Practical Progress: Raise the Wage Movement Grows...41 Years Later, Roe Still at Risk...24JAN14

PRACTICAL PROGRESS: The Agenda Project Action Fund's actually 'brief' briefing on the most Important news from the Progressive Movement.
RAISE THE WAGE MOVEMENT GROWS -- The Economic Policy Institute found that if the minimum wage was raised to $10.10 it would create 85,000 new jobs and add $22 billion to the U.S. economy in the initial phase-in period alone. Just yesterday Pentagon food service and janitorial staff went on strike yesterday morning to demand a higher minimum wage. Currently, three out of four government contracted service employees make less than $10 an hour, and four out of ten subsidize their full-time income with public assistance to make ends meet.
To date, EPI, Demos, the NAACP, 75 leading economists, members of the US Senate and House, the leaders of national religious organizations, over two-thirds of small business owners, and even Bill O'Reilly and Phyllis Schlafly have come out in support of an increased minimum wage. The President is expected to make reducing income inequality a central theme of his State of the Union address.
READ: "Even These People Think it's Time to Raise the Minimum Wage"
41 YEARS LATER, ROE STILL AT RISK -- The Center for Reproductive Rights launched a new series of PSAs to commemorate the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, starring actor Mark Ruffalo and Tony and Grammy Award winner Dee Dee Bridgewater. The videos are in conjunction with the Center's recent State of the States report, which features interactive maps and highlights current litigation focused on abortion. Center for Reproductive Rights President and CEO Nancy Northrup: "It's time to seize this vital opportunity to reclaim the rights that Roe recognized and the protections it established more than four decades ago."
WATCH Alliance for Justice's short documentary Roe at Risk highlighting the current threats to the monumental decision HERE.
STATE OF THE DREAM -- United for a Fair Economy (UFE) released its 11th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day report, finding that five million Americans--primarily low-income racial minorities--will be denied health insurance because they live in the 25 states that have refused Medicaid expansion. Report author and UFE Executive Director Brian Miller: "It's bad enough that communities of color face additional health hazards and stressors. Now we have politicians around the nation trying to block health insurance that would have otherwise been extended to millions of low-income Americans." READ: "State of the Dream 2014: Healthcare for Whom? Enduring Racial Disparities."
EPA STANDS BEHIND BRISTOL BAY -- Western Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Joel Reynolds lauded the EPA's recent Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment analyzing the potential impacts of mining development on the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska: "This is a scientific indictment of the Pebble Mine -- or any other large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed. The assessment documents what we've feared for years -- Pebble Mine would destroy the world-class salmon fishery, cost jobs and endanger the communities and wildlife that depend on it." The proposed Pebble Mine would destroy nearly 94 miles of Bristol Bays streams, which house the world's largest sockeye salmon run -- a $480 million annual business that supports 14,000 full and part-time jobs. READ: "Bristol Bay Assessment Fact Sheet" and "EPA's Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Has Everyone Buzzing."
VoteVets created a petition addressed to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy stressing the need to protect Bristol Bay. SIGN HERE.
AMERICA VOTES STATE SUMMIT -- America Votes will be hosting their 2014 State Summit February 4-5 in Washington DC. Issues including the Affordable Care Act, minimum wage and job growth, and electoral landscapes will be among the main topics covered. LEARN MORE by checking out the agenda and an FAQ. REGISTER HERE.
FROM THE WONK WIRE ...
... IMMENSITY UNDERMINES RESPONSIBILITY: Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor and Top Wonk Anat Admati connects the dots between financial institutions, ineffective intervention, and perverse incentives.
... BUBBLE BURST: Institute for New Economic Thinking Director of Institutional Partnerships and Top Wonk Marshall Auerback pins down the characteristics of an economic bubble.
... INEQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL: Former Secretary of Labor and Top Wonk Robert Reich refutes David Brooks' inane comments on inequality.
Find out more at www.TopWonks.org.
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