Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Add Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to the growing chorus of voices calling for the expansion of Social Security benefits.

Groups such as MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America’s Future, Patriot Majority and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee have been campaigning for expanded Social Security benefits since the re-introduction of Harkin’s legislation.

“Social Security is incredibly effective, it is incredibly popular, and the calls for strengthening it are growing louder every day,” Warren said.

But Harkin’s bill, which has also drawn the support of Begich, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has forced the issue into the political mainstream, and Warren’s backing turns the issue into a likely topic in the 2016 Democratic presidential race.

“This summer no one even talked about (expanding benefits), but now we’re really building momentum,” Kimberly Fountain, campaign director for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told Raw Story.

If Elizabeth Warren is emerging as a kind of spokeswoman for the new economic populism that many Democratic activists want the party to embrace heading into 2014 and 2016, this speech that Warren is currently delivering on the floor of the Senate suggests the push to expand Social Security could become a key issue in the argument over the Democratic Party of the future.

In remarks Warren just began delivering, she strongly endorsed the push to boost Social Security benefits — in keeping with Senator Tom Harkin’s proposal to do the same — and condemned the “Chained CPI” that liberals fear Dems will embrace in strong terms.

By planting a flag on the need to expand Social Security, Warren may have just added this issue to the pantheon of preoccupations that are driving those who want to see the party embrace a more economically populist posture going forward. Liberal bloggers such as Atrios and liberal groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, have been pushing for a Social Security expansion, arguing that Democratic priorities should be centered on the idea that declining pensions and wages (and savings) are undermining retirement security, and that the party should above all stand against undermining the social insurance system.

Elizabeth Warren is a popular figure on the left wing of the Democratic Party due to her aggressive focus on inequality and financial reform. Last week, The New Republic’s Noam Schieber floated her as a potential candidate in the 2016 Democratic Party, where should could serve as a foil to the more Wall Street-friendly Hillary Clinton.

The PCCC has not said that it is trying to draft Warren into the race. Instead, the group appears to be trying to demonstrate the popularity of her anti-austerity, pro-financial reform message in the hopes that other Democratic politicians will begin to emulate it.

In a statement on O’Malley’s keynote speech, PCCC spokesperson Matt Wall alluded to who the real target of the organization’s “Elizabeth Warren wing” campaign might be: Not O’Malley, who is currently polling at 0% among New Hampshire Democrats, but presidential heir apparent Hillary Clinton.

“It’s fantastic that Governor O’Malley took the fight to those who would cut Social Security benefits. That’s a winning message for Democrats and a potentially defining issue in any Democratic primary,” said Wall. “Hopefully Hillary Clinton soon says that she opposes any cuts to Social Security benefits—and makes clear that Democrats are united around that position going into 2016.”

TBQ’s Alexia Nader interviews Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, founders of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC).

After meeting as student activists and organizers at the University of Virginia, Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor worked at MoveOn.org before leaving to found the PCCC. Prior to that launch, Green had worked in press and communications for several Democratic campaigns and party committees, while Taylor spent several years as a union organizer of health care workers in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. PCCC’s stated mission is “to build progressive power by changing who holds power.” Their website’s domain name is even more succinct: BoldProgressives.org.

“Social Security in 2016 could be the Iraq of 2008, meaning a definitive issue that primary voters make decisions based on,” said Adam Green, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is leading a concerted charge to expand Social Security benefits. Roger Hickey, director of the Campaign for America’s Future, characterized the coming battle over reforming the nation’s safety-net programs as a seminal moment for Democrats. “It’s a real point of conflict and battle within the Democratic Party. It endangers the Democrats’ ability to win elections. You don’t want to go into a presidential election saying, ‘I’m going to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.’ That’s the formula for making sure there’s not the first woman president.” And Justin Ruben, the head of the eight-million member MoveOn.org, has been even more unequivocal, saying in April, “Any Democrat who is voting to cut Social Security benefits is probably kissing his or her presidential aspirations goodbye.”

As Republicans and Democrats alike talk about trimming social safety-net programs to reduce deficits, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is pushing a proposal to increase Social Security benefits.

“There are plenty of ways to … get in a better place in the budget,” Brown said in call with reporters and PCCC members Wednesday. “Cutting social security is not one of them.”

