By now, almost everyone has heard of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. This bill, which just went into effect, finally created some basic consumer protections for credit card borrowers. While these companies are doing their best to find new and creative ways to stick it to their customers, the bill stopped some of the worst abuses, and made sure that credit card companies could no longer treat college students, whom they courted aggressively, differently from the rest of the population.
There is a provision in the bill that many people have not heard about, however, and it could be a real help to student journalists, student government, and anyone else who is trying to make sure that colleges, credit card companies, and alumni associations are not taking advantage of students. This provision, championed by Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy, requires schools to disclose agreements that they have with credit card companies allowing them to market to students. It also allows any individual to request this information. (more…)
"You can dress this up 100 different ways and put a Santa Hat on it, but this is still the same budget gimmick lenders have been pushing for months to line their own pockets" - Rep. George Miller
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), at the request of Sen. Casey, just examined the alternative to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) written by Sallie Mae. The last time the plan was examined by the CBO, it found that it would mean $13-17 billion less in grants for students, investments in community colleges, funding for early learning programs, etc.
This time around, the CBO put that number at $4 billion.
But, as Rep. Miller said in a press release earlier today, “you can dress this up 100 different ways and put a Santa Hat on it, but this is still the same budget gimmick lenders have been pushing for months to line their own pockets with billions of dollars that should be used to help students.” Both Rep. Miller and Sen. Harkin—Chairmen of the House and Senate education committees, respectively—pointed out that Sallie Mae was able to do better with the CBO this time because the lenders had their plan “sunset” after five years, while SAFRA is calculated for 10 years.
The lenders will, undoubtedly, fight for their plan to be continued in five years, which would mean at least $8 billion less to invest in education. (more…)
The National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers just released the latest Fiscal Survey of States, and the news is not good. The first paragraph of the report is:
States are currently facing one of the worst, if not
the worst, fiscal periods since the Great Depression.
Fiscal conditions significantly deteriorated for states
during fiscal 2009, with the trend expected to
continue through fiscal 2010 and even into 2011 and
2012.
States are currently facing one of the worst, if not the worst, fiscal periods since the Great Depression. Fiscal conditions significantly deteriorated for states during fiscal 2009, with the trend expected to continue through fiscal 2010 and even into 2011 and 2012.
Ouch. This means that state budget cuts will continue to have a big impact on students. 33 states are cutting higher education budgets in 2009, and this number is only slightly better–30– in 2010. Here is a table of states cutting higher ed budgets that I compiled from information in the report: (more…)
What time did you wake up yesterday morning? I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to go down to the Dirksen Senate Office Building and attend the first hearing for the new climate bill. The bill, co-sponsored by Senator Kerry (D-MA) and Senator Boxer (D-CA), is called the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act — aka CEJAPA and is similar in many ways to the recently passed American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) in the House.
Along with other 10 young people, dressed in Halloween garbs or green t-shirts , we tried to get into the hearing room to show that young people are paying attention and are ready to hold our elected officials accountable. Unfortunately, due to corporate hired linestanders, we weren’t able to get in. Linestanders you ask? Yup, here is how it works:
Hearing rooms are small, especially considering that most seats go to Senate staffers (from offices of Senators who aren’t on the committee) and press. Most hearings are held with barely any ordinary citizen in the room, but some contentious ones — like recent healthcare, defense and climate hearings – fill up pretty quick. The few spots left are open on a first-come, first-serve basis meaning that people need to make sure to get there early if they care to have a seat in clear view of the senators and the CSPAN cameras.
Just like young people desperately want legislators to see them (and we make sure they do by wearing bright green t-shirts, holding hard hats on our laps, and holding small 8.5 x 11 signs), so do the lobbyists that bring so much money to their election coffers. Thirteen line-standers for corporate lobbyists were in line ahead of us, but there were only nine seats were available in the room so we weren’t successful this time around. Young people waiting in line made a pretty big splash nonetheless by talking to Senators and press as they were making their way into the room.
After making sure that the young people who came from as far as Maryland were OK with going to the overflow room, I darted back to the office to listen to the hearing through the Committee website (more hearings are going on today and tomorrow, check them out here if you are interested).
The hearings were surprisingly interesting. For minute-to-minute summary, check out my live-blog about the opening remarks and about the testimonies. There were three things that came up during the hearing that every person concerned about the climate crisis should know:
Organized mobs of old right wing activists are disrupting town halls this first week of Congressional recess to bully other constituents and put their representatives on the defensive regarding health care reform.
ThinkProgress reported that “By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform.”
But we know this is an illusion. Young progressives will not be intimidated and we will not lay low. This generation has already proved that we are organized, engaged, and immensely effective.
