Blog Posts Archive - Page 174 of 286 - People For the American Way

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November 8, 2013 5:20 pm | By Jen Herrick

Where is Speaker Boehner hiding all the good bills like ENDA?

At a press conference yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) posed a question that you might also be wondering about: Where is the secret vault in the US House where Speaker Boehner is hiding all the good bills? Leader…
November 8, 2013 2:22 pm | By Jodi Hirsh

PA Legislator Introduces ALEC Bill That Would Block Paid Sick Leave

On Tuesday, November 12, legislators will debate Pennsylvania State Representative Seth Grove’s (R) bill that would block cities and local governments in PA from implementing paid sick days bills and other forms of paid leave (domestic violence and domestic partnership leaves, for example) that aren’t…
November 7, 2013 9:58 pm | By Paul Gordon

Sen. Whitehouse Briefs PFAW Members on DC Circuit Fight

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Yesterday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) briefed PFAW members about the fight that is building over filling the three current vacancies on the DC Circuit and the need for even more stepped-up advocacy on this. Senate Republicans…
November 6, 2013 9:51 pm | By Jen Herrick

Scenes from today’s ENDA debate – final votes tomorrow

During the Senate debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today we've heard a lot about the bill's roots in the past, its relationship to American values, and how matching our laws with those values is long overdue when it comes…
November 6, 2013 5:14 pm | By Jen Herrick

Scenes from the floor on the second day of ENDA debate

Yesterday Senate debate continued on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. No new votes to report, but here are two of the many floor speeches. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), ENDA's lead sponsor: Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), supporting ENDA and calling out the…
November 6, 2013 3:38 pm | By admin

Our Country Deserves Better than ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws

The following is a guest post from Elder Jabari Paul, a member of People For the American Way’s African American Ministers in Action, following last week’s Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Stand Your Ground laws. My perspective on Stand Your…
November 5, 2013 10:31 pm | By Layne Amerikaner

Illinois to Become 15th Marriage Equality State

It’s been an exciting few days for supporters of LGBT equality. Following last night’s Senate cloture vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, today the Illinois House passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry, setting the stage for Illinois to…
November 5, 2013 9:44 pm | By Brian Tashman

Ken Cuccinelli’s Nativist Rhetoric Backfires Badly In General Election

Cross-posted on Right Wing Watch Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli appears to be paying the price for his anti-immigrant record. Cuccinelli backed Arizona’s draconian SB 1070 as the state attorney general and as a state senator he proposed several…
November 5, 2013 8:57 pm | By Paul Gordon

Scalia’s Nightmare: Evil Foreigners Impose Marriage Equality on U.S.

The Supreme Court held oral arguments this morning in a case about chemical weapons and the authority of Congress to pass laws effectuating treaty terms. This is a serious case about whether the Court will overrule a nearly 100 year-old…
November 5, 2013 6:51 pm | By Jen Herrick

Scenes from the floor on the first day of ENDA debate

Yesterday marked the first day of Senate debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and ENDA survived its first major hurdle – a strongly bipartisan 61-30 cloture vote to end a Republican filibuster on proceeding to consideration of the bill. Here…
November 4, 2013 10:09 pm | By admin

Discrimination Has No Place In Our Hearts or Our Workplaces

The following is a guest post by Rev. Dorothy Chaney, a licensed Baptist minister in Miami and a member of People For the American Way’s African American Ministers in Action. I have lived in Florida all my life, but here’s…
November 4, 2013 9:54 pm | By Layne Amerikaner

Youth Leaders and Faith Leaders Urge Support for ENDA

UPDATE: Following the Senate's successful 64-32 vote to pass ENDA on 11/07/2013, PFAW and AAMIA sent their support letters to the House. YEO Action, now with 34 members, and YP4 action, now with 51 members and allies, did the same.…
November 4, 2013 9:20 pm | By Miranda Blue

Video: PFAW President Discusses Rafael Cruz and Tea Party Extremism

Today, PFAW’s Right Wing Watch posted new footage of Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, Raphael Cruz, denying evolution, claiming that gay rights advances endanger children and warning that the United States government is controlled by Satan. These are only the most…
November 4, 2013 9:13 pm | By Miranda Blue

Judges Delayed, Justice Denied: PFAW’s Drew Courtney Discusses the DC Circuit on MSNBC

People For the American Way Director of Communications Drew Courtney appeared on Disrupt with Karen Finney this weekend to discuss Senate Republicans’ reckless obstruction of President Obama’s nominees to the important Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.…
November 4, 2013 4:43 pm | By Paul Gordon

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Abortion Rights Challenge

Good news from the Supreme Court this morning: the Justices have dismissed an Oklahoma abortion rights case (Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice) as "improvidently granted." The Oklahoma Supreme Court had struck down as unconstitutional a state law designed…
November 1, 2013 9:16 pm | By Diallo Brooks

Immigration Reform Has New Life, But Will House Republican Leaders Cave to Extremists?

Immigration reform activists and President Obama have renewed the push for Congress to act on much-needed immigration legislation this year. We now see new movement as three Republicans have joined numerous Democrats in the House in co-sponsoring legislation that moves…
November 1, 2013 7:40 pm | By Paul Gordon

New DC Circuit Decision Shows Why GOP Wants to Block New Judges

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a divided ruling today that the Affordable Care Act's contraception coverage provision violates the religious liberty of two business owners. The majority ruling came from far-right Bush-43…
November 1, 2013 4:01 pm | By admin

Why We Need ENDA

The following is a guest post by Enbar Cohen, City of Aventura Commissioner and member of affiliate People For the American Way Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network. As Congress prepares to consider the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), I have been…
October 31, 2013 6:13 pm | By Paul Gordon

The GOP’s Rephrased D.C. Circuit Deception

Proponents of blocking President Obama from being able to fill the three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit rely on a number of thoroughly discredited arguments. One of their favorites is that the court doesn't have nearly enough cases to warrant…
October 30, 2013 10:05 pm | By Paul Gordon

GOP Senators Continue to Pretend the Judicial Conference Doesn’t Exist

Several Republican senators have gone on the record saying they will filibuster the president's nominations to the D.C. Circuit because (they claim) its caseload is supposedly so much lower than many other circuit courts. PFAW has released a memo debunking…