He has signed onto a bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, that would make the Social Security benefit formula a tad more generous, would give seniors more robust cost-of-living increases, and would require wealthier Americans to pay more in Social Security taxes.

A growing coalition of progressive groups and seniors’ organizations are gathering behind Sen. Tom Harkin’s bill to expand Social Security benefits. On a conference call with PCCC members, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was asked by a supporter whether such a measure would stand a chance in a Congress that can’t seem to come together to pass any constructive legislation. “It depends on the pressure that you all put on them,” he said. GOP lawmakers, he added, are “always concerned about a right-wing tea party challenge, but the public is clearly with us on this, and I think the more they hear about this the better our chances of winning some of our Republican colleagues over.”

When the new budget conferees met last week, Budget Chairman Paul Ryan ruled out any new taxes, spawning headlines that he had “killed” the grand bargain. The response from progressives? We killed it first.

“Harry Reid already killed it by saying there will be no benefit cuts. Paul Ryan shot bullets into the corpse,” said Adam Green, who heads up the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Unfortunately, this zombie has come back to life many times — and by making the case for why seniors need expanded Social Security benefits, a national coalition of groups will continue working to keep a Grand Bargain dead and off the table.”

Liberal Democrats on the Hill have taken the hint: they are not only outright opposing any changes to Social Security, there’s a small but growing group of Senators who are looking to expand the program. A bill introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin and backed by Sens. Sherrod Brown, Mark Begich, and Brian Schatz, would do just that.

“The only way that right-wing politicians win on this if cuts to Social Security are buried under the guise of restructuring and reforming entitlements in some other budget deal,” said Brown on a conference call with PCCC supporters. “I cannot believe there will be a major budget deal presented on the floor of the senate that has cuts to Social Security.”

Today at noon Eastern, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will join PCCC members from across the nation on a national conference call to discuss growing momentum behind the push to expand Social Security benefits. Click here to listen to the call online.Ai??

Yesterday, Sen. Brown announced toAi??the PCCC’s national membership base of nearly 1 million membersAi??that he will be cosponsoring Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) Social Security expansion bill in the Senate and joining forces with the PCCC to go on offense on Social Security.

In a message to PCCC members, Ai??Sen. Brown said:

“There are plenty of ways to improve the Social Security that nearly 2 million people in Ohio rely on — like lifting the income cap, or calculating benefits in a way that better accounts for the expenses seniors face.Ai??And neither of those involves cutting benefits.Ai??That’s why today I’m announcing that I’m teaming up with Tom Harkin and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) to grow a progressive grassroots movement devoted to expanding Social Security.”

Progressives are rallying around two bills in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Harkin and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) that would expand benefits by $452 for retirees at age 75 and $807 at age 85. By “scrapping the cap” on what the wealthy pay into Social Security, the Harkin-Begich plan will pay for these benefit increases and leave trillions left over to extend Social Security’s solvency beyond its current $2.7 trillion surplus.Ai??Alan Grayson (D-FL), Mike Honda (D-CA), and over 40 members of Congress have co-sponsored House versions of the Harkin-Begich plan.

Over 30 national groups representing over 20 million Americans are leading the movement to expand Social Security benefits including the PCCC, AFL-CIO, National Organization for Women, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, MoveOn, Democracy For America, and CREDO Action.

Over 635,000 progressives …

In a town consumed by how quickly and how deeply to cut Social Security, a handful of Democratic senators have a different idea: expand it.

Legislation to this effect was introduced earlier this spring by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. The Strengthening Social Security Act of 2013 has since been co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mark Begich (D-AK) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who added his name this week.

Progressive activists are touting the bill, eager to shift the terms of the debate from how much to cut retirement benefits to ways to increase them. The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor union, wants to expand Social Security. Liberal activist groups including MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee have made it their new rallying cry.

“Senator Brown’s endorsement of expanding Social Security benefits is a clear sign that Democrats are ready to go on offense after winning the government shutdown, after years of playing defense,” said PCCC’s co-founder Adam Green. “[O]ur polling shows that expanding benefits is super popular even in deep red states like Texas and Kentucky. Progressives are on offense, and we’re not looking back.”

