Progressive Caucus Conference Call 9/15/11 - Rep. Keith Ellison

This afternoon at 4PM I was on a conference call with Congressman Keith Ellison, member of the Progressive Caucus.

He stated in the call that he was very grateful for the support and the information we have been sending, he wants us to continue to do so and to send our ideas for job creation programs to:

cpc.grijalva.house.gov

Here are some of the highlights of the call and the areas they would like us to comment on and send suggestions:

Framework: Made in American. Revive mfg in US. Plan for mfg. Reopen factories.

Rebuild America, fiber optics, update grid, roads, bridges, highways, rails, airports.

Recent grads in debt and no prospects.

Lead the green revolution. Pollution, window, appliances, cars, buildings.

Jobs, good jobs. Not minimum wage. Fair wages.

Continue Collective Bargaining. Right to work States not paying as well at all. Businesses keep labor laws.

Taxes. Fair Taxes. Curb Wall Street, Offshore Traders, Speculators.

Take these ideas and put into legislation. Putting together bills reflecting our ideas.

Continued Partnership. Need our help to keep them informed and continue partnership.

Sorry for the start stop, start stop, I was typing while on the call so I wouldn't miss any points.

They then did a q&a:

I asked would the 99ers be included in the training/jobs/stipend program, he said it included all unemployed. He also said he hoped that HR589 would be passed in addition to the Jobs Act.

My suggestion was that a stricter enforcement of discriminating against all the unemployed be enforced and there be a place to call, such as an 800 # set up to lodge complaints, he agreed.

I also asked that since they are specifically targeting types of jobs for immediate hire, would they consider a workforce placement within the states of people like myself, with 38 years of experience, who are constantly being discriminated against due to age, utilizing these people to train and administrate training and placement programs within the states. We have years of experience, have trained and retrained from manual typewriters, telex' to computers to pc's. Who better to teach and cross train than those who have done it for 38 years while technology evolved.

Please all, if you have ideas, send them to the above. Tell your story, list your experience and your skills.

The overriding message he gave all of us: Participate. Get Loud, even if you feel it's a waste of time, according to the Congressman, he's in DC and he sees what our participation is doing and it is helping. Not quickly enough as he admits but it's making a difference. The calls and emails are working. He is a tweeter, but he admits, many have their staffers do the tweeting, he is not sure how many of our tweets actually are seen by the Senate or the Congress themselves.

Please, please, I urge everyone, send your stories, send your emails, call and tweet. Send your suggestions. He kept all of us informed about each state, the types of work they want to do, the bills they want to draft in addition to the Jobs Act.

Great Job Marykay I am tweeting for you. I am up to 830 followers.

thanks getthem. 830, wow. I don't even know how many I have, isn't that awful. I just tweet and call.

Fantastic job Marykay!! You are a great spokesperson and advocate for the unemployed!! Thank you for all you do.

I will tweet too! I have 1300 followers now. lol

Sorry all, the address listed above is not valid. I sent mine using this address:

progressive@mail.house.gov

I am ashamed. I don't think I have anywhere near that many, but I never checked.

Again, please all, send them your ideas, questions and stories.

I just sent them both another link to our site and again, our letter. One thing I can say, they insist that our tweet, emails, faxes and calls are getting us heard.

Here is more info on the CPC. It was posted here earlier this summer before the start of their Jobs Tour during the August recess.

More information about the Congressional Progressive Caucus:
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/

The Progressive Promise:
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=63&sectiontree=2,63

"The People's Budget" (which includes funding for HR 589)
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/files/The_CPC_FY2012_Budget.pdfCaucus

Members
Co-Chairs

Keith Ellison

Raúl Grijalva
Vice Chairs

Tammy Baldwin

Judy Chu

William “Lacy” Clay

Sheila Jackson-Lee

Chellie Pingree
Whip

Hank Johnson
Senate Member

Bernie Sanders
House Members

Karen Bass

Xavier Becerra

Earl Blumenauer

Robert Brady

Corrine Brown

Michael Capuano

Andre Carson

Donna Christensen

Yvette Clarke

Emanuel Cleaver

David Cicilline

Steve Cohen

John Conyers

Elijah Cummings

Danny Davis

Peter DeFazio

Rosa DeLauro

Donna Edwards

Sam Farr

Chaka Fattah

Bob Filner

Barney Frank

Marcia Fudge

Luis Gutierrez

Maurice Hinchey

Mazie Hirono

Michael Honda

Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Eddie Bernice Johnson

Marcy Kaptur

Dennis Kucinich

Barbara Lee

John Lewis

David Loebsack

Ben Ray Lujan

Carolyn Maloney

Ed Markey

Jim McDermott

James McGovern

George Miller

Gwen Moore

Jim Moran

Jerrold Nadler

Eleanor Holmes Norton

John Olver

Frank Pallone

Ed Pastor

Donald Payne

Jared Polis

Charles Rangel

Laura Richardson

Lucille Roybal-Allard

Bobby Rush

Linda Sanchez

Jan Schakowsky

Jose Serrano

Louise Slaughter

Pete Stark

Bennie Thompson

John Tierney

Nydia Velazquez

Maxine Waters

Mel Watt

Peter Welch

Frederica Wilson

Lynn Woolsey

Thank you Desp. for posting this. Please members, get involved.

Per Congressman Ellison, Rep. Jan Schakowsky introduced a bill today for Jobs. She needs our support as well.

I posted this update on tweetdeck. Please help and retweet.

Please all, get involved in this. It's really taking off and is our best chance.

Ed Show is in Ohio tonight. Should be a good one.

Tomorrow, we fight again. Everyone sleep well and join us tomorrow. We need everyone's help.

Please all, keep up the pressure. We need all members to email, call, fax, tweet and scream!!!!!!!

Sent our letter to each member. Will be sending to the Republican's as well.

Please all, as requested, keep sending in your ideas and questions.

Continue to hit the Republican side of the aisle as well as the Dems.

Asking members to help keep this topic bumped. So many of us take the weekend off and I don't want any member to miss this. Thanks.

There is a list of the members above. Please all members, send a tweet, fax, our letter for the 99ers, your story or whatever message you feel comfortable sending. They need to hear from us to keep fighting for us.

I did make some phone calls. Need to do some tweeting. Please join in the fun.