals. Most of those cities have well rounded economies based on many different industries. A change in policy for a city like that will not likely have disastrous effects. Palm Springs is different. We don't have anything else to fall back on. Even the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico recently reversed its limit on the number of vacation rental permits, after acknowledging it was difficult to manage violations and that the policy was damaging their economy and financial well being. Vacation renters regularly rate the quality of their stay in Palm Springs among the Top 5 or Top 10 in the entire country. Certainly the City Council wishes to retain such a distinguished rating? We urge the City Council to not ban vacation rentals, but to get serious about continuing to implement better enforcement to help neighborhoods become more peaceful again. Many full time and part time residents alike look to your leadership to help keep the city from experiencing an economic shock that will be difficult to recover from. In the short term, real estate agents are reporting cancelled escrows, as well as angry buyers that recently purchased into our community, that are suddenly faced with the prospect that their home can no longer be used for the purpose they intended. Certainly there is a better way? We urge the City Council to get serious about enforcement, but to save residents home values by voting NO to any current or future moratorium or ban on short term rentals.

Do you have massive life-killing student loan debt? This bill is why. This bill, for the first time in American history, outlawed DISCHARGING (getting RID of) PRIVATE student loan debt through personal bankruptcy. This law is destroying 10's of millions of Americans' lives for no good reason.

What do the people who make the District run need to build a good life? The basics: strong wages, stable hours, and a predictable work schedule. In the coming week, our elected representatives have the chance to make that a reality. The D.C. Council is expected to vote on meaningful rules to ensure tens of thousands of working people right here in our city have work schedules they can depend on and hours they can better sustain their families on. A majority of Councilmembers have said they support this proposal, but they're facing lots of pressure from some big corporations to vote against it – the same profitable chain restaurants and retailers that assign our neighbors too few hours on too short notice. We only have a few days to send a clear, undeniable message to the Council that D.C. residents want schedules that work. Please urge your Councilmembers to vote YES on the Hours and Scheduling Stability Act. Make your voice heard NOW.

The accusations from a few very vocal members of the Saranap Community about how this proposed development is horrendously out of place, overly tall, and disrespectful to the character of the neighborhood are unfounded, biased, and exclusionary to the needs of commerce, business and the next generation of Citizens seeking a place in the community. I urge you to disregard the raucous choir of the vocal minority, and instead look to the silent majority of homeowners eager to see convenience, vitality, and property value added to their neighborhood. Tell the County that this area DESERVES convenience, commerce, and growth to take root! Let your signature urge these council members to approve of this wonderful addition to our community.

Paying for more infrastructure services and paying down our debt.

Business tax cuts in the state of Kansas have resulted in dramatic budget shortfalls, cuts to critical services and agencies, and widespread insecurity among the residents of the state. I am asking that taxation of my business and others in Kansas be reinstated.

Over 100,000 Puerto Ricans left the island in 2015, the majority coming to Central Florida. With vulture funds and greedy Wall Street banks spending millions of dollars to lobby for a federal fiscal control board in Puerto Rico, the humanitarian crisis on the island continues to deteriorate. Politicians from the federal government will decide Puerto Rico’s future in the coming weeks, with many calling for the implementation of a control board with powers over the laws and finances of Puerto Rico including more austerity cuts against the people suffering on the island. A FEDERAL CONTROL BOARD WOULD HAVE THE POWER TO: Cut minimum wage for workers to $4.25 an hour Return to Vieques to conduct military tests and suspend environmental laws Sell land across the island to more private investors and developers THE CONTROL BOARD WOULD MAKE MORE CUTS TO: Public schools, with more than 40% on the island already closed Personal pensions promised and saved after many years of hard work Health programs and even electricity to hospitals Here in Florida we are a force of over 1 million Puerto Ricans with the power to help our families and friends on the island. By uniting to help Puerto Rico move forward, we can demand government officials do more to help the families living the crisis on the island instead of making more cuts to essential public services like healthcare and education. Mas de 100,000 Puertorriqueños se mudaron de la isla en el 2015, la mayoría llegando aquí a áreas de la Florida Central. Con fondos buitres y bancos avaros de Wall Street gastando millones de dolares abogando por una junta fiscal federal en Puerto Rico, la crisis humanitaria en la isla sigue deteriorando. Políticos del gobierno federal decidirán el futuro de Puerto Rico en las proximas semanas, con muchos llamando por la implementación de una junta con poder sobre las leyes y finanzas de Puerto Rico y más cortes de austeridad en contra del pueblo sufriendo en la isla. UNA JUNTA FEDERAL TENDRIA EL PODER DE: Cortar el salario mínimo a $4.25 la hora para trabajadores Regresar a Vieques para experimentos militares y suspender leyes ambientales Vender tierras a través de la isla para más desarrollo de empresa privada LA JUNTA HARIA MAS CORTES A: Las escuelas públicas, con mas de 40% en la isla ya cerradas Pensiones personales prometidas y ahorradas a través de muchos años de trabajo Programas de salud y hasta la electricidad en hospitales Aquí en Florida somos una fuerza de mas de 1 millón de Puertorriqueños con el poder de ayudar a nuestras familias y amistades en la isla. Uniendonos para echar Puerto Rico hacia adelante, podemos demandar que elegidos del gobierno hagan más para ayudar a las familias viviendo la crisis en Puerto Rico en vez de hacer más cortes a servicios de salud o educación.

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.