Latest News

Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman was one of the 46 senators who defied the will of over 84 percent of the people of his state by voting to kill expanded background checks for gun purchases.

Jerri Jackson, a mother from Springfield, Ohio whose son was killed in the Aurora massacre, has tried to set up a meeting with Portman since his vote against background checks. She notes that the killer in that shooting, James Holmes, had mental health issues that were flagged by university staff which may have blocked him from gun purchases under a background check system.

But Portman’s office has failed to set up a meeting with Jackson since then, saying that the senator did not have time. “I would like for him to at least sit down and talk to me,” she told the Associated Press. “To hear my story and hear the heartbreak of a mother who lost her son in the prime of his life. How guns have played a part in our lives, but it is what ended his life. We need to do something about it.”

Recall that since Portman’s vote against background checks, his approval rating has fallen by eighteen percent — as have the approval ratings of several other senators:

UPDATE: Recall that the NRA has spent $1.35 million keeping Portman in office since 2000.

Weai??i??re running newspaper ads in the states of the four Senate Democrats who helped kill expanded background checks. Click here to pitch in $3 to run them.

At a recent town hall, an Alabama small business owner explained to his Republican Congressman Mike Rogers how the sequester is harming his business by hurting the pocketbooks of his customers, and explained how cutting government spending across the board isn’t what we need right now.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: My business is off twenty percent because the sequester. I’ve gone from making good money to losing money in one month because of the sequester. The House of Representatives has done more to hurt my business than anything by government by anybody, state, local, federal has ever done in 15 years. Every time ya’ll do something to cut funding, it hurts my customers. They have less money to spend. When they have less money to spend, they spend less with me, which means I have less money.

Watch MSNBC’s Al Sharpton’s coverage of the question:

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Following his vote to kill expanded background checks for gun purchases, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee started running ads against Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) featuring local gun owners blasting him for the move.

These included full-page ads in twenty local newspapers, followed by a TV ad launched yesterday.

In response to the PCCC’s ads, Baucus’s office issued this response yesterday:

“Montanans told Max loudAi??and clear they didn’t supportAi??newAi??gun controls in the previousAi??bill.Ai??If a new bill is presented, MaxAi??will evaluate it based on theAi??feedback he gathers from theAi??people of Montana“

This is the first statement from any senator who voted “no” saying they might vote “yes” if they hear enough from their constituents. (For the record, polling showsAi??79 percent of Montanans support universal background checks.)

Click here to see MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow report on the PCCC’s new ad, followed by Baucus’s statement read aloud by Helena, Montana’s CBS affiliate (KXLH) last night:

The ad was also reported on by the New York Times, Washington Post, International Business Times, CNN, PBS, Buzzfeed, Talking Points Memo, and others. Locally, at least four local television news broadcasts covered the ad.

Click here to pitch in a few dollars to keep this ad running in Montana, featuring a powerful local voice.

And if you’re from Montana,Ai??click here to call Senator Baucus today.

RepublicanAi??pollster Harper Polling has just released a new poll it conducted of Montanans finding that former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) leads all of his potential Democratic and Republican Senate challengers in the primary and general.

Schweitzer holds the highest favorability rating of any of the public figures polled, with 54 percent of Montanans saying they have a favorable view of him. The poll found that Montanans would favor Schweitzer for the Senate seat over Mark Racicot, a former Republican governor, by four points. Schweitzer’s lead over Montana Rep. Steve Daines (R) is even greater — ten points. Former Republican State Senate Minority Leader Corey Stapleton is bested by Schweitzer 54-29.

Within his own party, SchweitzerAi??handilyAi??bests Denise Juneau, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 78-14.

All of this is in a poll where, when respondents were asked who they would vote for in a hypothetical election, a generic Republican leads a generic Democrat 42-34.

This is encouraging news for progressives because Schweitzer is an awesome economic populist. Read our top ten reasons why and click here to join our Draft BrianAi??SchweitzerAi??for Senate campaign.

(OrAi??donate $3 that Brian will receive on Day OneAi??of his campaign, so he can hit the ground running.)

The problem of lack of public services and health care access in America is often talked about in the abstract, but it has a very real human cost. For one example, take a look at the National Mobility Awareness Month Local Heroes contest, put on by the National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association, which is partnering with Chrysler, Toyota, and other auto companies for the event.

In this contest, you can nominate a disabled American you know as a local hero and say why you think they deserve to win a wheelchair accessible van. Web visitors then vote on these individuals and whoever receives the most votes will win a van.

The stories are heartbreaking. Consider this one from Rami Dechmand, who cares for his two younger brothers. He entered the contest to win the van for his younger brother, Dillon, who has had Cerebral Palsy since birth. This is how he explained his family’s need for the van:

As Dillon gets older and grows bigger, it gets harder and harder to lift him in and out of the car. I feel that soon he will get to the point where he is bigger than me and it will be nearly impossible for me to do this, and I would no longer be able to care for Dillon. Having an accessible van for Dillon will allow our family to better provide the care Dillon requires.

