Right now, Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder is working on passing a so-called “Right To Work” law that would crush the state’s unions and disempower its workers. Snyder is doing this in direct contradiction to his words earlier this year, when he said it wouldn’t be “appropriate” to try to pass such a law.

Over at the Maddow Blog, Laura Conaway has a very interesting find. The so-called “Michigan Freedom Fund” (MFF) is running a commercial supporting the new anti-union law, and it features teachers in classrooms, and a young boy waving an American flag. Watch it:

Here’s Conway’s interesting find. Both the boy in the ad and the teacher in the classroom are parts of stock footage reels — meaning that they are actors, and not even actors that Michigan Freedom Fund paid to employ. Rather, they are simply bits of reel footage. In fact, the same flag-waving boy was used in an attack ad that was aired against Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio — all the way out in Oregon.

MFF is trying to create popular support for the crackdown on unions, but it seems like it can’t even find real Michiganders for its commercials. Recall that MFF is run by Greg McNeilly, who is an employee of Dick DeVos’s Windquest Group. DeVos is a billionaire heir of the Amway fortune, and a major right-wing Republican donor.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

As Democrats and Republicans continue to negotiate over the contours of a fiscal deal, many Democrats have propositioned the idea that any agreement should include a ratio of cuts-to-revenue of 2-to-1. This is a model that President Obama chose for his most recent budget request, for example.

But 2-to-1 isn’t balanced. Balanced means at least equal parts cuts and revenue. Progressive Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has stepped up to the plate and unveiled a new petition to Obama that not only calls on him to reject damaging cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, but also assure a 1-to-1 ratio of cuts to revenue in any deal:

Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has a credible approach to dealing with the deficit over the long term that lays out specific cuts to wasteful spending as well as making the rich pay their fair share in taxes.

Here’s her alternative, truly “balanced approach” to tackling the deficit. During a campaign debate, she laid out a popular vision for dealing with the debt: cut back on wasteful military and agriculture subsidy spending, and make the rich pay their fair share with higher tax rates. Watch Warren explain:

Show your support for Warrenai??i??s “balanced approach” by clicking here to add your name as a citizen supporter of her vision.

The following poll numbers (also see the “flip” for more) come from Public Policy Polling, for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC). A few interesting findings that jumped out at me are: 1) Bob McDonnell within 4 points of Mark Warner for U.S. Senate in 2014; 2) any support by Sen. Warner for cutting Medicare and/or Medicaid, including raising the retirement age, would make 33% of voters “less likely” to vote for him (vs. 22% who say “more likely”); and 3) Virginia voters believe President Obama’s mandate in this election is far more to focus on jobs (46%) than on the debt (22%).

Michigan governor Rick Snyder (R)

Elections have consequences. And when Michigan voters went to the polls this November, they did not vote to crush the rights of labor unions, as Republican Governor Rick Snyder is now attempting to do by implementing a so-called “Right To Work” law.

In fact, Snyder explicitly said that he opposed signing such a law in Michigan this year. Here’s Snyder at a hearing earlier this year:

SNYDER: Right to work is an issue that’s a very divisive issue. … I don’t believe it’s appropriate in Michigan during 2012.

Watch it:

Snyder’s new push to break the backs of labor unions represents a stunning reversal from his pre-election comments.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)

Senior Republican Senator Bob Corker (TN) made headlines this weekend when he said he would be willing to let the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans expire. But Corker wanted something else in return — major cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. He has laid out a plan that not only includes so-called “means testing” but also a hike in the eligibility/retirement age for both programs.

He even explicitly talked about using the debt ceiling as “leverage” in order to enforce such a deal. Watch it:

Here’s the important thing to remember about Corker’s offer. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are already expiring. Even if Congress does nothing, the tax policy will once against return all the rates to those of the Clinton era starting in 2013. Congress would then be free next month to pass tax cuts for working class and middle class people, without necessarily having to once again lower taxes on the top 2 percent of Americans.

The Republicans are essentially asking the Democrats to cut benefits for all Americans in exchange for something that is going to happen, anyway. That’s not a deal they should even think about taking.

