This message comes from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lee A. Saunders.

Click here for a state-by-state breakdown of the impact this funding will have during the 2011 fiscal year.
(Courtesy FFIS Federal Funds Information for States)

Today, the U.S. Senate took a bold step forward in the effort to protect jobs and bolster America’s economic recovery. The Senate, by a 61 to 38 margin, overcame the filibuster opposing H.R. 1586, which provides significant aid to states and school districts.

This is an enormous step in the right direction for AFSCME members fighting to protect our jobs. And at the end of the day, all Democratic senators voted to protect those very jobs. And with two courageous exceptions, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Republican senators voted to lay off thousands of public employees.

Over the last several months, AFSCME members like you have called, e-mailed, and faxed your senators — and recruited your friends and co-workers around the country to secure this victory.  You urged the Senate to do the right thing and avoid prolonging the economic crisis that confronts public service workers in every community in this country. And your voice — along with thousands of other AFSCME members — was heard in Washington, DC.

Because of your ongoing actions we were able to move this critically important bill forward. Under the leadership of Sen. Harry Reid and with the persistence of Senate Democrats and you, the Senate has thrown a lifeline to millions of Americans who are being hit hard by the worst economy since the Great Depression.

The Republican filibuster was our biggest obstacle. But, we still face a vote in the House and we will need your help to ensure victory there. As we look to the elections, Americans have a clear choice: Democrats who will do what it takes to save and create jobs and get our economy moving, or Republicans who are all too willing to watch the economy stall for their political gain.

Thanks again for all that you’ve done to help pass this critical bill and save more than 900,000 public and private sector jobs. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on what’s next.

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee is cross-posted from Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

Earlier this year, Democrats in the Senate tried three times to pass legislation that would help states deal with growing Medicaid rolls, the joint federal-state health care program for the poor. Each effort has failed in the face of united Republican obstructionism. Earlier this month, The Washington Post explained clearly why this legislation should pass:

“States are staggering under the impact of the economic slump, with revenue down and demand for social services up. Some 30 states were counting on the Medicaid money to balance their budgets, as required by law. The other cuts they would be forced to make if the Medicaid funds are not forthcoming would further slow the economic recovery. Passing this package is the right thing to do, and fiscally prudent too.”

The failure to pass this help for states, experts agree, will cause as many as a million additional job losses in both the private and the public sectors. Yet Senate Republicans continue to block passage.

Now, thanks to the leadership of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate has one more chance to do the right thing and protect nearly a million more jobs from going down the drain. Later today, the U.S. Senate has scheduled a cloture vote on a bill – H.R. 1586 – that will provide $26 billion in funding to help states deal with their budget shortfalls, bolster Medicaid and fund education jobs. But it’s up to us to win it. The Republican congressional leadership has made their strategy clear – they will say no at all costs.

This funding is fully paid for, so it is simply false for opponents to say that passage would increase the deficit. However I would be remiss if I didn’t note that a part of the funding comes from a cut in future Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamp) benefits. However, it does not take effect until 2015, which gives us plenty of time to mobilize to make sure the cut never happens.

Yet, Republican opposition to the help for the states and the education money – even if it’s paid for – intensifies as we inch closer toward November. Quite frankly, it looks clear to many that Republican leaders are doing everything they can to bring down the economy for political gain.

They think they will benefit on Election Day if more Americans lose their jobs and unemployment grows. It’s in keeping with their leader Rush Limbaugh’s professed goal in the early days of the Obama administration: “I want him to fail.” Far too many GOP legislators are taking their cues from extremists on the right, and not listening to the message that voters are sending – it’s time to end the partisanship and look out for the interest of the American people.

By a margin of more than 2 to 1, Americans believe that saving and creating jobs is more important than reducing the federal deficit to move our economy forward. Considering how tone-deaf Washington has become on jobs, it’s no wonder Americans are gloomy about the nation’s economic recovery. Republican senators need to make a choice: Are they going to continue to obstruct, or will they stand with American families who want our economy to grow and want to put people back to work?

If we fail to break the Republicans legislative lockdown today, there should be no doubt that there will be more pain for working families, more debt and a prolonged recession. Every senator needs to know that it’s time to stop the obstruction. It’s time to protect American jobs.

If you care about the future of our economy and the jobs of nearly a million Americans, call your senators immediately and tell them to vote yes on cloture.

You can click on this link to make the call. Let me know that you’ve done it. It’s time to get our economy and our country working again.

A new poll out Thursday from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that a consistent 50 percent of the public supports the health care reform law passed this year while opposition to the law is down to just 35 percent this month.

It’s great news that more people are coming to understand how they, their families and the nation will benefit from health care reform.

