ProgressOhio

As Republican leaders are urging President Obama to scrap the Democrats’ health care reform legislation and start the process from scratch, they’ve found an unlikely ally in Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The Ohio Democrat — a perennial presidential candidate — wants President Obama to consider government-sponsored, single-payer health coverage in lieu of the insurance industry-based reforms being proposed by Democratic leaders.

Congressman  Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to President Obama today commending him for calling for new ideas and a  renewed discussion about health care reform.  Kucinich requested that supporters of Medicare for All be represented at the upcoming February 25 health care summit.

“I hope you will invite a representative of the community that is advocating for the only health care that has consistently proven to address each of the criteria you  have outlined for a satisfactory health care plan: Medicare for All,” wrote Kucinich.

Kucinich, who co-authored HR 676, Medicare for All, with Representative John Conyers (D-MI), further pointed out that many states have embraced a single-payer system of health care. Most recently, the California State Senate passed a single-payer health care bill on January 27, 2010.

Read the full letter here. (pdf)

Poll: Rob Portman ahead in Ohio Senate race, but not by much

Rob Portman, a former GOP congressman who served as budget director under  then-President George W. Bush, holds slight leads over two potential Democratic  opponents in the Ohio Senate race, a new Rasmussen survey shows. But the leads are so slight that they are within the margin of error, so the state remains very much in play for the Democrats.

Ohio is one of four states where the Democrats have a chance to pick up a Republican seat, according to the Cook Political Report. The others are: Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire.

In Ohio, Portman outpolled Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, 43%-39%, and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, 42%-38%. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5%.

Ohio Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce and Attorney General Richard Cordray encouraged members of the Ohio Congressional Delegation to help spread the word to their constituents about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The EITC is a federal, refundable tax credit allowing people earning low to moderate wages to receive a larger share of their income back on their tax refund. However, many Ohioans who qualify for the tax credit are missing out.

“Approximately 800,000 Ohio families qualify for the tax credit, but as many as twenty percent of these families do not take advantage of it because they don’t know about it,” wrote Boyce and Cordray. “As a result, millions of federal dollars that could be injected into Ohio’s economy are going unclaimed.”

As Chair of the Ohio Commission on the EITC, Treasurer Boyce has coordinated with service and community organizations as well as other state agencies to make Ohioans aware of the tax credit. Along with co-chairs Cordray and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, the Treasurer has been working toward his stated goal of ensuring that every Ohioan eligible for the EITC receives it.

“Reaching out to those community organizations, state agencies, and government officials that have daily interactions with Ohioans is the perfect way to make more people across the state aware that they could be receiving potentially thousands of dollars on their federal tax refund,” said Boyce. “This is how we get the most ‘bang for our buck’ in promoting awareness about the EITC.”

For the current taxes, the earned income credit can add up to $5,657 to a refund with three or more qualifying children. Those married, filing jointly would qualify for the EIC with an adjusted gross income of $48,279 or less.

WASHINGTON – Students from Cleveland, Ohio’s Lakewood High School will be among 120 high school students from across the country to attend and participate in a music workshop at the White House hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. 

The workshop is entitled “Music that Inspired the Movement,” and it will take place on Wednesday, February 10th from 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. ET. It will be led by several performers from the 2010 White House Music Series concert “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” which will also take place on Wednesday.

As developed by the Grammy Museum, the students participating in the workshop will learn about the continuing relevance of music from the Civil Rights Movement to today’s generation and its original impact in the 1960s. This event will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov/live.

COLUMBUS, OH – A tax credit passed through the Recovery Act has already provided $125 million to help Ohio manufacturers produce clean energy technologies, but funding for this program is set to expire.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) joined the top executives of seven Ohio companies that have collectively received $125 million in funds through the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit to announce an effort to expand the program. Brown’s plan is aimed at creating more clean energy jobs in Ohio and preventing funds from being used to create jobs overseas.

“Manufacturing means jobs and clean energy represents the future of American manufacturing,” Brown said. “Ohio already has a skilled workforce and a rich manufacturing heritage. By expanding the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, we will help create new jobs and make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing.”

