Reminder: Tuesday November 30 is Call-In Day to Protect Social Security

Join us tomorrow, Nov. 30, in a National Call Congress Day to fight Social Security cuts! Thanks to those of you who have already pledged to call. It's not too late to commit to participating in this important event.

Call your Senators tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1-866-529-7630, toll-free. The operator will identify your senators by asking for your zip code. Call BOTH of your senators if you have time.  It only takes a minute each. If you only have time for one phone call and you live in Pennsylvania, ask for Senator Bob Casey.  If you have time to make both calls, ask for Senator Casey first.  Then call back through the toll-free number one more time and ask for Senator Arlen Specter.

If you're having trouble getting through on the toll-free number, you can look up your senators' direct lines on National NOW's website.

Here's a sample script:

Hello, my name is [give name].  I am a constituent in [name of your state] and my address is [give your address]. I am calling Senator [Last Name] to urge [her or him] to say no to Social Security benefit cuts. As a women's rights supporter, I am particularly concerned about the millions of women who depend upon Social Security as a person with a disability, as a widow caring for minor children, or as a retiree or spouse of a retiree. Due to unequal pay, time spent out of the workforce for caregiving, and having little to no savings, pensions or investments, women disproportionately rely on Social Security. Please don't cut benefits in any way, including by raising the retirement age. Thank you for your time. 

Background:

The co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have proposed increasing the retirement age to 69 (making us work longer), deeply cutting benefits for middle-class workers and reducing annual Cost of Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!

Social Security is a promise that must not be broken -- we work hard and our payroll taxes pay for it. It belongs to our children, our parents, our neighbors and us. Throughout their lives, women on average are paid less then men, and they often work at part-time jobs or take extended leave from the workforce for raising children and other forms of caregiving. As a result, women are less likely to have pensions, investments or life savings, so they stand to lose the most if these cuts are made.

Help ensure that Social Security will be there, keeping middle-class women out of poverty and not forcing them to work until they are nearly 70.

If you haven't yet, please sign the "Count on Me" pledge at the National NOW website promising to participate in the National Call Congress Day on Nov. 30. Then, forward this blog/e-mail and tell your friends, family and co-workers to add their voices, too. You can also invite your friends to make calls through the Strengthen Social Security Facebook events page. Don't let politicians cut OUR Social Security.

For additional information and talking points, see our blog on November 19, 2010 titled "Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA."

Please TAKE ACTION  and then DONATE. 

We'd really appreciate it and so will all those who depend on Social Security.

Thank you!

Giving Thanks

On behalf of Pennsylvania NOW and the Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund, we hope you have a bountiful and Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy this holiday season with your friends and family and enjoy whatever type of meal you decide to "carve up."

While giving thanks, we also hope you will consider sharing your concerns and thoughts with those who use Social Security to support their families.  Remember that Tuesday, November 30th is National call-in day to or US Senators to not "carve up" Social Security.  I blogged earlier this week about this call-in day.  Information about the action was summarized in the blog entitled "You Can Count on Me! Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security."  And talking points about the proposal to cut Social Security by the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs is located in the blog entitled "Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA." 

We need your voice to be heard this Thanksgiving! Click here to take the Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to add your voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS – DON’T CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY! Once you sign up, you will receive a reminder to call in.

Finally, do you do your holiday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving? This year, you can help Pennsylvania NOW turn "Black Friday" golden -- with a donation to support our work to stop Congress from cutting Social Security benefits.  If you prefer to make a tax-deductible contribution, you can donate here to help make for a golden "Black Friday" for the PA NOW Education Fund as well as for yourself.

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!

In sisterhood,

Joanne Tosti-Vasey
President
Pennsylvania NOW, Inc. and Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund
P.O. Box 68
Bellefonte, PA 16823

P.S.  If you prefer to write a check to make your golden "Black Friday" donation to either PA NOW or the PA NOW Ed Fund, just write out the check to whichever organization you want to donate to and mail the check to the above address.  Remember, you get a tax deduction by donating to the Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund and you get direct funding for our advocacy work, but no tax deduction, when you donate to Pennsylvania NOW, Inc.

Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA

The Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs’ Social Security proposal:

1. Deeply cuts the benefits of middle-class families. Benefits for retirees, survivors and disabled workers will be cut between 17% and 36% for young people entering the workforce today, affecting those earning an average of $43,000 (17%) to $107,000 (36%) a year over their working lives, according to the Social Security Chief Actuary. The proposed cuts would apply to retirees, disabled workers and their families, children who have lost parents, and widows and widowers.
2. Closes Social Security’s long-range funding gap primarily by cutting already low benefits, rather than by raising taxes on those who can most afford to pay. Ninety-two percent of Social Security’s long-range funding gap is closed by cutting promised benefits. Instead, this gap could be closed, as most Americans want, by requiring those employees (and their employers) who make more than $107,000 a year to pay Social Security taxes on all their wages, as the rest of us do who earn less.
3. Raises the retirement age to 69. This is a 13% benefit cut on top of the 13% cut already made when the retirement age was increased from 65 to 67, according to the Social Security Administration.
4. Raises the early retirement age to 64. Most Americans claim Social Security benefits before age 64, even though the benefits are currently reduced by as much as 25% when they do so. That’s usually because they work in physically demanding jobs, have health problems, or can no longer find work. Raising the early retirement age will shut them out of the system when they are most vulnerable, potentially forcing them to seek disability benefits or welfare. 
5. Discriminates against lower-wage workers by raising the retirement age. Upper-income Americans are living longer. But in recent years the life expectancy of lower-income men has increased only slightly and the life expectancy of lower-income women declined. In effect, the proposal says to lower wage workers that they must work longer because the rich are living longer!
6. Reduces the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries. The proposal would reduce the purchasing power of benefits by 3.7% after 10 years of receiving benefits and by 6.5% after 20 years, according to the Social Security Chief Actuary.
7. Hurts current retirees, contrary to promises made by the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs. The change in the COLA calculation would affect all beneficiaries, not just retirees, starting in 2012.  If anything, the COLA should be increased because it does not adequately take account of skyrocketing medical costs, which hit seniors and people with disabilities hardest.
8. Breaks faith with our nation’s veterans and service members. Forty-three percent of veterans receive Social Security. They or their families will see their Social Security disability benefits cut deeply if they are seriously injured in combat, their survivors’ benefits cut substantially if they die in combat, and their retirement benefits cut significantly just like all other Americans.
9. Harms our grandchildren the most. The younger a person is the deeper the cuts because of the increase in the retirement age and the changes in the benefit formula.
10. Breaks Social Security’s promise with Americans. Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to the program. The proposal breaks that promise.

Click here for a more detailed analysis of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs’ proposal.

You Can Count on Me! Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME!


Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security

The Co-Chairs of the National Fiscal Commission have proposed carving up Social Security like a Thanksgiving turkey. They want to increase the retirement age to 69 – making us work longer, deeply cut benefits for middle-class workers and reduce annual Cost of Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!

Join Pennsylvania NOW, the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, and thousands of Americans in a National Call Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30—CAN WE COUNT ON YOU?

We need your voice to be heard! Click here to take the Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to add your voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS – DON’T CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY!

Social Security is a promise that must not be broken—we’ve worked hard for it and paid taxes for it. It belongs to our children, our parents, our neighbors and ourselves.

ACT NOW! Your voice needs to be heard. Click here to take the  Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to join the National Call Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30.

Call your United States Senators and your Representative. Tell them not to cut Social Security. Help ensure that your Social Security will be there for your children and your grandchildren.

Pennsylvania NOW's Letter to US Senate Judiciary Committee on CEDAW

The following is the letter I just sent to the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law in strong support of the international Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  It will be delivered to the subcommittee by the National Women's Law Center as part of a package of testimonial letters and petitions to the members of the subcommittee during a public hearing to be held on CEDAW this Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510.  The members of this committee are Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Committee Members Russ Feingold (D-WI), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Al Franken (D-MN), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC), and John Cornyn (R-TX).

For information on how you can send your own statement to the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, see my previous blog on November 13, 2010.  It is titled CEDAW Hearing Scheduled. Your Action is Needed.

11/15/2010

• • •


Re: Ratification of CEDAW without disabling Restrictions, Understandings, and Declarations (RUDs) or any further delay.


Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510


Dear Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Coburn, and Members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law:


On behalf of the over 13,000 contributing and dues-paying members of the National Organization for Women here in Pennsylvania, we are writing to you today to express our strong support for ratifying the international Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).


We thank the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law for convening this hearing and turning its attention to CEDAW. CEDAW was first proposed 35 years ago and was written with the assistance of the US Government. Yet we have yet to ratify this critical treaty that affirms the fundamental principles of human rights and equality for women around the world, including here in the United States. CEDAW has been ratified by 186 countries, including all other industrialized nations, with the exception of the United States. In fact, the United States is one of only seven United Nation-member countries that has not ratified this critical human rights treaty. The other six member countries are Iran, Somalia, Sudan and three small Pacific Island nations. It is long past time for the US to ratify this treaty.


Promoting and protecting human rights is fundamental to America's core values. Under the leadership of Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton, the U.S. ratified similar treaties on genocide, torture, race, and civil and political rights.


While progress has been made in advancing women’s rights in recent decades, women continue to suffer disproportionately from poverty, sexual and domestic violence and lack of access to basic health care and equal education. In countries where CEDAW has been ratified, it has made significant improvement to the status of women. U.S. ratification of CEDAW would lend weight to the treaty and solidify our status as a leader in the global human rights committee.


