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December 7th, 2011

Now is Not the Time to Cut Unemployment Benefits

Protection for the millions of unemployed Americans is needed now more than ever. Cuts in unemployment insurance hurt our economic recovery and can have dire effects on families.

Unemployment benefits prevented nearly 3.2 million Americans from falling into poverty in 2010. Unemployment insurance not only assists jobless workers and their families, but also boosts demand in the economy and creates jobs which aid the economic recovery.

Federal unemployment insurance is set to expire at the end of this year. If Congress does not act to continue these benefits, more than two million unemployed American workers will lose their benefits by February. In Illinois, this would affect more than 100,000 unemployed workers.

Now is the time to urge lawmakers to continue unemployment insurance for an additional year. Please take a moment to send a letter to your Members of Congress (courtesy of the Half in Ten campaign) asking them to extend unemployment benefits to the millions of workers who are currently unemployed and failing to do so will put our economy at risk of a much slower recovery.

For more information on the effects of cutting unemployment benefits, please visit the Half in Ten campaign’s website or contact CJC’s Director of Government Relations, Dan Lyonsmith at dan@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 x301.

Please forward this to all of your networks and TAKE ACTION now! Thank you!

October 13th, 2011

Congress Must Reject Further Workforce Cuts in FY 2012

Federal workforce programs are under attack and lawmakers need to hear from you, and all those in the workforce development field, today.

Urge your Members of Congress to reject further cuts to federal training and education programs by sending a letter, courtesy of the National Skills Coalition. They need to know that investments in services and activities that will help America get back to work must be included in final FY 2012 appropriations bills.

Workforce programs saw more than $1 billion in cuts in FY 2011. Additional cuts, such as the released draft from the House appropriations committee on the FY 2012 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, would:

• Damage the nation’s already weak workforce investment system with cuts, including a $2.4 billion cut from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) system and other Department of Labor training programs

• Radically restructure the Pell Grant program, blocking approximately half a million low-income students from receiving awards next year, while cutting Pell Grant funding about $44 billion over the next ten years

Join the National Skills Coalition and others in the workforce development field in contacting Congress today. Tell them that these proposed cuts would devastate communities across the nation, many already suffering in the current economic climate.

For more information, visit the National Skills Coalition’s website or contact CJC’s Director of Government Relations, Dan Lyonsmith at dan@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 x301.

Please forward this to all your networks and tell them to TAKE ACTION now! Thank you!

May 27th, 2011

CALL TODAY! Tell Lawmakers that State Budget Cuts CAN Be Minimized

The Illinois Senate has agreed to use an unnecessarily low revenue estimate in current budget negotiations, choosing to cut an extra $1.1 billion from their version of the budget to meet the House’s lower revenue estimate. This is a big step in the wrong direction, forcing cuts that could be avoided with reasonable revenue options, including:

• USING the more accurate revenue projections originally adopted by the Senate
• Limiting the amount of money “transferred out” of the general revenue fund and used for other purposes
• “De-coupling” Illinois from the federal tax depreciation schedule (would save $600 million)
• Restructuring the state’s debt to pay vendors and reduce the interest owed.

More details on these and other options can be found here.

Final budget decisions are being made NOW, and lawmakers need to be reminded that these revenue options should not be ignored at the cost of cutting essential services for those in need.

Legislators need to hear from you today!. You don’t need to cover the details of the various revenue plans; just tell them:

• They must take advantage of any and all ideas to maximize revenue before finalizing the state budget.
• If they don’t they are making harmful and, even worse, unnecessary cuts!

Help stave off these drastic cuts! Call your state representative and state senator today!

Please contact Jennifer Becker Mouhcine at jmouhcine@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 X301 for more information.

May 16th, 2011

Ask Senators to Vote YES for Subsidized Employment!

HB 2927 creates a state subsidized employment program through the Illinois Emergency Development Act. The proposal provides a temporary, partial wage/benefit subsidy to employers to hire people who are unemployed and resources for supportive services, including child care and job search assistance.

The bill successfully passed out of the Illinois Senate Labor Committee last week, after receiving unanimous support in the Illinois House of Representatives. The full Senate will be voting on the bill shortly, and Senators need to hear from you about its merits.

Please call your state senator today to voice your support for subsidized employment and ask them to support HB 2927 when it is called for a vote .