We think that any Democrat who would endorse a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits needs to be held accountable. Click here to sign up to help us hold their feet to the fire.Ai??

Cutting Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits is vogue among elites in Washington and their corporate lobbyist allies. These programs did not cause our deficits, but many elites want to cut them because they fundamentally want to see them privatized.

Take Arthur Brooks. He’s the president of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Yesterday he tweeted that raising the Medicare eligibility age is “at least a step in the right direction”:

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that raising the Medicare age from 65 to 67 would result in “$3.7 billion in higher costs for 65- and 66 year-olds, $4.5 billion from employers through company-sponsored insurance, $0.7 billion from state governments, and $2.5 billion in higher average prices for third parties once younger seniors are shifted out of the Medicare risk-pool and into the general population.”

For the incredibly wealthy Brooks, that’s probably not much of a problem. According to disclosures, he nets an annual salary ofAi??$528,272. Higher costs for seniors are not a problem to him.

As Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and others have noted, you can save billions of dollars for Medicare, beneficiaries, and taxpayers by enacting common sense reforms that don’t cut benefits by even a penny.

For example, if we simply dropped the protectionist trade barrier and allowed Americans to import drugs from Canada, we could save as much as $80 billion over ten years. Empowering Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices just as the Pentagon negotiates for basic goods like paperclips could save as much as $156 billion over ten years.

These are very basic reforms that would save enormous amounts of money without costing taxpayers or beneficiaries anything. But they require standing up to Big Pharma. That’s …

Why is LA’s mayor helping a corporate front group cut your Social Security benefits?

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has shocked progressives by joining the board of Fix The Debt, a group driven by corporate CEOs that seeks to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits while lowering the corporate tax rate. Over 12,000 people have signed a SignOn.org petition calling on Villaraigosa to reverse course and leave the organization.

Last night, Villaraigosa appeared on Huffington Post Live for an in-studio interview Ai??to discuss a variety of issues. Host Jacob Soboroff asked him about the controversy surrounding Fix The Debt, and the mayor responded by saying that he joined Fix The Debt to promote a “balanced approach” to the national debt:

VILLARAGOISA: “Isn’t what’s broken in Washington right now that Democrats wont talk to Republicans, Republicans won’t talk to Democrats? There’s this blind allegiance to ideology…I’m a progressive abashedly, but I’m also practical…It’s true that a large number of people on Fix The Debt coalition are Republicans, and have supported Republicans…they also said we need a balanced approach, supported the Simpson Bowles plan as a balanced framework..I understand why some people would take umbrage particularly on the Democratic side and the progressive side but I’m not a university professor, I’m a mayor.

Watch it (the relevant section starts at 8:18):

It’s important to remember that Social Security does not add a dime to the deficit, something that both former right-wing president Ronald Reagan and current progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) have said.

There is simply nothing “balanced” about making the poor and middle class pay for a debt caused by the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, two wars, and Wall Street’s recession.

Recall that the mayor supported and passed legislation in his own city …

Voters in Virginia, Illinois and New Hampshire favor raising marginal tax rates on income over $250,000 by almost two-thirds in each state, according to new polling data from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling and commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee provided to TPM.

Join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign.

Lobbyists for corporate special interests have many ways of influencing the government. One way is by simply joining it.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) — the chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee — tapped a top lobbyist with the American Gas Association to be the committee’sAi??senior aide on energy and environment issues.

Tom Hassenboehler, who serves as the American Gas Association’s vice president of policy development and legislative affairs, willAi??Ai??be chief counsel for the Energy and Power Subcommittee, which deals with key environmental regulations.

The American Gas AssociationAi??gave Upton $4,000Ai??during the last election cycle, andAi??$170,500 from the oil and gas industry at large. Keep in mind that the American Gas Association is largely funded by the industry but that it does not directly disclose its donors, which leaves us guessing as to who exactly will be represented by their lobbyist who was just appointed to the committee.

We don’t have to live in a country that has a government run by Big Money. Click here to join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign and help us kick Big Money out of politics.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that the Clinton tax plan was “idiotic” in 1993. Yet it resulted in a budget surplus and did not stop great economic growth.