In this age of globalization, the fate of our nation is more closely intertwined with that of the rest of the world than ever before. The United States can enhance our longstanding role as a global leader for women’s rights and human rights if we engage with the community of nations that has ratified CEDAW in determining how best to achieve progress for women and girls.


Attached to this letter are the signatures of 515 people who signed our petition supporting the US ratification of CEDAW without disabling Restrictions, Understandings and Declarations (RUDs) or any further delay. A total of 334 of these signatures were collected online through Facebook at our Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund cause site. These signatures represent people from four countries (India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States). Within the United States, we collected these online signatures from people living in 33 different states. The remaining 181 signatures were gathered at a Ni-Ta-Nee NOW (the local chapter of NOW in Centre County, PA) tabling event at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts held in State College, Pennsylvania in July.


Thank you again for holding these hearings. Show your support for women in Pennsylvania, the United States, and around the world by showing your support for CEDAW.


Please send this treaty to the floor of the Senate with a message of strong support for ratification of CEDAW without disabling Restrictions, Understandings and Declarations (RUDs). Please ratify CEDAW without any further delay.


Thank you.


Sincerely,
Joanne L. Tosti-Vasey, Ph.D.
President
Pennsylvania NOW, Inc.

CEDAW Hearing Scheduled. Your Action is Needed.

CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) will, after a hiatus of eight years, finally receive another hearing in the US Senate.  Passage by the US has been pending for 35 years.

The US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law will be holding a hearing this coming Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Dirsken Senate Office Building, Room 226. This will be the first hearing on CEDAW since 2002 and the first time ever that the Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on a human rights treaty. The hearing is open to the public.

We would like to see the room filled with supporters of CEDAW, so if you can make it to Washington, DC for this important hearing to show your support, please do so. If you will be attending, please notify Erica Swanson at the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights so that she can get a count of supporters and have a sticker for you to wear in the room; that way, the Senators will know you are supporting the treaty. Her email address is swanson@civilrights.org.

Note, if you can't make it to the hearing, you can listen in.  Just go the this page at 2 pm on Thursday, November 18, 2010 and click on the "Webcast" button.

You may also submit testimony to the subcommittee. I will be submitting testimony on behalf of PA NOW along with the signatures of 515 people who signed on this summer through our Facebook Causes page as well as a printed petition we distributed at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College in July.

The formal deadline for receiving statements on your support of CEDAW is one week after the hearing. You should address these to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, 224 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. The fax number for the Majority members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law office is 202-228-4461 and the phone number is 202-224-6884. The phone number for the Minority members of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law office is 202-224-5972 (there is NO fax number listed for the minority committee members on the Judiciary Committee Subcommittee website.

Members of the the Subcommittee include:

MAJORITY MEMBERS:
Dick Durbin (D-IL) Chair
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Arlen Specter (D-PA)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Ted Kaufman (D-DE)

MINORITY MEMBERS:
Tom Coburn (R-OK) Ranking Member
Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC)
John Cornyn (R-TX)

Thank you for your support. Now lets push for full passage without any reservations or restrictions.

Two More Seeds and One More Weed

Just a quick update to the blog posting I made two days ago.

We now have results of the three "Too Close to Call"  races.  We planted two seeds and had another weed pop up.

There has been one more weed that has appeared after absentee ballots were counted in Chester County.  Barbara McIllvaine Smith (D-156) lost her seat once all of the absentee ballots were counted.  She conceded the race to Dan Truitt (R) this morning.  We will sorely miss Barbara in the legislature.  She was one of the most progressive, caring, and transparent Representatives in the state.  We wish her well and hope she can plant more seeds of her refreshing vision in her future endeavors.

On the up side, we also planted two more seeds for progress and equality.  Our newest winners are both in the PA House of Representatives.  They are Steve Santarsiero (D) who currently represents the 31st HD (part of Bucks County) and Tina Davis (D) who will be the new Representative from the 141st HD (also part of Bucks County).  We welcome Steve's return to the General Assembly and look forward to the work that Tina will do as the newest member of the legislature.

Planting Seeds in the Weeds of the Fall Elections

The General Election was held on November 2, 2010. We unfortunately lost many of the races that we had targeted, including that of the PA Senate Seat, which was won by Pat Toomey (R). Of the 22 targeted races, we won 5, lost 14, and 3 more are TOO CLOSE TO CALL!

What does this mean? More Tea Party legislators who oppose fairness and equality for women, people of color, immigrants, and lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered people. More efforts by a new, conservatively-empowered majority in both the Federal and State House of Representatives. Attempts at both the state and federal level to overturn health care reform for everyone and reverse reproductive rights for women. And we’ll see continued, if not even greater gridlock, on passing legislation that creates holes in our safety net here in PA and across the country.

