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ISSUE SPOTLIGHT: Equal Pay Day
President Obama, in his Equal Pay Day proclamation, explained:
“Women — who make up nearly half of our Nation’s workforce — face a pay gap that means they earn 23 percent less on average than men do. That disparity is even greater for African-American women and Latinas. On National Equal Pay Day, we recognize this injustice by marking how far into the new year women have to work just to make what men did in the previous one.”
Equal Pay Day
On this Equal Pay Day, April 9, 2013, POPVOX is spotlighting a variety of bills related to women’s wages. Weigh in on these bills on POPVOX and share with your friends and networks.
- S 84 Paycheck Fairness Act: Amends the portion of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) known as the Equal Pay Act to revise remedies for, enforcement of, and exceptions to prohibitions against sex discrimination in the payment of wages. (And HR 377.)
- S 168 Fair Pay Act: to prohibit discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex, race, or national origin. (And HR 438.)
- HR 951Women and Workforce Investment for Nontraditional Jobs: To promote the economic self-sufficiency of low-income women through their increased participation in high-wage, high-demand occupations where they currently represent 25 percent or less of the workforce.
- HR 1010Fair Minimum Wage Act: To provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2015, in three steps of 95 cents each. (And S 460.)
- HR 650WAGES Act: To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to establish a base minimum wage for tipped employees.
- HR 229Original Living American Wage (LAW) Act: To provide for the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Federal poverty threshold for a family of 2, as determined by the Bureau of the Census.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system.
Outstanding student loan debt in the United States topped $1 trillion in 2011, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of that debt, $864 billion was from the federal government and approximately $150 billion was private student loan debt. Nearly 40 million people carry student loan debt nationally, with an average balance of $25,000.
While not everyone has student loan debt, it does have staggering effects on the economy. According to the New York Federal Reserve, the high levels of student debt is preventing the richest crop of potential buyers — young college graduates — from purchasing homes. Weigh in on these bills related to student loans and POPVOX will deliver your message to Congress,
A new issue topped the list of priorities among POPVOX users this week: whether the federal prohibition of marijuana should end. More than 3,200 people weighed in on the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act (HR 499) — overwhelmingly in support of legalizing marijuana. You can read their stories and weigh in yourself and POPVOX will deliver your message directly to Congress, guaranteed.
This isn’t the first time that lawmakers have considered sweeping immigration reform. Here’s a look at the history of immigration reform in the recent decades.
Issue Spotlight: Immigration
Here are some bills introduced in Congress related to immigration reform. Weigh in and POPVOX will deliver your message to your Members of Congress. (Bills listed chronologically, in order of introduction date.)
- Framework Senate Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A bipartisan group of Senators have proposed a comprehensive set of immigration reform principles, which include giving immigrants a path to citizenship, strengthening border security, and reforming our legal immigration system to reunite families and strengthen our economy while protecting American workers.
- HR 519 The Uniting American Families Act: would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their permanent partners for legal residency in the US. (According to the bill’s sponsor.)
- HR 478 The E-Verify Modernization Act: To make the E-Verify Program permanent and mandatory, and to provide for certain changes to procedures for participants in the Program.
- HR 477 The Nuclear Family Priority Act: To make changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immigrants.
- HR 463 The U Visa Reform Act: Reducing chain migration by limiting visas granted under the program to only spouses and children of victims; Requiring that recipients of U visas be a victim of an actual crime; Limiting the duration of the U visa from 4-years to the lesser of 3-years or the period of limitations prescribed under applicable law for the qualifying crime; and Making the U visa a true temporary visa by eliminating the ability of illegal immigrants to adjust status to that of a legal permanent resident under the program. (According to the bill’s sponsor.)
- HR 459 The STEM Visa Act: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote innovation, investment, and research in the US and to eliminate the diversity immigrant program.
- HR 458 The Fallen Heroes Families Act: To provide for nonimmigrant status for an alien who is the parent or legal guardian of a US citizen child if the child was born abroad and is the child of a deceased member of the US Armed Forces.
- HR 457 The Criminal Alien Accountability Act: To impose mandatory sentencing ranges with respect to aliens who reenter the US after having been removed.
- S 202 The Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act: To expand the use of E-Verify and hold employers accountable.
- S 189 The StartUp Visa Act: To establish an employment-based immigrant visa for alien entrepreneurs who have received significant capital from investors to establish a business in the US.
- S 169 The I-Squared Act: To authorize additional visas for well-educated aliens to live and work in the US.
- SJRes 4 A joint resolution proposing a Constitutional amendment relating to US citizenship stating that a person born in the US shall not be a US citizen unless: (1) at the time of the person’s birth, one parent of the person is a US citizen, an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the US who resides in the US, or an alien performing active service in the US Armed Forces; or (2) the person is naturalized in accordance with the laws of the US.
- S 1 The Immigration Reform that Works for America’s Future Act: to reform America’s broken immigration system.
- HR 406 To provide discretionary authority to an immigration judge to determine that an alien parent of a US citizen child should not be ordered removed, deported, or excluded from the US.
- HR 242 The Legal Agricultural Workforce Act: To provide for a temporary agricultural worker program.
- HR 140 The Birthright Citizenship Act: To clarify those classes of individuals born in the US who are nationals and citizens of the US at birth.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system.