You’ll hear talk of tax and entitlement reform early next year as House and Senate budget conferees once again look for ways out of another fiscal panic. But before you can say “don’t touch my Social Security,” a group of progressives — Democrats in Congress, the AFL-CIO, NOW, MoveOn — is saying: Let’s raise Social Security benefits.
And Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown will join them today.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, composed of activists from liberal and labor organizations behind high-profile political and public policy campaigns such as the draft-Elizabeth Warren movement, wants to boost the annual cost-of-living adjustment. By the time a retiree was age 75, he or she would be getting an extra $452 a year, and $807 more a year by age 85.

This could resonate with retirees — nearly 2 million in Ohio — who learned last week that the 2014 cost-of-living adjustment will be a meager 1.5 percent.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has become the fifth Democratic senator to get behind a push to increase Social Security benefits for seniors, as progressives seek to push back against White House attempts to cut the program.

PCCC co-founder Adam Green said the Brown move gives momentum to the bill which is backed by the AFL-CIO and many of its member unions.

“Senator Brown’s endorsement of expanding Social Security benefits is a clear sign that Democrats are ready to go on offense after winning the government shutdown, after years of playing defense,” Green said.

Senator Sherrod Brown is joining the push to expand Social Security, and he’s making a startling argument: Dems should go on offense on entitlements, rather than let Republicans and Beltway fiscal scolds frame the discussion as one over how muchbenefits should be cut, not one over whether they should be cut at all.

Brown is endorsing Tom Harkin’s bill to expand Social Security benefits, which would boost benefits for beneficiaries by $70 per month, change the cost-of-living calculation to keep pace with rising costs of things seniors need, and scrap the payroll tax cap to strengthen the program over the long term. The crusade to expand Social Security got started with liberal bloggers such as Atrios began pushing for it, and gained some momentum when liberal groups such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee began mobilizing behind the idea.

This is Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and I’m excited to report that I spent last weekend in North Carolina, where a new progressive movement is in full force! For those who haven’t been following the situation, the state legislature has been taken over by Tea Party extremists who have rammed through an agenda that includes rolling back voting rights, rejecting Medicaid expansion, and slashing funding to education. But folks are fighting back, effectively and persuasively. So I headed down to see how we could help.

First stop was Raleigh, where we held a trainingAi??on SaturdayAi??andAi??SundayAi??for activists from all over the state on how to run a field program for electoral candidates from soup to nuts. We taught folks how to calculate a win number, manage volunteers, create a budget, and more. The training was led by the awesome Kim Rogers, deputy political director of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) — thank you, Kim! Our class included local leaders like Mary Perkins Williams, a longtime activist from eastern North Carolina, Wanda Cole, an organizer with the national fast food workers campaign, Nancy Davis, who has worked as a clinic escort for Planned Parenthood, and Tom High, an activist with the Move to Amend effort on campaign finance reform. Here is our class picture:

Thank you to the North Carolina Democratic Party for letting us use their lovely headquarters for the training. We had a wonderful time, and were all sad to say goodbye. Ai??If you want to apply for an upcoming training in your area, you can do soAi??here. These trainings are appropriate for anyone, regardless of skill level or experience. They are part of our larger effort to give activists the skills they need to elect …

Around 25 liberal figures – including officials with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, MoveOn and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO – said in their Wednesday letter that Social Security benefits could be expanded if wealthier workers pay more into the system.

“In upcoming budget negotiations, a Grand Bargain that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits must be off the table,” the liberal officials wrote.

Instead, they said that “Congress should focus on important priorities such as jobs and investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”

TodayAi??on Capitol Hill, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) Ai??will join experts and members of Congress to brief congressional staff on the political and policy case for expanding Social Security benefits.

The PCCC will present state polling (including Iowa and New Hampshire) that makes the political case for expanding Social Security benefits and will explain why it’s good politically for Democrats that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took off the table a Grand Bargain that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits.

Tune in to the livesteam below at 12:30 ETAi??to see PCCC co-founder Adam Green on a panel of experts on Capitol Hill making the political case for expansion, precededAi??atAi??11:15 am ET by a panel outlying the policy case.Ai??Then, sign our petition calling on Congress to expand Social Security benefits! Click here.