Republicans are doing everything they can to protect the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They claim that they are doing this because ending these tax cuts would harm the economy.

But this claim isn’t new. In fact, it’s exactly what they said in the 1990’s, when Bill Clinton first increased taxes on the wealthy. Here’s some of theAi??fear-mongeringAi??they engaged in then:

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Heritage, the go-to think tank for the Republican Party, argued that the tax increase would somehow lead to “higher deficits” and that it served as a “recipe for a recession.” The organization also predicted that the tax increase would “destroy jobs” and “undermine America’s international competitiveness.”

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): “The problem in not that we do notAi??taxAi??enough, it is that Government spends too much.Ai??The President has reverted to true form, that of aAi??taxAi??and spend, old-time Democrat. He has abandoned tens of millions of middle-class voters that trusted him.Ai??Raising taxes on the middle class is not patriotic, it is idiotic.”Ai??(From the Congressional Record on February 17th, 1993)

SENATOR ORRIN HATCH (R-UT):Ai??”Mr. President, taxpayers will adjust toAi??these new taxes by shifting investments into ones that generate fewer taxes by working less and by taking fewer risks. The consequences will punish far more than just the wealthy. Economic growth will slow and fewer jobs will beAi??created.”Ai??Ai??(From the Congressional Record on August 6th, 1993)

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY):Ai??This package contains the largest tax increase in history, and promises deficit reduction. This package will not reduce the Federal debt, or even balance one annual budget for that matter.Ai??(From the Congressional Record on August …

Alan Simpson, author of a plan to cut Social Security

You might’ve seen a new video of Alan Simpson — the former senator and Washington lobbyist who authored a plan to lower corporate taxes and cut Medicare and Social Security benefits — where he does the popular “Gangnam Style” dance. If not — here it is:

At the end of the video, Simpson warns young Americans to beware of “old coots who clear out the Treasury before you get there.” Considering that the entire video is made to recruit young Americans to sign a petition calling for cuts to benefits for programs they rely on, like Social Security and Medicare, Simpson’s warning is particularly ironic.

Here’s another interesting fact. The popular Gangnam Style song is itself a parody of the residents of the region of Gangnam, a wealthy part of the South Korean capital city of Seoul. As Foreign Policy’s Max Fisher writes, the song is made to lampoon the “self-importance andAi??ostentatiousAi??wealth” in Gangnam. The star of the song, the Korean artist Psy, is a “clownish caricature” of a an out of touch rich person.

Then perhaps it is fitting that Simpson would utilize this song in a desperate attempt to enlist young Americans to cut benefits in programs like Medicare and Social Security while lowering the corporate tax rate.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

During his weekly address yesterday, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told the press that major cuts to Medicare benefits must be on the table:

Hoyer said GOP proposals to raise the Medicare eligibility age, make wealthier seniors pay higher Medicare rates and limit the cost-of-living increases for some federal programs are legitimate ones, even as he warned he might not support them.

ai???They clearly are on the table,ai??? Hoyer said of the Medicare changes during his weekly press briefing in the Capitol. ai???They were on the table in the Boehner-Obama talks. They’ve been on the table for some period of time. That does not mean that I’d be prepared to adopt them now, but they’re clearly, I think, on the table.ai???

Seniors on Medicare did not cause our deficit — Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, two wars, and Wall Street’s recession did. They should not be asked to pay through their hard-earned benefits.

We’re asking PCCC members to make calls to Hoyer’s office to ask him to take cuts in Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid benefits off the table. Click here to make a call.

Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist, the head of the powerful “Americans for Tax Reform” group, likes to portray himself as simply an anti-tax activist.

But his activism often simply centers around cementing corporate power. For example, his organization hasAi??gone to bat to prevent Americans from getting cheaper prescription drugs after it received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the industry, something he failed to explain to me in a video interview earlier this year.

In Michigan, Norquist’s latest crusade is to pass a “Right To Work” (for less) law that would weaken unions in the state. In an interview with The Detroit News, Norquist said that “In addition to an economic imperative, it is a moral one,” that the state pass this new anti-union law.