Views on Health Reform Law: Over Time (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Unfortunately, the poll showed that Americans, especially senior citizens, continue to have an incomplete understanding of what the health care overhaul means to them. Half of seniors know that health care reform will gradually close the Medicare donut hole that leaves many without coverage for their prescription drugs. Only a third understand that reform will eliminate Medicare’s co-pays and deductibles for some preventive services.

Worst of all, according to the poll, more than a third of senior citizens (36 percent) wrongly think that health care reform will “allow a government panel to make decisions about end-of-life care for people on Medicare.” Those misunderstandings are due, in part, to a misinformation campaign by opponents of reform.

AFSCME is educating its members and the public about the positive impact that the health care overhaul will have on skyrocketing costs and reining in insurance company abuses. We have created an online education program and a series of materials to show how the new reforms in health care will affect Americans in every walk of life.

AFSCME members worked hard to make health care reform the law of the land. We’re dedicated to helping our members and the public understand how positive reform will be for their lives.

This full-page ad is running in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

This week, the National Conference of State Legislators is holding a legislative summit in Louisville, KY, to discuss issues important to state legislatures in the midst of record budget shortfalls across the country.

Scheduled to address the conference today is none other than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate and the chief architect of a strategy to block critically needed federal aid for states, putting the national economic recovery at risk by forcing layoffs of thousands of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to hold McConnell accountable.

AFSCME is running a full-page ad in today’s Louisville Courier-Journal highlighting editorials from around the country calling on Congress to approve badly-needed federal aid for cash-strapped states.

We’re also projecting a giant video on buildings in downtown Louisville near the NCSL meeting to call out McConnell for his efforts to block the aid, force layoffs and stall the national economy for political gain. Politico’s Mike Allen called it the “ad of the day” in today’s Playbook, and CNN’s Political Ticker notes the ad targets McConnell on his “home turf”.

See the larger-than-life message to McConnell and the Republicans here:

Over 2,000 online progressives are gathering in Las Vegas this week for the 2010 Netroots Nation conference, and AFSCME will be there. The annual event, held this year July 22-25, brings together political powerhouses like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and progressives from across the country for workshops, panels and speaking events.

Don’t miss AFSCME’s contribution to the opening keynote program being held on Thursday, July 22 from 7-9pm featuring Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Also scheduled to appear are MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, among others.

On Friday night, join us at McFadden’s Bar in the Rio Hotel as AFSCME hosts Chairman’s Quiz Night starting at 7pm — your chance to dazzle everyone with your knowledge of all things political.

Learn about the perils of privatization during the “Pay More, Get Less” panel being held on Saturday at 1:45pm in Brasilia 2. AFSCME’s Research Director Kerry Korpi (who you’ll remember from her recent appearance on CNBC) will discuss the high cost of handing over core government functions to big business.

Also on Saturday afternoon, we hope you’ll join us for the Labor Caucus from 4:00-5:15pm in Miranda 5 where attendees will focus on issues affecting our work as labor communicators — how we can improve what we do and effectively reach union members and the public.

In between panels, keynotes and events, visit the AFSCME booth (#808) in the exhibit hall where we will be giving away prizes including USB drives and computer bags. You can also enter a raffle to win $250 in hotel gift card.

And be sure to visit the AFL-CIO/Working America booth as well where you can “Raise a Glass for the Working Class” — visitors who take an action on behalf of working families will be invited back to attend a union beer tasting during happy hours on Thursday and Friday evenings.

Can’t make it to Las Vegas? You can follow the conference at home via Twitter (the Netroots Nation 2010 hashtag is #NN10) and streaming online video. In addition, some sessions will be carried live by C-SPAN. We’ll be providing coverage as well, on this blog as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

For more agenda highlights and Netroots Nation coverage, check out the AFL-CIO blog.

Wednesday morning on the Bill Press Radio Show, AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee talked P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S during a segment covering topics ranging from the extension of unemployment benefits, legislation to give public safety workers the right to collective bargaining, and the very urgent need for Congress to pass federal aid to states.

When it comes right down to it, said McEntee, while the Republicans have been “recalcitrant” and have done their best to block every attempt to get the economy back on track, the Democrats and Pres. Obama need to do a lot more to fight for working families.

Pres. McEntee said the AFSCME members he spoke with during the union’s 39th International Convention earlier this month were distressed, discouraged and angry about what’s happening — or not happening — in Washington, and he predicted it could have an impact on the upcoming midterm elections.

Bill Press: Do you think the base is going to be there?
Pres. McEntee: Right now? No.

Listen here (9 min. 21 sec.):

Update: on her blog, Digby says Pres. McEntee has “sounded a frightening alarm” and asks: Is unemployment about to go back up?