Brown fought to pass $2.3 billion in the Recovery Act for the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Facility Investment Tax Credit. This program provides investment tax credits – that fund up to 30 percent of a project’s costs – to support the development of facilities that manufacture clean energy technology.

In January, seven Ohio companies received a total of nearly $125 million in funds through this program – which is expected to create thousands of jobs across the state. Brown announced plans to expand the program to $5 billion and prevent any funds from being used to create jobs overseas.

Brown is writing to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner today urging them to expand the program to $5 billion and to maximize domestic job creation.

Bank of America Looks Like  First of Many

Michael Collins

"This merger (Bank of America and Merrill Lynch) is a classic example of how the actions of our nation’s largest financial institutions led to the near-collapse of our financial system," said Attorney General Cuomo. "Bank of America, through its top management, engaged in a concerted effort to deceive shareholders and American taxpayers at large. This was an arrogant scheme hatched by the bank’s top executives who believed they could play by their own set of rules. In the end, they committed an enormous fraud and American taxpayers ended up paying billions for Bank of America’s misdeeds." (Image)

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo's complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court, County of New York against the Bank of America and two former top executives has the potential to push that too big to fail entity off the edge of a very steep cliff. The charges of massive fraud are based on a compelling and exhaustive filing on February 4.

A trial will likely involve testimony by the current Bank of America CEO and President Brian Moynihan against defendants Kenneth Lewis, the bank's former CEO and board chairman, former chief financial officer (CFO) Joseph L. Price, and the bank itself. Price is currently in charge of BofA's credit card division.

Yesterday in an interview with Katie Couric broadcast before the Super Bowl, the president announced a bipartisan, bicameral half-day healthcare summit to be held on television (C-SPAN) during which he'll make a very public attempt to talk things over with Republicans and Democrats alike.

The point of this isn't necessarily to start a new bill from scratch, but to kill some of the GOP's biggest lies while keeping Democrats enthused and on board with passing reform in an election year.

“I want to come back [after the Presidents Day congressional recess] and have a large meeting — Republicans and Democrats — to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,” Obama said in an interview with Katie Couric during CBS’s Super Bowl pre-game show Sunday.

Obama said he wants to “look at the Republican ideas that are out there.”

“If we can go, step by step, through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then, procedurally, there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster the process took last year,” he said.

In a statement, the official said, “What the president will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so — but he is going to move forward on health reform.”

The Republicans have demogoged on transparency.  They're about to get what they asked for and in the process have their lies that they have a health care plan that actually accomplishes anything exposed for everyone to see before the House passes the Senate bill with necessary fixes.

Was the Focus on the Family/Tebow ad controversy much ado about nothing? Or did I miss something?

Watch It:

Of Course, those who do go to the website that was advertised get a much longer video that prostylizes about God and Abortion.

Tweet Photo link

Talk about being busted.

Last night while giving her little speech to the tea bagger convention, Sarah Palin is caught reading answers from her palm.

Not only that, but in the same speech she also gets on Obama as a “guy with a teleprompter”. Obama went to the House GOP and answered questions for a over an hour, all without a teleprompter.

Palin walks into her fan club and can’t answer softball questions without writing the answers on her hand?

She needed a cheat sheet to remember "energy", "budget tax cuts"and "lift America"?

Welcome to the world of incompetence.

Huffington Post provides the photo evidence:

Watch The Video:

Sarah Palin Expressing her Inner-8th Grade Cheater in People of Tea Interview?

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) “has put an extraordinary ‘blanket hold’ on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate", according to Talking Points Memo.

The hold means “no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.”

Remember Up or Down Vote?

Senate leaders "should use a parliamentary maneuver to sidestep filibuster rules ‘a lot more," Sen. Sherrod Brown urged Thursday, The Hill reports.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of the more liberal members of the upper chamber, said that many Democratic senators are urging leadership to use the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority to pass legislation, on more initiatives.

"I agree with that," Brown said during an appearance on MSNBC when pressed by host Ed Schultz on whether the 59-vote Democratic majority should use reconciliation more.

