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Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives — despite opposition from both Democrats and Republicans — passed the the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), Ai??which would expand the government’s ability to spy on you without a warrant and shield technology companies from lawsuits when they participate in this spying.

CISPA’s path to passage has been much smoother than the similar Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), at least partly because the bill was crafted in a way to avoid opposition from massive tech giants like Google and Facebook, which mobilized against SOPA.

As the bill heads to the Senate, many Americans don’t even know about this new attack on our civil liberties. This is because the major news media has failed to cover the bill at all. We ran a media search going back to March 22nd, and found only a handful of news mentions on the topic — and no mention at all from CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.

The networks that did cover the bill were local news networks, which featured segments critical of the legislation. Watch one segment here from Fox 19 in Kentucky:

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather
CSPAN covered the issue twice over the past month, once while featuring an advocate for the bill. RT, the english language news station funded by the Russian government, also aired several segments critical of the bill.

So why is it that the major news media has failed to talk about the bill? Certainly while the bill was being passed in the House last week, there were other major news items that could’ve crowded it out — from attacks in Boston to the massive fertilizer plant disaster in West, Texas. But the bill has been in play in …

Last week’s defeat of expanded background checks served as a reminder of special interest influence in Congress, and as we noted, Senators who voted against background checks received 8 times as much money from the gun lobby.

Here’s another piece of the puzzle as to why background checks went down. The Center for Public Integrity notes that the National Rifle Association spent a huge amount lobbying Congress in the first quarter of 2012, spending “at least $800,000 lobbying the federal government during theAi??first quarter ai??i?? moreAi??than any year covering theAi??same period, according to federal records..”

We’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.

The failure of the Manchin-Toomey legislation yesterday to expand background checks for gun purchases has been blamed on a variety of factors. But one key detail is the fact that the gun lobby — consisting of the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and other groups funded by the gun industry — was a major fundraiser for Senators that opposed the reform bill.

The Center for Responsive Politics laid out donors to senators who both supported and opposed Manchin-Toomey, and found that lawmakers who opposed it received nearly eight times as much funding from the gun lobby. Meanwhile, it found that only $5,000 came from pro-reform groups (to the “yes” side):

Click here to sign our petition in support of background checks for gun purchases.

Ai??Click here to join our Take Back Democracy campaign to help kick money out of politics.

Last night, four pro-NRA Senate Democrats joined most Senate Republicans in killing the Manchin-Toomey proposal to expand background checks for gun purchases. This defeat came despite the fact that 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks.

This morning, civil rights hero and Georgia Congressman John Lewis (D) took to the floor to condemn the Senate for its failure:

LEWIS: Mr. Speaker, what happened on the floor of the other body yesterday, is a shame and a disgrace. Leaders of this country must be headlights and not taillights. Leaders must lead. More than 90% of American people say they want us to put strong background checks in place before someone buys a gun in this country. This is not about preserving Second Amendment rights. It is about saving lives. How many more little babies, how many more little children, how many more American citizens must die of gun violence? How many more funerals must we attend before we act? The blood of the innocent is crying out to us. Where is our courage? What happened to our heart? When will we have the guts to do What is right? We need to pass a strong gun bill and pass it now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Watch it:

Click here to sign our petition in support of background checks for gun purchases.

Ellison introducing his bill today.

Six years ago, Wall Street’s misdeeds led to a global recession that plunged over 60 million people into poverty worldwide. Since then, the Big Banks and their profits have only grown.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, today introduced legislation to make Wall Street pay America back. The “Inclusive Prosperity Act” would tax the following financial transactions in the following ways:

A 0.5 percent tax rate on stocksAi??
A 0.1 percent tax rate on bondsAi??
A 0.005 percent tax rate on derivatives or other investmentsAi??

Additionally, the bill would provideAi??an offset for households with incomes below $75,000 a year and individuals whose incomes are $50,000 or less.

ai???A lot of people in Washington like to talk about reducing the debt and deficits. Well if you really care about reducing the deficit, how about asking Wall Street speculators to pay their fair share?ai??? Ellison said in a released statement. ai???This bill will add a tax of a fraction of a percent on transactions made by the same Wall Street firms and stock traders who crashed our economy in 2008. This tax alone will generate up to $300 billion a year in revenue, stabilizing the deficit and allowing us to invest in the things that matterai??i??education, roads and bridges, and health care for our seniors and veterans.ai???