We are encouraging young activists and bold future leaders to get out there and make their voices heard; the time is now to ensure that the pending legislation for health care, climate, and college affordability are not weakened or threatened by conservative and right-wing obstructionists.
Many Representatives are already setting up town hall meetings in their districts. Town halls are meant to be civic meetings between representatives and their constituents to discuss the hot issues on the political front, however these industry-backed right-wing mobs are ambushing the meetings with heckling, loud chants of “Just Say NO” regarding health care reform, and are many times not even letting representatives or other constituents get one word out.
These ambush tactics are not unplanned. They are not just a one off coincidence. These activists are being organized by right-wing lobbyists and are even being fed talking points and instructions on exactly how to shut down the town halls. This video on The Rachel Maddow Show details the actions taking place and the shows the instructed memo that the activists are receiving before attending the meetings. It’s not surprising that the talking points focus on obstructing reform instead of offering alternative solutions.
Don’t let this August recess be dominated by the familiar tactics of fear, intimidation, and lack of actual solutions – Get Out and Make an Impact this August Recess- visit our August Action Recess center today to stand up against Conservative obstruction.
The time has come for Congress to return home from the bustling capital and enjoy a summer recess in their districts. They will be in their local offices for the month of August, while all of us are left waiting and fretting over pending health care, climate, and student aid legislation. Well, now is not the time to wait and wonder what the future will bring – we have to get out and take action!
Don’t let your Reps and Senators enjoy their vacation too much; call them, write them, but most importantly set up lobby meetings[pdf] with them in their local offices. Congress members will be hearing from plenty of lobbyists and conservative naysayers while they are home in their districts, we can’t let them be swayed from the progress they have made thus far. Get creative and make your voice heard.
In order to spice up your in-district action this August recess, Campus Progress is suggesting a few creative events that can accompany lobby meetings with your Reps and Senators and make your time a little more memorable:
Creative Event:Aerial Photo
We already took a bird’s eye view of things when we decided to fight for clean energy, college affordability and healthcare reform, now it’s time to share what we saw. Show your representatives and community members that there are tons of people (literally) spelling out our demands with an aerial photo. Aerial photos are a fun and engaging way to mobilize your volunteers and will certainly get you some good media. You can even turn your creative action into a flash mob by having people converge in a crowded room wearing similarly colored shirts and freezing in place in a formation spelling out your message of change. Just make sure you have a way of taking the picture from above!
Climate Crisis Example
Fact: The American Clean Energy and Security Act is the first piece of climate legislation to be passed in the House of Representatives, but its chances of being passed in the Senate are getting slim.
Scenario: You and your group of friends run an online/offline campaign to build the buzz about an upcoming flash mob happening in the atrium or in front of your legislator’s in-district office; the only instruction given is to wear green and to meet at a nearby park 30 minutes ahead of time. When they get there you hand them a piece of paper showing where they need to stand, then have them walk in at random intervals and freeze when they get to their spot. When all of the 100 participants freeze, your group’s photographer will take the shot of them all spelling out “Stop Climate Change” and yell out “Climate Action Now”. At that point everyone unfreezes and joins the chant that is then picked up by all of the participants.
Creative Event:Pranks
One idea is to conduct “pranks” at your Congress members’ local offices. Now we don’t mean wrap their toilet seats in plastic or super-glue their phone receiver down. We mean go in there and get your point across in a memorable and humorous way (well they may not think its funny) but they will certainly catch the irony of your actions and it may just open their eyes to how ridiculous they will be if they choose not to vote for the economic opportunities you are demanding as their constituent!
A “prank” would be an intentionally ironic or witty way of approaching your Congress members’ local office to demand health care for all, clean energy jobs, or college affordability. There are many opportunities for this creative event that could work for any of the issues you will be pushing for, please see below for one such example:
Health Care Example
Fact: Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently answered a constituent’s concern about not receiving good health care benefits by saying the constituent should come work for the federal government in order to receive the same great health coverage as he receives.
Irony: Senator Grassley sits on the Senate Finance Committee; responsible for drafting health care legislation right now, yet he has been opposed to real reform from day one. Despite the fact that he could help his constituents receive quality, affordable health coverage by voting for strong reform, he apparently thinks the solution is for everyone to work for Congress if they can’t receive health care otherwise.
Scenario: You dress up for an interview, prepare your resume, have a cover letter ready and call your Rep/Senator’s office to schedule a meeting. You show up at your meeting fully prepared to “apply for a job with Congress” in order to receive the health care benefits that they receive, especially since so many conservative and moderate members of both parties are blocking real reform by delaying the legislation and/or voting against the public option and other components of health care reform that will prevent you from receiving the same quality, affordable care that your Rep/Senators receive. It is important to ensure you have talking points about health care reform (included in the toolkit[pdf]) so that other than the obvious “prank” your Rep/Senator realizes your demand for reform.