“Organized labor built this country, organized labor can save this country,” progressive talk radio and television host Ed Schultz said Thursday during a program on political achievement. “The country is on your shoulders!” Schultz, as emcee, introduced three AFSCME members who related their successes, including the defeat of a ballot referendum to consolidate public services with another town.

Ken Fortier, a recycling truck driver for the Village of Johnson City, N.Y., and president of Local 3718 (District Council 66), said the union’s 39 members led a coalition that included police and firefighters to stop the measure. Their contract – and almost 100 jobs – was on the line. They succeeded: The measure was defeated by just one vote.

Robin Edwards, president of Child Care Providers Together Michigan/AFSCME Local 3051 (a joint venture between Council 25 and the United Auto Workers), told the story of 40,000 home-based child care providers who won the right to organize – and later a first contract – by helping to re-elect Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) in 2006.

Passing the “Fair Share Act” was the goal of AFSCME Maryland, said Sheila Hill, a corrections officer at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup, Md., and president of Local 1319. Their efforts, including lobbying and a State House rally, paid off: The bill passed by overwhelming margins and became law last year. The program was preceded by political analyst Donna Brazile, who reminded AFSCME members of the battle that lies ahead in the mid-term elections.

“AFSCME is the Green Machine for a reason,” Brazile said. “You don’t wait for politicians, you lead the fight and you’re going to draw a line in November.”

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post’s Plum Line has the scoop on a new ad from AFSCME in the Arkansas U.S. Senate contest between Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter.

It throws a whole fusillade of charges at Lincoln, even ridiculing her recent election-day snafu, in which her campaign forgot she’d requested an absentee ballot for herself.

Calling the spot “a very aggressive ad blasting Lincoln on multiple fronts,” Sargent reports the ad is backed by an an $855,000 buy and will run between now and the June 8th runoff.

Here’s the voiceover from the ad courtesy of MSNBC’s First Read:

When Blanche Lincoln moved her family full time to Washington, D.C., she quickly became part of the place. And that’s the problem.

She was on the move all right, cozying up to the lobbyists, their big money and influence — Goldman Sachs and the other Wall Street banks, big insurance companies like Blue Cross, big oil insiders — BP, Texaco, Amoco and the like. She took their money, did their bidding, moved up — the Washington way. Then voted to send our good-paying Arkansas jobs to places like China and Mexico, used our money to bail out her Wall Street buddies.

The more Blanche Lincoln voted with the Washington insiders, the further she moved away from us. How far away? Just days ago, she didn’t cast a ballot in Arkansas because she’d already asked to vote absentee — in Virginia. Hmmpf.

Blanche Lincoln packed up and left us years ago. Maybe it’s time to send her packing for good.

More from Ben Smith at POLITICO.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (photo by Beth Van de Bussche)

This post comes courtesy of Union City! from the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO.

Just in case any of the assembled USDA workers had any lingering doubts about whose side he was on, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack played his trump card at yesterday’s Employee Listening Session.

“I just want all the AFSCME members here to know that I’m a lifetime AFSCME member,” Vilsack announced, pulling his union card out of his pocket to prove it.

“It was a great session,” AFSCME Council 26 organizer Beth Van de Bussche told Union City. “USDA workers had a chance to speak directly to higher-ups and tell them what they thought would make the agency a better place to work, how to improve recruitment and retention as well as effectively serving the public and community outreach.”

The session’s main topic was “The Cultural Transformation of USDA.”

Just because President Obama has signed health care reform into law doesn’t mean the falsehoods, distortions and misleading rumors about what’s contained in the legislation have stopped. Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic points out one such rumor that just won’t go away:

If health care reform is so good, why are politicians exempting themselves from it?

It’s a powerful talking point that gets repeated over and over by Republican leaders, on cable news shows and spread via email and online message boards. But it’s not true.

The fact of the matter is, under the new law, members of Congress and their staffs are required to enroll in the insurance exchanges which millions of individual Americans will be enrolling in to buy their coverage.

Cohn points out that it was Republicans who introduced amendments to the legislation requiring lawmakers and staff to enroll in exchanges as part of an effort to make Democrats look bad. But not only did reform advocates accept the change, they embraced it.

[T]he members themselves and the people who work directly for them are all covered. And, far from pointing out the problems of reform, it demonstrates its virtues: The politicians believe in it enough to entrust their own lives, and those of their families, to the new system.

By the way, as part of their “Health Insurance Reform Reality Check” campaign, the White House set the record straight on this very issue back in August 2009 with a video message titled “Congress did not vote to exempt themselves from reform”:

This is just one of many examples of the types of falsehoods being spread about health care reform, and it’s our responsibility as American citizens to stop these sorts of false rumors and get the facts about what’s really in the law.

Learn what health reform means to you by visiting whitehouse.gov and by downloading this flyer prepared for AFSCME members.