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It's time to put health care to a vote

"The truth is, we have debated health care in Washington not just this past year.  We've been debating it for 70 years. Harry Truman was pushing health care reform!"

- President Barack Obama, 3/10/2010

We can't leave the future of our health care system in the hands of insurers like Anthem.

Tell Congress: It's time to put health care reform to a vote -- and pass it.

If we do nothing, insurance premiums will keep growing at four times the rate of wages. Employer health care costs will continue to crush job creation, and long-term deficits will reach the stratosphere.

There's no reason to wait.

Petition Text Dear Representative,

If Congress waits to pass health care reform, insurance premiums will keep growing at four times the rate of wages. Employer health care costs will continue to crush job creation, and long-term deficits will reach the stratosphere.

Why wait to empower state and federal governments to prevent excessive, unjustified rate hikes? Why wait to cut costs and improve quality? Why wait to end pre-existing condition denials?

There's no reason to wait.

Please stand up to the health insurance companies and pass health care reform now, before it is too late.

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The Great Corporate Tax Dodge

 

* AIG

* American Express

* Bank of America

* Comcast

* Coca-Cola

* Dell

* ExxonMobil

* Home Depot

* Pepsi

* Pfizer


Of the ten companies listed above, only Home Depot has not set up an offshore subsidiary to avoid paying its taxes.

They are truly in the minority. In all, 83 of the 100 biggest corporations in America have set up offshore tax shelters, costing the rest of us as much as $100 billion a year!  

President Obama has proposed a budget that invests in many of America's priorities, which includes education, health care, modern infrastructure and middle-class tax relief. His budget will also close the loopholes that allow corporations to set up offshore tax havens, and now it’s in the hands of Congress.

Please sign our Tax Day Declaration telling Congress to close these loopholes.

TAX DAY DECLARATION

Dear Congress:

As taxpayers, we foot the bill when large corporations skip out on their taxes by setting up offshore havens in places like the Cayman Islands.

This tax day, we’re saying, “No more!”

The president has proposed a budget that will close corporate tax havens. The budget is now in your hands, and we call upon you to close these offshore tax havens once and for all.

 

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Stop the Ticketmaster merger

Ticketmaster wants to merge with Live Nation (Ticketmaster's leading competitor), meaning that most of the tickets we could buy would be coming from the new mega-ticket conglomerate.

Ticketmaster already adds around 30% to the cost of a ticket in junk fees. And from past experience we know that the less competition, the worse these guys get with their handling, processes and other nonsense fees.

Help us stand up to the merger.  Please use the form below to send a message to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney, head of the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice.  If you can, please add any personal experience you have had with over-priced tickets, or an inability to purchase tickets from alternative vendors.

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They're raising your taxes by $538

Did you know that more than 80 percent of America's biggest banks and corporations, including some of those we bailed out, don't pay their taxes?

Instead, they park their money in offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands. As a result, the average Rhode Island household, a.k.a. you and me, is paying $538 a year to cover for $100 billion they don't pay.

Why should we have to pick up the tab for tax dodgers? Sign our Tax Day Declaration and tell Congress to close the corporate tax loopholes.

Petition Text

TAX DAY DECLARATION

Dear Member of Congress:

When large corporations skip out on their taxes by moving their “headquarters” to tax havens like the Cayman Islands or shifting profits overseas, we the taxpayers are the ones who pick up the tab.

Why should we have to cover the tax burden of tax-dodging banks and corporations?

Your colleagues, Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, have introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act -- S. 506 and H.R. 1265 -- to crack down on corporations that use tax havens. We call upon you to support this measure. The time for reform is now!

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Safe Food, Healthy Kids

Petition Text
Dear USDA Secretary Vilsack,

More than 23,000 kids got sick from food served in schools between 1998 and 2007. We should make sure that our kids are getting safe, healthy food in school by:

· Requiring meat inspections before the meat is ground.

· Adopting science-based safety standards for all school lunch meat.

· Notifying schools directly about recalls, and creating a national database to help school officials avoid food companies with a history of safety problems.
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Stop our tax dollars from subsidizing the BP spill

BP announced $6.1 billion profits in April for its first quarter -- double last year's number and roughly six times the amount it has spent on the cleanup so far. 

Over the next ten years, the oil and gas industry will receive $40 billion in subsidies -- courtesy of the American taxpayer.

By improving the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can stop sending our tax dollars to subsidize Big Oil's mistakes.

The Senate votes this week, and we are working with our federation to gather signatures from Americans across the country, demanding that Sen. Reid hold BP accountable.

Sign the petition below to make sure that BP is paying for spill clean up.

Petition Text

Dear Senator,

I don't want my tax dollars going to big oil companies. There's no better time than now to end corporate welfare to companies that make huge profits and huge mistakes. We urge you to address this injustice in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.

Sincerely,

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