Under so-called “right to work” legislation, workers are allowed to have a free ride and get union benefits without being required to pay dues. This results in weaker unions, which results in far less generous pay, conditions, and benefits for workers. As one example, occupational-fatality rate in the construction industry is 34 percent higher in so-called “right to work” states than those that respect the rights of unions.

We’ll keep you updated on the fight to protect labor rights in Michigan. Use the form above or below to sign up to our e-mail list to stay involved.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD)

As the expiration of the Bush tax cuts inches ever closer — they are set to expire on January 1st — a number of Republicans are doing everything they can to convince Democrats to keep the tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans around.

Some have suggested a short-term deal that would extend the rates further. But appearing on Fox News yesterday, a top Republican — Sen. John Thune (R-SD) — suggested that enough House Republicans would support an agreement to end these top-tier tax breaks to get the votes to pass the body:

 

ANCHOR: Are Republicans willing to hold the line, to say to the President, I am sorry, we will never agree to a deal that involves an increase in taxes. Are they?

THUNE: I think any deal that passes up here that raises taxes…is not going to enjoy Republican support. Now, there may be enough Republicans that would vote for something like that to pass it in the House of Representatives, they need to get to 218 votes which assumes they get some Republicans —

ANCHOR: Well then it’s done, right?

THUNE: Ai??Well, we’ll see. We don’t know about that.

Watch it (the relevant segment begins at 4:00):

Recall that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) himself previously said that if the “only option” he had was to vote for middle class tax cuts, “of course” he would vote for them.

Democrats should take this as a positive sign and one reason they should not give in to Republican demands to extend the tax rates for the top 2 percent of Americans.

(Photo credit: Flickr user Serenitbee.)

Corporate lobbyists have a terrible idea they’re pushing during the budget debates. They want to lower the corporate tax rate while also cutting benefits for Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. Most Republicans and an unfortunately significant number of Democrats have endorsed this bad idea.

But what if instead we asked corporations that are dodging taxes to actually simply pay the statutory rates asked of them?

In the spring of 2011,Ai??National Peopleai??i??s Action and the Public Accountability Initiative put out a report looking at tax dodging by the nation’s biggest banks. It found, shockingly, that if these big banks simply paid the rates that were asked of them — much as many Americans pay their tax rates withoutAi??exploitingAi??excessive deductions and loopholes — we could re-hire all 132,000 teachers laid off during the recession for another year of teaching — twice:

Six banks ai??i?? Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan StanleyAi??together paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11% of their pre-tax US earnings in 2009 and 2010.Ai??Had they paid at 35%, what they are legally mandated to pay, the federal government would have received an additional $13 billion in tax revenue.Ai??This would cover more than two years of salaries for the 132,000 teacher jobs lost since the economic crisis began in 2008.

Some of these very same banks who have dodged their tax responsibilities are now trying to attack social spending that Americans worked hard for. Remember that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein recently advocated for cutting Social Security. This is a bank that received a $10 billion taxpayer bailout.

Seniors on Medicare and Social Security did not cause the Great Recession, Wall Street did. And Wall Street and the richest Americans should be asked to …

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)

As we wrote about last week, the Republican Party’s new strategy is to agree to raising revenue from ending token tax deductions — essentially, Mitt Romney’s plan — in exchange to getting Democrats to agree to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week yesterday, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) explicitly said that Republicans want Democrats’ help in order to enact “entitlement reform” — code for cuts — so that they could not be blamed in the next election:

COLE: To be fair to Leader McConnell, he’s always been very forthright, entitlement reform takes both sides — and then it’s not an issue in the next election, because they both did it.

Watch it:

To be clear, Cole is part of the House Republican leadership teamAi??that just sent a proposal that would cut Medicare benefits by raising the eligibility age and Social Security benefits by adjusting the Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA). This is what the Republicans mean by “entitlement reform.”

This is more evidence that Democrats should not fall for Republicans’ trap. They are seeking Democratic cover to move to their real goal: cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits.

As a part of growing labor actions in the United States, over 200 fast food workers in New York City from a variety of restaurants walked out on Thursday, striking against the idea that they should be expected to live in one of America’s most expensive cities on $7.25 an hour.