Tell them this bill:

• Supports job growth, gets people back to work and stimulates the economy.
• Meets the demand of businesses and workers, as evidenced by Illinois’ recent experience with Put Illinois to Work where the vast majority of businesses would participate again, and worker demand exceeded supply.
• Accelerates economic development by encouraging business expansion while covering some workforce costs.
• Will have a good return on investment. Subsidized programs put wages in the hands of those who will in turn spend money in their local economies, and support business growth around the state.
• Would benefit your business and/or those you serve. Tell them how adding jobs will impact your community.
• Is linked to the 21st Century Workforce Development Fund, creating the potential for the program to be supported with Federal and other “non-state” resources.

Click here for a fact sheet on HB 2927.

Thank you to those of you who have already contacted your elected officials in support of this bill.

Please contact Jennifer Becker Mouhcine at jmouhcine@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 X301 or Steve Simmons at steve@cjc.net and 312-252-0435 for more information.

April  21

“Spending Caps” Means Cutting Federal Funding for Social, Workforce and Education Programs

The federal budget debates are intensifying as Congress crafts the FY2012 budget and talks about the “debt ceiling” and “spending caps”. While “spending caps” sound reasonable they are cause for grave concern as they will force deep and harmful cuts for years to come.

You need to weigh in on these issues NOW because those who want to drastically reduce federal spending are using decisions about the “debt ceiling” to create “spending caps” that would undo decades’ worth of anti-poverty efforts and unravel federal social, workforce and education programs.

We have already seen what will happen with the first drastic and ill-conceived deficit-reduction proposal from the U.S House of Representatives in its FY12 budget resolution—fully two-thirds of the total reductions come from programs that assist low- and moderate-income individuals. And the proposal sets the U.S. on a budget path that would eliminate most of the federal government by 2050—only Social Security, health care programs and defense would continue. Passage of “spending caps” like those currently proposed will inevitably bring about the same level of cuts as if U.S. House budget resolution became law.

Lawmakers must hear from you about the damage that would be done to your community and to those you serve if they have to make spending cuts to comply with the kind of “deficit reduction” and “spending caps” proposals they are considering.

Congress is on recess until May 2nd. Please Call your U.S Representative, Senator Kirk, and Senator Durbin or visit them at their district office to make your voice heard. Urge them to:

• Oppose spending caps because they will: harm to low and moderate income families; destroy the social safety net; and dangerously weaken the capacity of the federal government to protect and expand economic security.
• Oppose dramatic cuts to training and education programs proposed under the House resolution;
• Commit to a final FY 2012 budget that invests in job training and education to accelerate economic recovery and contribute to long-term fiscal health.

For more information about how workforce programs fared in the FY 2011 budget and under new proposals, click here.

For further analysis about the U.S. House proposal and information on deficit reduction measures, click here.

For help in crafting messages for your elected officials, contact Jennifer Becker Mouhcine at jmouhcine@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 X301

April 11th, 2011

Critical Time to Contact State Lawmakers

Legislators are considering which programs to cut and which to fund in next year’s state budget. Over the last few weeks they held hearings about proposed state agency spending and now they need to hear from you about the priorities for next year’s budget before they make their decisions in early May.

The Governor has already proposed damaging cuts including: Employment & Training services for recipients of public benefits & food stamps – cut 50% ; Child Care – cut 37%; Homelessness Prevention – cut 58%; Mental Health grants -cut 23%; and the list goes on.

But, the final budget is extremely likely to include more reductions because the General Assembly is operating under mandatory, insufficient spending limits, at levels even lower that what the Governor proposed.

Right now your legislators are home in their district, so take a few minutes today to call your state senator and representative and tell them:

Keep Illinois on track for economic recovery, by investing wisely to support employment and jobs. We urge you to:

• Support increased investments in job training
• Reject proposed cuts to employment and training programs—do NOT accept the proposed 50% reduction to employment programs for adults in the TANF and SNAP programs.
• Reject proposed cuts to supportive programs that keep people working—such as child care programs, housing assistance and mental health services.
• Invest in job creation measures that directly result in employment for the unemployed, such as HB 2927.
• Adopt all of the reasonable ideas available to avoid unnecessary cuts and agree to use the Senate’s bi-partisan revenue estimate as a start.

For assistance with educating legislators, please contact Jennifer Becker Mouhcine at jmouhcine@cjc.net and 312-252-0460 X301 for more information.