The panels will lead into statements by members of Congress who oppose cuts to benefits and support expansion:Ai??Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Sen. Brian Shatz (D-HI),Ai??Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL),Ai??Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA),Ai??Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI).

Frustration over the government shutdown is becoming more visible in Lexington as groups mobilize to protest the lack of progress in Washington.

Monday, Karissa Gerhke with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee led about 50 protesters who gathered in front of U.S. Representative Andy Barr’s office to demand action.

“We’ve been working with our partners to do these all across the country in Republican House districts like Andy Barr’s where they are not listening to their constituents and instead they’re just playing politics in D.C.,” Gerhke says.

A group of protesters including PCCC members huddled in the pouring rain outside U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan’s office in Springfield, Delaware County, office Friday and urged him to help end the government shutdown.

Their message to the Delaware County Republican: You’re vulnerable, and don’t forget it.

“If Rep. Meehan decides to follow party ideology instead of standing with his constituents on this critical issue, Rep. Meehan can be sure constituents like me will not forget this moment once Election Day rolls around in 2014,” Innes Forbes, 62, of Ridley Park, said to the group of about 20 people.

About 50 furloughed federal workers chanted and held signs Wednesday outside the Wanamaker Building, which houses several government offices.

Government workers and union members rallied Friday outside U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office to call for an end to the 11-day-old government shutdown that has idled hundreds of thousands of government workers across the nation.

About 50 people attended the rally that was organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has been critical of McConnell.

Karissa Gerhke, director of member engagement for the PCCC, laid the blame directly at the feet of McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate.

“We are all here today to call on Rep. Lee Terry to vote to end the government shutdown with a clean bill to fund our government,” said Jensen, vice president of the National Education Association Retired.

“Americans nationwide are feeling the effects of the shutdown and are outraged by Congress’ inability to do something that is as fundamental as continuing to fund our government.”

The rally was organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and other groups.

A protest occurred today in Louisville outside Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s office.

Local members of the Progressive change committee, the AFL-CIO, the Kentucky Jobs with Justice and several other groups gathered to call out McConnell and send him the message to “earn his paycheck and put our people back to work.”

Protesters said they wanted him to help re-open the government and give furloughed citizens the opportunity to continue to work. Furloughed workers also spoke at the event.

Protesters were outside the Winter Garden office of local congressman Daniel Webster calling for Webster to vote for an end to the government shutdown.

A group of 30 protesters gathered representing various groups including Organize Now, Organize for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

At noon, about 20 people gathered on the Second Street sidewalk in front of Tulgren Square, the building in which Rep. Sean Duffy’s regional office is located. They chanted and carried signs calling on the Republican congressman to vote to end the federal government shutdown.

“We want Sean Duffy to vote to end the government shutdown, and we will not tolerate a bad deal that cuts Social Security benefits or is otherwise unfair to everyday families,” said Westlund. “If Sean Duffy decides to follow party ideology instead of standing with his constituents on this crucial issue, he can be sure constituents like me will not forget this moment when election day rolls around in 2014.”

The demonstration was organized by the liberal groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy For America, Center for Community Change, MoveOn.org, CREDO and Progressives United.

A progressive group is hitting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) with online ads focused on the probable government shutdown.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee ads, which will run in Kentucky, Ohio and Washington, D.C., feature the lawmakers’ faces and charge “Shutdown: McConnell Gets Paid. Military families go hungry.”

PCCC has already targeted McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2014, with Ai??television ads hitting him for his support for a proposal to reform the way social security benefits are calculated and would ultimately reduce benefit payments.

The new web ads come as the Senate voted down a House-passed government funding measure, inching the government closer to a shutdown, which will occur when the current government funding measure runs out on Monday, if the two chambers can’t agree on a fix.

Everyone is gushing over that clever campaign ad by Massachusetts State Rep. Carl Sciortino, who’s running in a crowded primary for now Senator Ed Markey’s vacant house seat.

Sciortino, who is openly gay, tells voters about coming out to his conservative tea party father…as a Massachusetts liberal.

Since the ad aired on Boston area cable, it has received national attention and over 200,000 hits on YouTube.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee quickly endorsed Sciortino, carrying with them resources in terms of ground troops and financial support up to the Massachusetts’ 5th in advance of the Oct. 15 special election.