Pelosi Reiterates Call For GOP To Cancel Recess

By Gabriella Landeros

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reiterated her call on Speaker of the House John Boehner (R- Ohio) Thursday to cancel next week’s congressional recess in order to focus on legislation pertaining to student loan rates and highway funding.

“Don’t run out the clock on the economy,” Pelosi said during a press conference.

Citing the need to restore middle class stability and prosperity, Pelosi said that Congress should work around the clock to ensure the bills move forward.

Pelosi drew closer attention to the transportation bill, primarily that it holds support from both Republicans and Democrats, can save more than two million jobs and will ultimately help one of the hardest hit industries of the recession– construction.

Read the original article on the Talk Radio News Service site.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. Pushes New Minimum Wage Legislation

By Gabriella Landeros and Luke Vargas

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-III) made the case for an immediate increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.00 an hour during a press conference on the Hill Wednesday.

If passed, the “Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012″ would be the first law focused on increasing the minimum wage since the Fair Minimum Wage Act was enacted in 2007,  raising the wage to $7.25. The thrust of Jackson’s bill – and the origin of its name – is to return to a time when inflation and purchasing power were adequately accounted for in minimum wage calculations, and Americans were making enough to make ends meet and support family households. Although the federal minimum wage hovered at $1.60 in 1968, that year’s rate remains the highest on record in inflation-adjusted terms, and would be the equivalent of $10.04 in 2010 dollars.

According to Jackson, “The bill will affect more than 30 million workers and give the economy an immediate boost by significantly increasing the economy’s number one problem…aggregate demand.”

Joining Rep. Jackson were Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Robert Wiseman of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, and activist Ralph Nader. Nader noted that at a time when there are few unifying political issues, raising the minimum wage is something that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

“I don’t think a conservative Republican worker at Walmart making $7.75 an hour will say that their ideology prevents them from supporting a $10.00 minimum wage,” said Nader.

The most recent attempt to introduce minimum wage legislation was included in the “Rebuild America Act” sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Bruce Braley (D-IA) in March. The bill was referred to committee on May 10, 2012, but due to provisions for infrastructural investment and the implementation of the “Buffet Rule” on high-income taxpayers the bill is likely to face stiff Republican opposition in Congress.

Read the original article on the Talk Radio News Service site.

Actress America Ferrera Promoting The Power Of The Latino Vote

By Gabriella Landeros

During a press conference on Capitol Hill, Actress America Ferrera and Co-Founder and President of Voto Latino Maria Teresa Kumar  introduced the “America4America” campaign, an online and offline effort to promote the importance of the American Latino vote across the U.S. through media and civic engagement.

“I’ve been on the ground in Alabama and in Arizona, where laws are pushing our communities into the shadows. Campaigns are marginalizing us, leading many Americans feeling demoralized and defeated, and ‘America4America’ is a campaign to empower every single American voter, with a truth about their own goal in our democracy,” Ferrera said. “That’s a role that is a right, that is invaluable, and it is a right that I’m fighting to protect and to promote, and to make absolutely clear that it belongs to each and every one of us.”

When asked what specific issues she has seen in her hometown that is affecting the Latino community, Ferrera stated, “What’s really striking, is what’s happening in the public school system. I think that the Latino community has a lot to lose when the school systems in California not being properly funded and very important programs in early education and adults continuing education is not made a priority, our community has a lot to lose from that.”

Read the original article on the Talk Radio News Service site.