NEW YORK--At five o'clock today I will be in City Hall Plaza in New York as part of the nationwide series of "We Are One" demonstrations sponsored by a broad coalition of organizations. Participants will be there to stand up on behalf of the workers in Wisconsin, collective bargaining, and on behalf of a country that cares about its entire people.
NEW YORK – As budget debates continue to play out at the state level, it is apparent that Americans everywhere are still suffering from the long-tail of the recession and need jobs, not austerity measures that will likely reverse emergent economic gains. A new report by the policy center Demos addresses this need head-on, calling for an affordable and efficient federal jobs program that could meet critical community and national needs while providing meaningful employment for millions of people who lost their jobs in the Great Recession.
Today there are almost 29 million people in the United States for whom the economy has failed to perform its most important function: providing enough jobs to go around. This reality is dimming the lights on the American Dream. It threatens to steal from an entire generation the dignity that comes from a hard day’s work. Our political leaders have effectively accepted this situation, turning from the moderate job creation strategies of 2009-2010 to an austerity agenda that will cost as many as 1 million more jobs.
A Maryland Partnership Bank will generate new revenue for Maryland, save local governments money, and make our businesses less dependent on the Wall Street banks.
We have analyzed the likely impact on voter turnout should Hawaii adopt Election Day Registration (EDR). Under the system proposed in Hawaii, eligible voters who miss the current 30-day deadline for registering by mail may be able to register to vote on Election Day. The availability of Election Day Registration procedures should give voters who have not previously registered the opportunity to vote.
New York, NY — As new unemployment figures show a still-staggering 9 percent of Americans out of work, a new report from the policy center Demos examines the degree that low income American families use credit to weather economic shocks, and draws out the impact of credit card debt on families' long-term financial stability.
NEW YORK, NY – The idea of regulation — of using the institutions of government to set and enforce rules for the world of business — has come under fierce attack. This week, House committees will hold four separate hearings based on the premise that our nation’s economy is chafing under the restraint of excessive regulation and overly powerful regulators.
Americans use credit cards millions of times every day. The convenience and utility of revolving credit has become a way of life for most families. However for some, it has also become a lifeline.
Missouri is considering a bill requiring all voters to present government issued photo identification at the polls. The fact that Missouri is introducing a restrictive voter identification bill is particularly unfortunate considering the legislature passed such a bill in 2006 and it was struck down as unconstitutional under the state's constitution by the Missouri Supreme Court.
New York, NY--Today, Miles Rapoport, President of the national policy center Demos, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address:
"In last night’s speech, President Barack Obama underscored two great challenges of our times: ensuring that economic stability and growth in a global economy is shared among average Americans, not just large corporations, and modernizing and empowering our government to work on behalf of the people.
ATLANTA, GA — Citing clear evidence that low-income Georgia residents are being denied a legally-mandated opportunity to register to vote, attorneys sent a pre-litigation notice letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp demanding that the Secretary immediately act to bring Georgia into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or face litigation.
Strong voter participation and engagement are fundamental to a healthy democracy. Efforts to restrict access to voting fly in the face of this important goal. Alarmingly, despite another midterm election in which nationally only 41 percent of eligible persons voted, many states are now renewing efforts to restrict, rather than expand, the franchise.
In order to reverse the troubling low graduation rates at our nation’s community colleges, low-income students must stop being financially penalized for attending these institutions. As this brief outlines, low-income students who attend community college receive less state and institutional grant aid, on average, than their counterparts at four-year public universities. Community College Students and Grant Aid recommends that states equalize their need-based grant allocation and that community colleges prioritize need-based institutional aid.
Strong voter participation and engagement are fundamental to a healthy democracy. Efforts to restrict access to voting fly in the face of this important goal. Yet, despite another midterm election in November 2010 in which only 41 percent of eligible persons voted, numerous states are now facing renewed efforts to restrict, rather than expand, the franchise. Increasing numbers of states are considering strict voter identification laws that would disenfranchise thousands, and possibly millions of Americans.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – A coalition of voting rights groups scored a major victory yesterday in their lawsuit against New Mexico’s Human Services Division (HSD) and Secretary of State Mary Herrera, with a ruling by a U.S. District Judge that the State of New Mexico is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).