Gray Panthers - Action Alerts

Happy 75th Birthday Social Security!

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:50:03 GMT

Opposing Cuts to Social Security

For 75 years, Social Security has remained a promise of economic protection and stability for the Americans who have paid into this program. As we now celebrate three-quarters of a century of accomplishments for this program, we must also do our part to ensure that Social Security is not weakened by those who wish to balance bailouts on the backs of Americans. Problem: Social Security is America's most successful social insurance program and remains the most fiscally responsible part of our federal budget. In fact, recent polls from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare indicate that 85% of adult Americans are opposed to cuts to Social Security to decrease the deficit. However, while many Americans remain united on this issue, Social Security continues to face threats from increased polarization in Congress and those with anti-entitlement agendas. The 2010 Social Security Trustees report shows that Social Security is not facing an immediate threat. The surplus within the Social Security trust fund is estimated to grow to $4.3 trillion by 2023 and remains able to pay benefits in full through 2037. Yet, the opposition continues to project "doomsday" crisis reports and myths to the American public in their efforts to garner support for cuts to the Social Security program. Proponents of these cuts, such as House Republican Leader Joe Boehner, would rather cut Social Security in order to pay for the war in Afghanistan. Outrageously, Boehner stated that, "Ensuring there's enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country's entitlement system." Boehner also calls for increasing the Social Security eligibility age. However, a raise in the Social Security eligibility age would result in about a 20% benefit cut for recipients. While it is evident that our government must make tough decisions to revive our down-turned economy, it is important to remember that cuts to Social Security would not only hurt seniors, but will also detrimentally affect people with disabilities, people who are unemployed, and women and children of deceased spouses/parents. Cuts to this program stand to unfairly burden the most vulnerable populations of Americans. While Former Senator Alan Simpson, the Co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, declares that the “Gray Panthers [...] don’t care a whit about their grandchildren…", we adamantly refute his comment and we vow to continue working to ensure that this burden of survival is not unjustly placed on our grandchildren and others Solution: Gray Panthers oppose any efforts to reduce the effectiveness and reliability of the program. Instead of taking money from people who need it and raising the eligibility for Social Security benefits to age 70 to balance the budget on the backs of Social Security recipients – people who need it the most – the following changes could be made:

Eliminate the annual cap on taxable income and raise that cap so that wealthier people are paying more to Social Security. Under current law, wages over a certain yearly total ($106,800 in 2010) are exempted from Social Security payroll taxes. This means that a worker earning $106,800 a year pays the same amount of FICA taxes as a CEO who makes millions of dollars a year.
Let the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthy expire. The revenues gained from these expirations are far more than enough to fill current state budget deficits for the next ten years while still leaving an additional $2.76 trillion dollars left over to promote further economic recovery.
End the wars. Funds saved from Social Security should not be used to pay for wars, rather that we should cut funds for wars to finance Social Security.
Extend outreach and enrollment. Gray Panthers believes that not only should Social Security be kept intact, but that outreach should be increased and enrollment expanded to get a greater number of older adults in poverty into the program.

Action Needed: The Federal Deficit Commission will report on December 1, 2010 and make recommendations on how to decrease the deficit. We must act now! This is an election year and politicians want to hear from their constituents. Contact your elected officials and urge them to act in the interest of the people by opposing cuts to the Social Security program. We also encourage you to use the information provided in this alert to send a letter to the editors of your local publications. Deadline for Responding: Please take action ASAP!

Deadline for action: 11/30/2010.

Are special corporate interests more important than our children's safety?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:51:01 GMT

Chemicals Policy Reform

Of course not! Yet, our government remains endowed to corporations that let their greedy profit-driven interests outweigh the interests and well-being of the American people. But with the Gray Panthers new emphasis on environmental justice, it is our responsibility to stand up for those populations who disproportionately bear the harmful environmental effects including minorities, poor communities, women, and especially our children. Problem: This week, the Washington Post reported that this summer after reported illnesses, Kellogg recalled 28 million boxes of children's cereal for elevated levels of the suspected chemical in the packaging. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), charged with ensuring the safety of food and consumer products, has no data on the chemical that caused the illnesses. Because of laws that favor industry, the government has little or no information about health risks posed by most of the 80,000 chemicals on the U.S. market today. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) is our nation's main statute governing chemicals policy. However, since its adoption over three decades ago, it has not been reformed. As a result, the legislation has failed to regulate chemicals and imposes a nearly impossible burden on the government to control or replace a dangerous chemical. Solution: Recently, Representatives Bobby Rush [D-IL] and Henry Waxman [D-CA] introduced the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010, an ambitious bill aimed at revamping the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Senator Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ] also unveiled The Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, a companion bill in the Senate. These pieces of legislation take the initial necessary steps to reforming our chemicals policy by:

Removing the "grandfather" loophole that has allowed 62,000 older synthetic chemicals to remain untested by requiring them to be tested in order to stay on the market;
Shifting the burden of proof to chemical companies by requiring them to prove their chemicals are safe. Currently under TSCA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to prove a chemical is harmful before it can impose any controls;
Informing the public and the market about chemicals by limiting companies' ability to hide information about toxic chemicals and establishing an Internet-based public database; and
Prioritizing action for chemicals of high concern making them subject to expedited safety testing and/or actions to reduce their use or exposure to them.

