Lobbying

After launching a campaign of TV ads last week pressuring GOP senators to vote for a Democratic-backed economic stimulus package, liberal activist group Americans United for Change will start running radio ads tomorrow that ask if GOP senators will side "with Rush Limbaugh" in voting against a stimulus measure in the Senate.

The ads open with the radio host's recent controversial quote about President Obama's economic agenda--"I hope he fails."

"We can understand why an extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama's jobs program to fail, but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That's another matter," the narrator says.

"Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate. And the question is, will Sen. Jim Bunning side with Rush Limbaugh too?" the narrator says in one of the ads.

The ads will target Republican Sens. Jim Bunning (Ky.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Mel Martinez (Fla.), airing in their home states.

The ads close by asking listeners to call each GOP senator "tell him he represents you, not Rush Limbaugh."

The group has also expanded its TV campaign to target Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.).

Backers of legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize are launching a campaign to convince people that the Employee Free Choice Act does not technically eliminate secret-ballot elections.

Business groups and Republicans have strongly denounced the legislation, also known as card-check, because it would allow unions bypass holding a secret ballot election and form a union simply by having workers sign petition cards. Current law allows business leaders to insist on holding a secret ballot election and that right would disappear if the bill is signed into law.

Pro-labor action group American Rights at Work, which announced a $3 million TV ad campaign supporting the bill earlier this month, says that for the time being it will air ads attacking the notion that the bill eliminates secret ballot elections

"Greedy CEOs want to prevent workers from joining unions to level the playing field. Their new scheme to keep wages low? Spreading lies about the Employee Free Choice Act," a narrator says in the new ad.

"The truth is the Employee Free Choice Act absolutely protects workers

Citing Monday's announcement that funds have dried up for government vouchers toward digital TV converter boxes, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports is urging Congress, President Bush, and President-elect Barack Obama to delay the mandated national switch to digital TV.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which administers the voucher program, announced Monday that it has used up the $1.34 billion set aside by Congress to distribute vouchers. TV owners who request vouchers will, from now on, be placed on a waiting list; NTIA will send out new vouchers as funds unused ones expire.

Analog TV signals will cease Feb. 17. Without converter boxes, TVs that use antennae will no longer receive signals. Read more...

Pro-peace, pro-Israel lobbying group J Street has found itself embroiled in a sparring match with the rabbinical leader of Reform Judaism--the largest and left-most sect of mainstream Judaism in North America--over the lobbying group's criticism of Israel's Gaza offensive.

On the first day of Israel's offensive against Hamas, J Street called for a ceasefire coupled with diplomatic intervention by the U.S., circulating an online petition supporting that plan.

In an e-mail to supporters, J Street Online Director Isaac Luria reiterated the point with a tinge of relativism that sparked the ire of Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the synagogue arm of the Reform Movement.

Luria wrote: Read more...

Most of the tax cuts that reportedly make up 40 percent of President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus package won't actually spur economic growth, according to the Club for Growth, a leading D.C.-based group of economic conservatives.

The group issued a statement today supporting Obama's decision to include tax cuts for businesses, but in the same statement it said the rest of Obama's proposed cuts won't do much.

"We are delighted to learn that the President-Elect is proposing to expand the expensing of capital purchases by businesses Read more...

Israel's airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza are detrimental to prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, according to pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying group J Street, which is calling for diplomatic intervention by the U.S. and other nations.

"Respecting Israel Read more...

Leading liberal groups--24 of them--formed a new coalition today to push for passage of an economic stimulus plan, pledging a massive effort that will include field events and an ad campaign. The group includes unions, healthcare action groups, environmental groups, community organizing groups, women's advocacy groups, and progressive political organizations.

The coalition will support "whatever President-elect [Barack] Obama and congressional leaders come up with," Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse told reporters on a conference call this morning. ""This campaign is about getting as many votes in the House and the Senate" as we can, Woodhouse said.

The coalition, dubbed the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now, includes the following liberal and progressive groups: AFSCME, SEIU, AFLCIO, NEA, Americans United for Change, USAction, Campaign for America

Labor unions railed against Senate Republicans today after the proposed auto bailout's failure last night in the upper chamber, accusing the GOP of scapegoating autoworkers in the name of conservative ideology.

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger began the salvo this morning at a news conference on the vote.

"Quite frankly, we wondered if we were being set up," Gettelfinger said, adding that discussions over UAW wages were "just simply subterfuge on the part of the minority in the Republican Party who wanted to tear down any agreement that we come up with."

Gettelfinger accused the Senate GOP caucus of treating unions unfairly by demanding wage cuts as part of legislative negotiations, while leaving the Big Three's corporate fates up to an executive-appointed "car czar." Gettelfinger pointed to a February, 2007 Detroit Free Press story claiming American employees of foreign automakers earn higher wages on average than UAW members. Read more...

Labor coalition Change to Win said this afternoon that it was never approached by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) or his associates about the governor's alleged three-way scheme to obtain a high-paying job within the organization by appointing Valerie Jarrett to President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing after the complaint alleged that Blagojevich met with an SEIU official to discuss Jarrett's potential appointment.

"No one connected with Change to Win ever considered, discussed or promised any position at Change to Win to Governor Blagojevich, his staff or his advisers. In the affidavit released by the United States Attorney, a position at Change to Win is discussed only in conversations between the governor and his advisers," Change to Win Communications Director Greg Denier said in a written statement issued to reporters this afternoon. Read more...

Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), whose committee tomorrow will examine a possible $34 billion bailout of the Big Three U.S. automakers, says the CEOs of the three companies must demonstrate a "commitment to profitability and viability" before his panel if they are to receive federal funds.

Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors submitted proposals to Congress yesterday for how they would increase profitability if the government approves the $34 billion they have requested.

"There is no question that this industry is facing monumental challenges. The failure of any one of these companies could have catastrophic consequences on our nation Read more...