That means that at least for the next two, if not more years, our garden of rights may become filled with weeds. Cracks in our canopy of safety are likely to appear. And we will need to plant more seeds in our efforts to ensure that the fruit of our work isn’t pulled out of this garden.

Meanwhile, Here’s How Our Candidates Faired

The following lists all of the races that we targeted and lets you know how each of our candidates faired in their individual races.

National NOW/PAC

U.S. Senate

• JOE SESTAK (D) Lost

U.S. Congress

• BOB BRADY (D) 1st CD WON. RETURNS TO CONGRESS
• CHAKA FATTAH (D) 2nd CD WON. RETURNS TO CONGRESS
• ALLYSON SCHWARTZ (D) 13th CD WON. RETURNS TO CONGRESS
• MANAN TREVEDI (D) 6th CD Lost
• BRYAN LENTZ (D) 7th CD Lost
• LOIS HERR (D) 16th CD Lost
• DAN CONNOLLY (D) 18th CD Lost

Pennsylvania NOW PAC

The Pennsylvania NOW PAC makes endorsements for all statewide and local races. The PA NOW PAC has two levels of approval for candidates. "Endorsement" is the highest level of approval and is given only to those candidates who support all of our issues and will take a leadership position on those issues if elected. "Support" is given to those candidates who are good on most of our issues but have a problem with one or two; we believe that these candidates are significantly better than their opposition. “Endorsed” candidates names are CAPITALIZED and BOLDED. Candidates receiving “Support” have their names printed in upper and lower-case letters. The results of these races are as follows:

Pennsylvania Senate Endorsed Candidates

• RUTH DAMSKER (D) 12th SD Lost
• BILL WALLACE (D) 24th SD Lost 

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Endorsed: 

• PHYLLIS MUNDY (D) 120th HD WON! RETURNS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• BABETTE JOSEPHS (D) 182nd HD WON! RETURNS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• STEVE SANTARSIARO (D) 31st HD TOO CLOSE TO CALL! Steve is leading by 189 votes as of 11:30 am November 3; they need to count the absentee ballots before declaring a winner.
• TINA DAVIS (D) 141st HD TOO CLOSE TO CALL! Tina is leading by 241 votes as of 11:30 am November 3; they need to count the 500 +/- absentee ballots before declaring a winner.
• BARBARA MCILLVAINE SMITH 156TH HD TOO CLOSE TO CALL! Barbara is trailing by 214 votes as of 11:30 am November 3. Barb hasn’t yet conceded. Hopefully she’ll pull this one out just like she did in the squeaker in 2006 when she won by 28 votes upon a recount.
• GERALD PRICE (D) 4th HD Lost
• SHARON BROWN (D) 28th HD Lost
• GERALD E. POLICOFF (D) 41st HD Lost
• JO ELLEN BOWMAN (D) 60th HD Lost
• TREY CASIMIR (D) 85th HD Lost

Supported:

• Angela West (D) 87th HD Lost
• Mark Painter (D) 146th HD Lost
• Andrea Baptiste (D) 150th HD Lost

Even with These Large Loses (Weeds) and Limited Wins (Planted Seeds), We Can’t and Won’t Turn Back

We must continue to fight and stand up for our rights. Terry O’Neill, National President of NOW, put it this way in an article that appeared in the Huffington Post on November 2:

Throughout the history of the women's movement in this country, our progress has often been painfully slow. I've lost count of the number of women who have told me how frustrated they are when the changes they voted for mysteriously stall out in the legislative process, or are compromised away too quickly. I've felt that frustration myself over the past couple years….This is one of those times, when we must reach deep into ourselves and return again to the struggle for equality and justice.

We will continue to monitor attacks on women’s rights. We will continue to work for economic justice. We will continue to work towards ending discrimination no matter your gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, or gender identity. We will continue to advocate for ending violence against women and children.

So, “Don’t Agonize! Organize!”

Plant and grow our seeds of Equality for All

• Join NOW! 
• Get active in your local NOW Chapter; if there isn’t a local chapter in your area, start one! Email us at panow@panow.org or call us at 814-280-2571 to find out how to contact or start a local NOW chapter in your community.
• Make a donation (or a recurring monthly donation) to NOW! If you want to make a recurring donation, email our Treasurer, Pamela Macklin at pmacfish@aol.com.  She'll send you the necessary paperwork to turn a one-time donation into a monthly donation.
• Write letters to the editor about the issues that concern you.
• And tell your federal and state legislators that you will be watching their federal-level or state-level votes.

We’ll continue to advocate for you. And with your advocacy, our efforts eventually will bear fruit. Thank you!