As progressive, senior, and veterans groups mobilize against the chained CPI — a recalculation of veterans and Social Security programs that would result in a benefits cut — a new poll finds that a majority of Americans opposes this change.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that 51 percent of Americans oppose chained CPI and only 37 percent support it. Parsing out the results further, the Washington Post notes that the major group supporting the change is American who earn six-figures, and that middle and lower-income Americans are most hostile to the policy:

Income is also a dividing line in tolerance for Social Security cuts. Americans with annual incomes of at least $100,000 back the proposal by a 53 to 39 percent margin, but support plummets to 38 percent among those making $50,000 to under $100,000 and to 33 percent among those with incomes below $50,000. Support bottoms out at 25 percent among those with lower incomes who are over the age of 50.

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

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Ai??

Today is tax day, the deadline for filing your tax return. While millions of Americans are doing their patriotic duty and paying their taxes through the year, wealthy individuals and corporations have made an art out of dodging their tax responsibilities.

Here’s one example, taken from the new documentary filmAi??Tax Free Tour,Ai??which looks at corporate tax dodging. In 2012, the computer electronics maker Apple shifted many of its profits overseas, parking $36 billion globally. Yet at the same time, it only paid a 1.9 percent tax rate on these profits.

How did it accomplish this? As the clip below explains, it parked the money in Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 12.5 percent. But that’s still six times what it ended up paying, so in order to get the lower rate, it dropped it profits in the Netherlands, where the corporate tax rate hovers at around one percent. It also placed some of its profits in the British Virgin Islands — where there are no taxes on corporate profits:

This egregious tax dodging has a negative impact on the average taxpayer in the U.S. A report released earlier this month estimated that the average taxpayer must pay $1,000 extra thanks to the taxes that Big Business fails to pay (which amounts to $90 billion a year).

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President Obama has proposed enacting chained CPI, which would reduce spending on Social Security benefits by $200 billion over the next ten years. This has provoked outrage from progressive groups, and from groups representing seniors and veterans (whose benefits are also impacted by this change).

But something that has gotten less attention is the fact that President Obama’s budget also gives twice this much money — $400 billion — to the Pentagon over the next decade, by reducing sequester cuts down to $100 billion rather than $500 billion over the next ten years.

That means that Obama is essentially cutting Social Security’s budget by $200 billion while giving twice that much money to the Pentagon. Last night,Ai??former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean tweeted that this sort of deal is enough for him to become an independent.

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

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Rep. Carol Shea Porter (D-NH)

New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter (D-NH) released a statement this week saying that she cannot vote for any budget that includes chained CPI, as Obama’s does:

ai???I believe a budget should reflect Americaai??i??s values of fairness and opportunity. It should create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and keep our commitment to seniors.

ai???There has been a lot of talk recently about chained CPI, and I want to make one thing abundantly clear to the middle class families and seniors I represent: I will not vote for a budget that supports chained CPI and cuts benefits that seniors have earned through a lifetime of hard work.

ai???Together with Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security embodies the moral fabric of our country. These programs are the foundation of economic security for Americaai??i??s seniors and the most vulnerable. […]

ai???I am proud to support legislation to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security. The Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act, which I cosponsored, would create long-range solvency and improve benefits, and it would ensure greater economic security for Americaai??i??s seniors.

ai???I urge the President to consider the approach taken in the Van Hollen budget, legislation that would reduce our deficit in a balanced way, invest in programs that help our economy grow, and maintain our commitment to seniors.

ai???I look forward to working with the President to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and keep the American dream alive for generations to come, but I remain steadfast in my opposition to balancing the budget on the backs of seniors, veterans, or the middle class.ai???

At least 40 Members of the House of Representatives have said they will not vote for chained CPI.

Call your Member of Congress and ask them to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter vowing to …

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) announced his opposition to a budget proposal with chained CPI today. Here’s a statement he issued on the matter:

“I made a promise to the people of Rhode Island that I would always oppose cuts to Social Security, and Iai??i??m going to keep that promise. Social Security is fully solvent for the next twenty years, has not contributed to our budget deficits, and has no place in this debate over federal spending. The so-called ai???chained CPIai??i?? proposal included in President Obamaai??i??s budget is nothing more than a benefit cut disguised behind technical jargon. While I commend the President for including some smart provisions in his budget like investments in infrastructure and the Buffett Rule for tax fairness, I cannot support a proposal that would force seniors to pay for deficits Social Security had no part in creating.”

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

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