At a Wendy’s in Brooklyn, eleven workers went on strike. Salon.com’s Josh Eidelson reports that ten of them were allowed to return to work after the strike, but that the eleventh was told she would be fired for absenteeism.

ai???We tried to speak with the general manager that was there, and he wasnai??i??t forthcoming in talking to me,ai??? said New York City Councilmember Jumanne Williams, who supported the strike. ai???So I decided to ask all of the customers that were there if they would leave in support of the worker that was fired. That did happen ai??i?? they left. We began to protest in the store.ai???

After community activists first occupied the store and then picketed outside, the manager agreed to meet with Williams and promptly made sure the eleventh worker would not be fired.

Fast food workers in the city will continue their struggle. “Whatever comes, Iai??i??m ready for it. Iai??i??m know that Iai??i??m not going to give up,” said McDonald’s employee Glenda Soto to Eidelson.

PCCC members supported the strike by turning out to a Times Square rally in support of the workers.

The “Fix The Debt” campaign, backed by tens of millions of dollars from corporate CEOs, is pushing an aggressive campaign to cut Social Security benefits while lowering the corporate tax rate. It claims that it is bipartisan and that it represents all Americans, not just the wealthy elite.

But Fix The Debt’s carefully crafted messaging fell apart over the weekend, as it quietly conceded that it won’t even take a position on one of the most popular ideas for deficit reduction: ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

In a statement to The National Journal, the organization wrote, “The Campaign to Fix the Debt does not have a position on raising tax rates.ai???

We conducted polling in the crucial swing state of New Hampshire an found that 66 percent of those surveyed want to end Bush tax cuts for households making more than $250,000 a year.

Fix The Debt can’t claim to be representing all Americans if it can’t even commit to some of the most basic and fair policies that they want.

The estate tax — which effectively acts like an inheritance tax on the assets of the wealthiest AmericansAi?? — is one of the most progressive taxes that we have. Currently, the richest ten percent of Americans pay the entirety of the tax, and it only applies to inherited assets beyond $5 million.

President Obama just proposed raising the estate tax rate from 35 to 45 percent and lowering the exemption to $3.5 million. This would still result in the tax falling almost entirely on the backs of the very richest Americans.

But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D) is moving to kill Obama’s progressive proposal to tax millionaires. “Rural Montana is much different than urban America,” he told Reuters, claiming that the tax would fall on the backs of family farmers.

But only 100 farming estates pay the estate tax now. Under Obama’s plan, only the 300 richest farming estates would have to pay the tax.

Is Baucus really going to try to kill Obama’s progressive plan to ask more from the wealthy in order to protect America’s 300 richest, multi-millionaire farmers?

We conducted polling in Montana that found that 77 percent of those living there want to see higher taxes on incomes of over a million dollars.

Elizabeth Warren wants to reform the filibuster.

Bold progressive Elizabeth Warren has announced that one of her first priorities as a new senator will be to reform the filibuster — which essentially forces lawmakers to use two-thirds of the vote to pass anything to overcome it — in the Senate.

Why do we need reform? Here’s a graph from the nonpartisan Century Foundation that shows the number of cloture votes — the votes invoked to overcome a filibuster — over the past fifty years. As you can see, the filibuster is being used at a rate dozens of times higher than it was during the middle of the twentieth century:

Keep in mind that these filibusters do not involve the Mr. Smith Goes To Washington long speeches or drawn out stands on the Senate floor. Now, senators simply announce their intent to instruct and then waltz off to fundraisers and galas.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) explained this during his appearance on Up With Chris Hayes this weekend:

MERKLEY: We’re trying to make the filibuster actually work the way it was intended. That is that folks have to make their case known before their colleagues, before their American colleagues. That they can’t simply use the silent filibuster we have now to kill things in the dead of the night. […] The talking filibuster says that if you’re going to obstruct or say there is to be more debate the public has to weigh in and say if you’re a hero or a bum.

Watch it:

The filibuster has become such a powerful tool of obstruction that lobbyists in Washington now specialize in manufacturing tactics to hold up legislation. We need to reform the filibuster so that a recalcitrant minority …