Creative Props
It’s what Yorick’s skull, Bond’s stylish gadgets, and Holmes’ pipe have in common. Bringing something really big to your meeting—like a giant version of a student loan statement—or even something really small—like a grain of rice carved with a message, like “maxPellin2020w/oSAFRA”—can help you get across your message in a memorable way. It can also help you show broad support. For example, getting people to sign a costume arm cast in support of health care, borrowing a friend’s old crutches, and hobbling into the office.
Confused about all this health care talk, especially the rhetoric being spread by those opposing real reform? Check out this helpful guide to deciphering Eleven Health Care Reform Myths by The Wonk Room and CAPAF:
MYTH: Being uninsured is not a problem; it’s people’s own fault. During an interview with the independent student newspaper of Tufts University, former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) downplayed the number of Americans without health insurance. “However, 11 million of that total are illegal immigrants. Ten million more are people who can buy their own insurance. Finally, another 10 million are people your own age who think they are never going to get sick or hurt and are not vulnerable,” Dole argued. [Tufts Daily,12/04/2008]
REALITY: Americans are uninsured because they can’t afford the high costs of insurance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), most Americans who lack health insurance “come from working families and have low incomes.” About two-thirds of the uninsured “are poor or near poor” and are “less likely to be offered employer-sponsored coverage or to be able to afford to purchase their own coverage.” [Kaiser Family Foundation, 10/15/2008]
Last Thursday, the House Committee on Education and Labor held a hearing on President Obama’s proposal to cut wasteful subsidies to student loan companies in order to increase grants to low and middle income students. Campus Progress Action submitted a statement to the committee—check it out.
Here are some clips from the hearing:
Testimony from Robert Shireman, who is the Deputy Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education and the former President of The Institute for College Access and Success.
Rep. Rob Andrews questioning the witnesses. For a bit of comic relief, check out Rep. Andrews questioning Dr. Richard Vedder, a conservative economist that writes about higher education issues, at 3:39.
President Obama yesterday took a ‘major’ step” that many progressives had been waiting on for a long time, when he resolved the dispute between California and auto-makers over regulating how much gas cars can guzzle.
For those who haven’t been following this telenovela-worthy drama, the backstory goes like this: It’s the year 2005 and California wants to reduce it’s carbon footprint because it recognizes that such measures would help save people money, improve public health and save its agricultural land from becoming a desert. Republican Governor Schwarzenegger agrees that making cars guzzle less gas would be a cost-effective, consumer friendly way to address all these issues and approves mandating that cars sold in the Golden State must burn less oil. Car companies, being the trigger-happy criminals that they are, decide to complain to their friend President Bush to avoid ‘burdensome’ regulation arguing that it would bee too chaotic and unfair for them to have to follow different standards for every state, all this while crying croccodile tears on their private jets. Now, under the oversight any president with any respect for its citizens, this issue would have been resolved pretty quickly and California would have been granted the permit to set their own regulations. But the Bush administration’s Environmental Protection Agency, known for its Environmentally Pejorative Actions, denied California its right to protect its citizens leading to a drawn out law suit which wasn’t resolved until yesterday, when President Obama stepped in and passed an extremely Obanesque solution.
I’m sure at this point, we’ve made ourselves clear on how vital it is for Congress to pass a progressive budget. But you may be asking yourself, what exactly do these progressive priorities entail?
Or, maybe you are lobbying/attending an event with your Member of Congress this last week of recess and need some specific talking points on the investments needed in this year’s budget.
Well, look no further. Below are Campus Progress one-pagers outlining our progressive budget priorities for affordable college education, green jobs and climate, and health care – including great background info on the current problems associated with each issue.
Use these outlines to brush up on the specifics of the issues you demand to see addressed in the budget or use them as talking points when lobbying your Reps and Senators or writing a letter-to-the-editor!
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
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By now, almost everyone has heard of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. This bill, which just went into effect, finally created some basic consumer protections for credit card borrowers. While these companies are doing their best to find new and creative ways to stick it to their customers, the bill stopped some of the worst abuses, and made sure that credit card companies could no longer treat college students, whom they courted aggressively, differently from the rest of the population.
Organized mobs of old right wing activists are 
The time has come for Congress to return home from the bustling capital and enjoy a summer recess in their districts. They will be in their local offices for the month of August, while all of us are left waiting and fretting over pending health care, climate, and 
broad support. For example, getting people to sign a costume arm cast in support of health care, borrowing a friend’s old crutches, and hobbling into the office.
Confused about all this health care talk, especially the rhetoric being spread by those opposing real reform? Check out this helpful guide to deciphering 