While this legislation makes major improvements to our nation’s outdated and ineffective chemical policy, the legislation must be strengthened further by:

Closing the loophole allowing new chemicals on the market without first showing they're safe. Currently, the bill could allow hundreds of new chemicals to enter the market and be used in products for many years without first requiring them to be proven safe;
Giving the EPA authority to quickly restrict the most dangerous chemicals. The current draft does not provide clear authority for the EPA to immediately restrict production and use of the most dangerous chemicals; and
Using the best and latest science when testing chemicals. The bill should require the EPA to adopt the National Academy of Sciences' recommendations to incorporate the best and latest science when determining the safety of chemicals. (The Senate version bill does call on the EPA to consider those recommendations, but does not require their use.)

In the increasingly global chemicals economy, major advances in chemicals policies in other parts of the world are leaving the U.S. behind. The time is well overdue for the U.S. to ensure that the government is looking out for the health and safety of this nation's citizens. This administration needs to hear from us now - our children are counting on it. Action Needed: Contact President Obama today and ask him to take leadership on this issue by urging Congress to develop and enact comprehensive chemicals policy reform by passing the strongest possible version of the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act (H.R. 5820) in the House and its companion bill, the Safe Chemicals Act, in the Senate. Deadline for Responding: Please take action ASAP!

Deadline for action: 10/31/2010.

Urge Obama to Take the Lead on Women's Rights

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:58:09 GMT

Supporting the U.S. Ratification of CEDAW

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for girls and women of all ages around the world. It offers countries a practical blueprint to promote basic rights and to open opportunities for girls and women in all areas of society. President Obama has declared his support for women worldwide and announced that the ratification of the CEDAW Treaty was an important priority. Now we need him to show leadership in advancing women and girls’ rights around the world.

“Ratifying CEDAW remains among the unfinished business of the Civil Rights movement."
- - Dorothy I. Height
April 13, 2010

As Gray Panthers working for social and economic justice and peace for ALL people, it is our task to work towards finishing this business to ensure that discrimination against girls and women of all ages is eliminated. Problem: CEDAW was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly and entered into force in 1981. To date, 186 of 193 countries have ratified the treaty. The United States is one of only seven countries—including Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Nauru, Palau and Tonga—that have not yet ratified CEDAW. In the U.S., the CEDAW treaty has been voted on favorably twice on a bipartisan basis by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but has never been brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Ratification of the CEDAW treaty requires two-thirds (67 out of 100) U.S. Senators to stand together for women and has no financial cost. Our elected officials must now prioritize ratification of a clean CEDAW without including restrictions, understandings and declarations (RUDs) that would undermine the intent of the treaty. Solution: CEDAW can be a powerful tool for success when it is used by governments and civil society to protect basic rights and promote greater equality for women and girls. Providing opportunities for girls and women of all ages to learn, earn and participate in public decision-making helps reduce violence, alleviate poverty, build democracies and strengthen economies. In countries that have ratified CEDAW, women have partnered with their governments to engage in a national dialogue about the status of girls and women, and as a result have changed laws and policies to create greater safety and opportunity. While women in this country enjoy opportunities and status not available to many of the world's women, there is still more progress needed. U.S. Ratification of CEDAW creates an opportunity to address persistent gaps in women's equality in areas such as:

Domestic violence: the landmark Violence Against Women Act, has done much to prevent domestic violence and meet the needs of victims, yet two million women a year report injuries from current or former partners in the United States.
Maternal health: the United States ranks 41st among a ranking of 184 countries on maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, below all other industrialized nations and a number of developing countries.
Economic security: U.S. women continue to lag behind men in income, earning on average only 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes.
Human trafficking: the Trafficking Victims Protection Act has played a pivotal role in combating human trafficking. However, estimates suggest that there may be 20,000 women, men and children trafficked into the U.S. each year.

Ratification of CEDAW would provide an effective catalyst for the U.S. to examine these areas of persistent discrimination against women, highlighting where more attention is needed and help to develop strategies to move forward. The U.S. has taken leadership in promoting and protecting human rights by ratifying similar treaties on genocide, torture, race, and civil and political rights. It is time now to continue this tradition by standing up for the rights of girls and women of all ages in countries around the world. Action Needed: This week is National CEDAW Week of Action. Now is a critical time for the White House to hear from us that ratifying CEDAW this year must be a priority. We urge you to take action now by telling President Obama to send a strong and urgent signal to the U.S. Senate that ratification of CEDAW is vital.

Source: CEDAW Task Force of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Deadline for Responding: Please take action ASAP!

Deadline for action: 9/30/2010.