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Economy
Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
1:57pm
Wed Mar 20

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Would Improve Sluggish U.S. Economy, New Report Shows

A legal status and road map to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country would have positive impacts on the U.S. economy, and the sooner reform is implemented, the bigger the gains, a new report from the Center for American Progress shows. 

Citizenship for the undocumented brings significant increases in economic growth and earnings as well as tax revenues and jobs, said the report’s co-author Robert Lynch, visiting senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

“Legal status and citizenship enable the undocumented to produce and earn much more,” he said. “The resulting productivity and wage gains then ripple through the economy because immigrants are not just workers, they are also consumers and tax payers. They will spend their increased earnings on thousands of things.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
10:58am
Wed Mar 20

Schakowsky Launches Interactive Budget Web Page

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-9) launched the new, interactive You Choose web page today, asking people to make decisions about the sequester's $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts and the House Republican budget proposal.

You Choose is an alternative to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s YouCut page.

Schakowsky said she’s launching the You Choose because she wants to hear from her constituents and others around the country about their take on the nation's fiscal issues.

“Congress will be making budget choices over the coming days and weeks that will affect every person and business in our country,” Schakowsky said. “It is critical to acknowledge that the question facing us isn’t just whether we solve our fiscal challenges, but how we do it.”  

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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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