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Congress
PI Original
by Ashlee Rezin
5:07pm
Tue Apr 2

Major Infrastructure Needs Along Mississippi & Illinois Rivers Prompt Bipartisan Legislation

Congress

Outdated and deteriorating locks and dams along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers have contributed to a backlog of projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), amounting to $60 billion in unfunded, but necessary, upgrades. Prompted by this statistic, Illinois congressional delegates sponsored bipartisan legislation earlier this month that would encourage private investment in improving the nation’s water infrastructure.

PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
12:17pm
Wed Mar 27

Children Of Undocumented Parents Call For Comprehensive Immigration Reform (VIDEO)

Immigration

Hundreds of children with undocumented parents marched to the Kluczynski Federal Building yesterday, along with their families, demanding that U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk use their political power to help pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:22pm
Tue Mar 26

Labor Advocates Hold Hearing To Address Part-Time Workers' Economic Struggles

Labor advocates hosted a hearing in Chicago today and highlighted the plight of part-time workers in retail and other service industries, while underscoring the need for federal legislation that would extend protections, including health care, family and medical leave and pensions, to part-time employees.

The Part-Time Worker Bill of Rights Act of 2013 (HR 675), sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-9), aims to do just that by building upon the Affordable Care Act and ensuring that part-time employees who work less than 30 hours a week have access to important workplace benefits.

As it stands, many of the federally mandated work-related benefits apply only to full-time workers, but that set up no longer meets the needs of the nation's workforce, Schakowsky said at the hearing, which was held at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership.

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
10:15am
Mon Mar 25

Illinois Letter Carriers Rally Against Elimination Of Saturday Mail Delivery (VIDEO)

Labor

Hundreds of Illinois letter carriers and their allies rallied at Federal Plaza Sunday in support of six-day mail delivery while also calling on U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to step down from his post.

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
4:22pm
Wed Mar 20
2 comments

Federal Government Workers Call For Congressional Action At Stop The Sequester Rally (VIDEO)

As federal employees brace themselves for furlough days, members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) rallied against the sequester in downtown Chicago today.

Chanting anti-austerity slogans and carrying signs, more than 100 union members and supporters gathered in Federal Plaza Wednesday to protest $85 billion in  across-the-board federal budget cuts that went into effect March 1.

“Congress in their infinite wisdom are cutting jobs through sequestration,” said John O’Grady, president of the AFGE Local 704, which represents workers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
6:25pm
Mon Mar 18

Dems Blast Ryan Budget Citing Excessive Cuts, Negative Impact On Minority Communities

Saying it willingly accepts “mindless” cuts of the sequester, the budget proposal from U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R, WI-1), chairman of the House Budget Committee, guarantees the loss of 2 million jobs and favors wealthy Americans at the expense of average middle class families, according to U.S. Reps. Xavier Becerra (D, CA-34) and Donna Edwards (D, MD-4).

“This is Romney’s comeback, we see him in the letters and words of the Ryan Republican budget,” said Becerra on a Center for American Progress conference call Monday morning. “This is essentially the budget that Republican candidates Ryan and Romney ran on, and they were rejected by the voters because it favors the very wealthy at the expense of the middle class.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:59pm
Mon Mar 18

Duckworth, Lipinski Back Bill To Help Families Cope With Disability-Related Expenses

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D, IL-8) announced her co-sponsorship of the bipartisan Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act today, which would allow individuals with disabilities to have tax-deferred savings accounts in order to fund health care, housing and other essential expenses.

The ABLE Act, introduced in the Senate, S. 313, and House, H.R. 647, in February, aims to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create the tax-free accounts.

“Disabled Americans deserve every opportunity to achieve their dreams,” Duckworth said in a statement today. “The bipartisan ABLE Act would allow disabled Americans to invest in saving accounts without having it count against their federal benefits.”

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