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The loss of a friend

Melanie Shouse has died.

Melanie was a small business owner from Missouri battling stage four breast cancer, who also had to fight with insurance companies who didn't want to pay for her treatment. She didn't take that lying down -- she spoke out, she protested, she became a leader in the movement for a more just health care system. Maybe you remember the video thank-you she sent to you and other TrueMajority members last October for being part of that movement.1

The cancer took Melanie's life last week. To her family, we can only express our deepest regret and sympathy. If you'd like to send your sympathy as well, you can sign our guest book, and we'll deliver your messages to the family this weekend.

Help save 2.5 billion

The $3.8 trillion budget that President Obama announced yesterday gives us a second chance to win the change in priorities we've sought for years.

Last year, TrueMajority members proved that sensible budgets CAN be achieved when we won a huge fight to end wasteful Pentagon projects like the F-22 fighter jet.

That victory saved billions of dollars that can now be used to build schools and restart the economy. This year we have a chance to save $2.5 billion MORE by ending the C-17, another plane we don't need. Tell Congress to stop building C-17s, and other Pentagon toys we don't need.

Obama's speech was not enough

During last night's State of the Union, President Obama took the fight to Wall Street, saying "if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need".

Thousands of you asked the President to propose just such a tax a few weeks ago. And Obama's proposal is a good start, but fixing our broken economy will take more -- more than one bank tax, more investment in jobs, and a lot more rules to protect consumers from Wall Street's reckless greed.

So tell Congress to go get serious about reforming our economy by expanding the President's bank tax idea, and then using the money to put regular Americans back to work.

What Obama didn't say last night

President Obama spoke for more than an hour last night -- one of the longest State of the Union addresses ever. He talked about education, job creation, bank taxes, and freezing social spending. But about spending $100 billion to continue and even ramp up the war in Afghanistan, not a word.

It's not like the fact isn't relevant. Freezing spending on social programs in the way the President proposed would take a decade to save us $250 billion.1 But spending on the Afghan war at the current rate would blow ALL of those savings in just a few years.2

No wonder he didn't want to mention it.

But that won't do. Congress has to decide whether we spend money on war, or on jobs, education and health care. Tell them to make the RIGHT choice.

What I saw in Chicago

Thousands of people marched on downtown Chicago Oct. 27th to call for economic justice. Our target was the American Bankers Association -- a convention of the biggest bankers in America that was held at a fancy local hotel.

These are the same banks that took $17.8 trillion in taxpayer bailouts and backstops. Despite the continuing crisis of foreclosures and unemployment, they have spent more than $35 million of OUR dollars to fight reform in Congress.

But thanks to your support and this amazing rally, Congress is finally working on a solution. Legislation is already moving that will protect consumers, curtail outrageous CEO pay and help prevent another financial meltdown.

I've just seen that when we work together, we can send a powerful message to end Wall Street's greed and protect American consumers. Check out my video report from the streets of Chicago, and then join the fight by signing this petition to Congress and banking CEOs.

"Senate votes to end funding for F-22 fighter jet" - USA Today, July 21, 2009

By now you've probably seen the news, but it's worth repeating: after years of work, this month we WON the battle to end the outmoded F-22 fighter jet.

That will free up billions of dollars in tax money, which can be available for projects which truly build America's strength. More importantly, though, the victory has shifted the playing field. Mere days before this historic Senate vote, the conventional wisdom was what it has always been: that you just can't kill a weapons program which defense contractors want. But t hen the program WAS voted down, by an unexpected bipartisan majority of Senators. And in a surprise announcement the very next day Rep. John Murtha, by most accounts the biggest player in the Pentagon pork business, said he wouldn't fight anymore for the F-22 jets.

The point is: the tide we have been swimming against for so long has turned.

The Truth About Healthcare Reform

Dr. Howard Dean has been a physician, a governor, a presidential candidate and the head of the Democratic National Committee. If there is one guy in America who knows what's wrong with our healthcare system and can make sense of the current debate, it's him.

Listen to last night's show with Howard Dean by clicking the play button below.

Don't let insurance companies dictate reform!

The industry knows the same thing we do, and they don't like it: the only way to make reform work for patients and payers is to allow the option of a public insurance plan. Obama has committed to that in the past, but insurance companies are trying to talk him out of his pledge with these promises to cut some unspecified costs, some years in the future. We need to have OUR say about that.

While we couldn't get into that room with the health industry lobbyists, we DO have access to the most widely-read public forum: the local newspaper.

Write a letter to your local paper that reminds Congress and the President that health care reform needs to work for us, and demand a public option.