Or consider the case of Walter Edwards, Jr. Here’s why a relative entered him into the contest:

My father, Walter ai???Sonnyai??? Edwards, Jr., turned 80 in November, 2012. He and my mother (his caretaker), live on social security. We have been trying for years to get them a van with a side lift but canai??i??t …

Earlier this month, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) went to bat for the NRA by being only one of four Democratic senators to vote to kill expanded background checks for gun purchases.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is responding to Baucus’s move by launching a new ad featuring Montana gun owner and grandmother Claire Kelly, who herself was a victim of a home invasion and says that gun ownership can protect Americans. Kelly warns, however, against guns being in the wrong hands, which is why background checks are needed.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow covered the ad on her show tonight. Watch Maddow’s coverage:

Click here to pitch in a few dollars to run the ad in Montana.

Momentum continues to build against President Obama’s proposed chained CPI cut to Social Security and veterans benefits, with 40 Members of Congress endorsing the Grayson-Takano letter rejecting any cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

The think tank Global Policy Solutions released a report today that should cast further doubt on chained CPI. It finds that, if enacted, chained CPI “will disproportionately harm African Americans who have dramatically fewer sources of wealth to draw upon compared to whites.”

The reason why is because African Americans are more likely to rely on Social Security benefits as a large portion of their income. One example the report uses is “forty-seven percent of African American seniors rely on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their income in retirement, compared to 33 percent of their white counterparts.” It also notes that Obama’s proposed exemptions for the very old would be less likely to benefit African Americans, because average life expectancy for African American men after the age of 65 is two Ai??years shorter than white men, making Ai??them less likely to be eligible for the proposed exemption for the very old.”

Click here to tell President Obama you wonai??i??t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Austerity — the policy of restraining public spending and focusing on deficits — is being practiced in Europe, and to a lesser extent, the United States. A new book out this week by medical researchers David Zuckler and Sanjay Basu says this austerity is not only bad for the economy, but for human health.

Zuckler and Basu looked at the impact of austerity in the U.S. and Europe and found devastating effects. These range from 10,000 people in Britain made homeless thanks to budget cuts to over five million Americans losing health care coverage thanks to the recession and reductions in public health care spending.

Some of these cuts have had lethal effects, too. The researchers estimated an uptick of 10,000 suicides across the U.S. and Europe, and in Greece, HIV infection has increased by 200 percent.

The researchers note that progressive labor and social policies have helped some countries escape this damaging austerity. They note that in Sweden, suicides actually fell during the recession, thanks to generous unemployment programs.

Also, they looked back at U.S. history and estimated that the New Deal helped save American lives, writing that “each extra $100 of relief spending from the American New Deal led to about 20 fewer deaths per 1,000 births, four fewer suicides per 100,000 people and 18 fewer pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people.”

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Despite overwhelming support by the public, expanded background checks for gun purchases went down during their first vote in the U.S. Senate. The proposal has also been defeated in a number of state legislatures. Most blame the power of the gun lobby, represented by the National Rifle Association.

A group of activists in Washington state — where the proposal died in the legislature — plans to bypass lawmakers altogether by putting the proposal on the ballot. TheAi??Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility will today launch a drive to get 300,000 signatures to place universal background checks for gun purchases on the ballot in November 2014. Watch a local news report on the ballot drive:

With the news that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is retiring, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a campaign to draft former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D) to run for the spot.

As of this writing, over 15,000 Americans have signed onto the campaign, and have donated over $21,000Ai??Ai??to a draft fund that will go to Schweitzer on Day One of his campaign

Here’s why you should too –the top ten things that make Brian Schweitzer an awesome economic populist:

He Unequivocally Endorses Medicare-For-All, Single Payer: Schweitzer is an advocate of expanding Medicare to all Americans, and even sought a waiver from the Affordable Care Act to allow his own state to pursue single payer. Schweitzer explainedAi??his support for Canadian-style single payer health care like so: “Imagine if you went to a gas station, and you looked over at a car with a Canadian license plate. They were paying $1 a gallon for gas, and youai??i??re paying $2. Wouldnai??i??t that make you mad? Thatai??i??s exactly whatai??i??s happening. Iai??i??m mad for all the people in the country.”
He Calls Out Corporate Control Of Our Government — And Fights It: Ai??In an interview last year, Schweitzer said that ai???corporations are controlling not just our governments but our everyday lives.ai??? How many Democrats are willing to state that truth? Schweitzer alsoAi??has blasted Citizens United, supports a constitutional amendment to ban corporate money, and is especially passionate about this issue since the Supreme Court struck down Montana’s ban on corporate money in elections.
He Stands Up To Big Drug Companies:Ai??Schweitzer sought a waiver from federal law to allow Montanans to buy cheaper pharmaceutical drugs from Canada. Big Pharma lobbying has made it illegal for Americans to buy this cheaper medicine from …