"As much as we can pass with a majority vote, we do," he said, later adding: "A lot of us are urging our leadership on that."

The proposed constitutional amendment that would require minimum standards for housing Ohio farm animals has passed a preliminary hurdle.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray approved a written summary of the amendment Friday in a step needed before petition signatures can be gathered toward getting the measure on the ballot.

Cordray says the summary is a fair and truthful statement about the proposed amendment, which would require a state board to prevent the cruel and inhumane treatment of farm animals.

Cordray's approval means the Humane Society of the United States can submit the petition to the Ohio Ballot Board. If the petition includes at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters gathered from 44 of 88 counties, backers will be permitted to circulate a full petition to gather the needed 402,275 valid signatures of registered voters to place the issue on the November ballot.

The potential vote sets up a fight between the agriculture industry and animal rights activists intent on outlawing what they say are cramped cages for chickens and hogs.

Ohioans for Humane Farms is a coalition of animal welfare, family farming, food safety, and environmental advocates.

We’re spearheading a grassroots campaign to place a citizen-sponsored measure on Ohio’s November 2010 ballot that will allow our state’s voters to provide guidance to the newly enacted Livestock Board and set certain minimum humane standards that will prevent cruel factory farming practices in Ohio.

Please sign-up to join the campaign!

Thanks for your help to protect farm animals.

Please visit OhioHumane.com to sign up to help.

Ohioans For Humane Farms on FaceBook.

You can read our full petition here (pdf).

We need your help gathering signatures!

With more than 600,000 signatures needed to get on the November ballot, we need a lot of volunteers. While our opposition will have big agribusiness contributors, we're relying on you—our supporters—to help us get there.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) announcement that the House will pass legislation repealing health insurers’ exemption from federal anti-trust legislation, elicited a standing ovation this morning at the Democratic National Committee’s Winter Meeting. Language removing the exemption was originally part of the House health care bill and Pelosi hopes that passing the provision separately would recommit the party to health care and narrow the differences with the Senate bill, which did not include the repeal.

“It is time for us to end the unfair advantage insurance companies have over American families an that is why next week the House will act to repeal the special anti-trust exemption for health insurance companies,” Pelosi said.

Watch it:

WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama said that America’s small businesses are key to rebuilding the economy on a new, stronger foundation and creating jobs.

He called on Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass – without delay – a series of proposals that will help American small businesses thrive. 

These proposals include using $30 billion in TARP funds to create a new Small Business Lending Fund to provide capital to community banks to increase lending to small businesses, offering a new tax credit for over one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages, and providing targeted support for the most innovative small businesses with the potential to export new goods and products.

Watch It:

Full Transcript of the President's Remarks Below:

Ohio Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce announced the start of his 2010 campaign for Treasurer on Monday February 1st.  

Today, 4 days later, he filed nearly 3.000  Declaration of Candidacy Petitions with The Secretary of State's office to run for Ohio Treasurer in 2010 .

Boyce currently serves as Ohio’s 47th Treasurer of State.  He took office on January 7, 2009.

As the state’s banker, he manages $150 billion in financial assets, including an investment portfolio of more than $15 billion.

More Images Here

Kevin was kind enough to answer a few questions for us after he filed his candidacy petitions.

Watch It:

On February 4th, the House passed the Senate amendments to H.J.Res. 45, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act 2009. By restoring ‘pay-as-you-go' (PAYGO) budget discipline -- which has been the rule of the House since Democrats took control in 2007 -- as the law of the land, we are returning to the basic rule for every family budget: you don't spend money you don't have.

This bill requires Congress to offset the costs of tax cuts or increases in entitlement spending with savings elsewhere in the budget, except for a few items extending current law. 

If the net effect of all legislation enacted during a session of Congress increased the deficit, there would be an across-the-board reduction in certain mandatory programs. 

After years of fiscal recklessness by President Bush and Republicans, President Obama and Congress are committed to getting our budget under control – a crucial part of our plan to strengthen the American economy:

This measure is similar to the bipartisan PAYGO law in place in the 1990s, which helped reverse huge deficits of the Reagan-Bush years, create budget surpluses, and produce an economic boom: