"Let me be clear: if we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate we're having right now."

That was President Obama on Wednesday. Today, we got further proof of the cost of doing nothing. Just look at the table released this morning by the Center for American Progress.

Within ten years, if we fail to address the rising cost of health care in America, the average health insurance premiums paid by families will nearly double, from $13,500 today to $22,400 in 2019. Oh but it gets worse - because in addition to rising premiums, Americans lucky enough to have health insurance still face increasingly burdensome co-payments and out-of-pocket costs - the kinds of costs that you can't haggle away when you're in severe pain.

In New Hampshire, our premiums will increase from $14,658 in 2009 to $25,013 in 2019. Given that New Hampshire faces additional hurdles, such as an approaching $250 million budget shortfall, and $589 million because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of residents without health insurance, inaction in the face of economic danger is something we can ill afford - and yet, that's exactly what happens every day that we fail to act on this.

Here's the thing: it doesn't have to be this way! The projections that CAP outlined don't have to come true. We can write a different story. We know how to "bend the curve" of increasing health costs. We can reform our health care system so that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.

One way we're keeping the focus on reform is by joining with our friends at Fire Dog Lake in asking New Hampshire's Representatives in Congress to stay and work on passing health care legislation like HR 3200, "America's Affordable Health Choices Act," over the August recess. You can sign their petition here. Congress shouldn't take a three-week vacation when 14,000 Americans are losing their insurance coverage every day.

Let's make this happen. New Hampshire can't afford the cost of doing nothing any longer.

What would you choose - taking a vacation or fixing health care?

That is the choice facing the U.S. House of Representatives, who are nearing a vote on historic health reform legislation but are scheduled to go on vacation at the end of next week.

It seems obvious to us - health care is more important than vacation. Congress should keep working until they pass a health reform bill.

Our friends at Fire Dog Lake have launched a petition asking the U.S. House of Representatives to stay in session to pass health reform. Click here to sign the petition.

So far, they've collected 28,000 signatures - let's help them get to 35,000. They'll be delivering your signatures to the U.S. House.

Some Members of Congress want three weeks of vacation before they tackle health care reform. But there is a real human cost for going on vacation. Three weeks in America without fixing health care means:

• 143,250 people will lose their health insurance coverage
  
• 53,507 people will file for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills
  
• 1,265 people will die because they lack coverage

The House is so close to passing a health reform bill - they shouldn't take a vacation now when thousands are losing their health care or worse every day.

Click here to sign the petition and ask the House to stay in session to pass health care instead of going on vacation.

Fixing health care just can't wait. Let's join together and get this done.

This is Andy Stern, President of SEIU.

I wanted to write you about the recent news about the Employee Free Choice Act. The New York Times reported on Friday that the Senate is considering dropping majority signup from the Employee Free Choice Act.

Majority signup is based on a simple idea: if a majority of workers say they want a union, they should get a union. It's the best way to make sure workers have a free and fair choice to join a union without intimidation or harassment.

It's important that both the House and Senate consider majority signup. Working people want to see where Congress stands on this common-sense idea to level the playing field against corporate greed.

I created a petition to Congress for you to show support for majority signup. Can you please add you name?

In the last week, we've seen that Wall Street is back to business as usual. Bank of America and Citigroup posted billions in profits. Goldman Sachs made $38 million a day in the last three months and is set to pay out record bonuses.

Corporate greed alive and well, despite billions in bailouts. Meanwhile, unemployment is still rising, and many working people are still struggling to get by in the rough economy.

That's why we need the Employee Free Choice Act. At its core, the Employee Free Choice Act is about fairness. By giving employees the free choice to join unions - and not their bosses - majority signup allows workers to have a voice on the job.

Congress needs to hear about your support for majority signup. Sign my petition to Congress in support of majority signup and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Thanks for all you do.

The Financial Times reported yesterday that Citigroup is raising credit card interest rates on 15 million customers. Citigroup has received three taxpayer-funded bailouts totaling $45 billion and the latest plan to keep the failed bank afloat gives the government and taxpayers a 34 percent stake in the company.

Said SEIU's Anna Burger, "It's shameful that Citigroup would raise interest rates on millions of Americans during a time when record unemployment and home foreclosures are forcing families to rely more and more on their credit cards just to get by." This news comes a week after Citigroup announced it is also raising salaries by as much as 50 percent for investment bankers and other top executives, to accommodate for smaller annual bonuses. Citigroup needs to commit to give any new raises to front-line bank employees, who struggle just to make ends meet while dealing with the rising costs of healthcare, not top executives who have contributed to this mess.

Signing petitions for change on Twitter

Sign and Tweet this petition - Tell @Citi_Forward (Citigroup) to give raises to front-line bank workers, not top executives: http://act.ly/2h. Retweet to sign.

Learn more about using Twitter as an advocacy tool with act.ly here. Check out who's in the hot seat on act.ly right now.

On Sunday, a group of DC residents delivered all 68,000 of your petitions to the NBC studios in Washington, demanding Rick Scott's phony infomercial be pulled. You should have seen the look on the producer's face when she saw the boxes of signatures waiting for her in the lobby.


Despite the objections from thousands of viewers, NBC went ahead and aired Rick Scott's 30-minute attack ad against health care reform. And, just as we had warned, it was filled with shameful and misleading distortions. (Check out Media Matters Factcheck on the CPR infomercial here)

It's going to be up to us to push back on Rick Scott with the truth about President Obama's plan to fix health care. This Saturday, thousands of Americans will be hosting health care organizing kickoffs in their communities.

Will you take part? This is a critical opportunity to tell the real story of President Obama's plan for health care reform: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/june6signups

After 80 years, we finally have the solution to this health care crisis in our sights. Getting there is going to require an all-out sprint to the finish line that starts right now. Let's show opponents like Rick Scott that no amount of expensive television ads can stop us from winning quality, affordable health care for every American.

Rick Scott's group, Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), responded today to SEIU's written request to CNN and FOX News for removal of the group's ads. The ads, which were created by the same PR firm behind the now widely-discredited "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads in 2004, contain false statements and distortions that are intended to mislead the viewing public.

Below are two of the inaccurate claims made in their ad:

• Rick Scott misleads viewers about the Federal Coordinating Council , claiming: "not only could a government board deny your choice in doctors, but it can control life and death for some patients." This statement is demonstrably false.
• The advertisement further deceives viewers by blatantly misrepresenting the positions of two physicians.

Here's the kicker: CPR failed to address a single point made in our case for removal.

Instead, CPR posted a blog entry that is nothing more than an ideological red-herring. (Read it for yourself, here.) We can only assume that their response is an attempt to distract us from the fact that they cannot defend their own ad.

SEIU welcomes a robust debate on the merits of health care policy-what we do not welcome is false, misleading advertising that scares people.

Once again, CPR has demonstrated how little regard they hold for the facts. We hope that CNN, which has given CPR five business days to respond, considers CPR's public comment on our case to be their official response.

Sign our petition calling on FOX News and CNN to to quit airing CPR's irresponsible, false ad.

It took swine flu, and 13,000 petition signatures, to remind Republican Senators that cynical politicking can have real consequences for American lives.

After weeks of Republican maneuvers to delay a floor vote, the Senate yesterday voted 65-31 to confirm Kathleen Sebelius as HHS Secretary. Nine Republicans, including Sens. Snowe and Collins of Maine, joined Democratic colleagues in the "yea" column. (See how your Senator voted here.)

Immediately following the vote, Sebelius boarded a plane to Washington, where she was later sworn into office. President Obama later explained why was sworn in so quickly:

"We wanted to swear her in right away because we've got a significant public health challenge that requires her immediate attention. We need all hands on deck."

It's too bad it had to come to this--a near-pandemic that's already infected more than one thousand people--to drive home the urgency of filling vital government posts.

Secretary Sebelius will begin today working with Congress to increase funding for pandemic flu preparedness, vaccine production and aid to state and local governments. With more infections occurring daily, her confirmation is not a moment too soon.

In the past few days, our efforts were covered by scores of news outlets, including CNN and Politico. Republican Senators faced hard questions from reporters on their blocking of an HHS Secretary--especially in the midst of a growing health crisis.

Secretary Sebelius will have a major job ahead of her, but thanks in part to the efforts of health care activists nationwide, she's now able to address these challenges head-on.

The swine flu outbreak has prompted news outlets and bloggers to take a harder look at the Republican obstructionism that's blocked the confirmation of an HHS Secretary. Many noticed that on Sunday, when White House officials briefed the press on the spread of the virus, the official who spoke was not the Health and Human Services Secretary (whose confirmation is stalled in the Senate), but Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security.

Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog rips into the partisan posturing of Republican Senators:

This is vintage GOP obstruction. In the few days since the GOP Senators launched their filibuster, it's become clear that we may be facing a major health threat. The key government departments and agencies are gathering to plot strategy. Absent is a Secretary of Health and Human Services.

....

If the Republicans want to further obstruct that nomination, make them actually filibuster it...Let them all vote to further prevent the nation from having a Secretary of Health and Human Services -- when we're in the midst of a public health emergency and preparing for a possible pandemic.

Sudbay points out that Republican politicking continues, even amidst the current swine flu crisis. Republicans have secured eight full hours of debate on Tuesday, most of which will be chock-full of speeches on the nominee. That means that while more cases of swine flu are appearing worldwide, Republican Senators will be speechifying over the HHS nominee on the Senate floor.

Instead of waiting until Tuesday afternoon to vote on an HHS Secretary, Sudbay has a suggestion for Majority Leader Reid: At 2pm today, when the Sentate convenes regular order, Sen. Reid "should move for an up-or-down vote" on whether to confirm Gov. Sebelius. In addition to pressure from bloggers, we've been running a petition to the Senate calling on a swift confirmation of Gov. Sebelius. If you're concerned about those who place politics above the health and safety of our nation, please add your name.

Last week, SEIU President Andy Stern sent a video message out to the SEIU community via email, calling on Congress to confirm Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor.

Since that time, more than 22,500 people signed on to our petition in support of Secretary-designate Solis with the help of Courage Campaign, Sierra Club, United Farm Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, and Change to Win.

Yesterday, before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee voted to forward her nomination to a full Senate vote, we delivered the names of these signees to Senators Kennedy and Enzi.

Watch the video here:

To learn more about Hilda Solis' life-long fight on behalf of working people, watch this video:

Thousands of union members and allies gathered on Capitol Hill today to kick off the delivery of 1.5 million signatures in support of the Employee Free Choice Act to members of Congress.

Senator Tom Harkin, Congressman George Miller, union members, and progressive organizations joined the workers to showcase the widespread public support for the legislation that will give workers back the freedom to bargain for better wages and benefits.

"The right to organize is a basic human right and no one should be able to take that away," said Sen. Harkin, speaking out about why this legislation is so important for workers and making our economy work for everyone-not just those at the top.

[...] "Unions made the middle class. Don't believe me? Look up 'middle class' in the dictionary and you'll see it says 'see unions,'" joked Sen. Harkin.

Head of the United Steel Workers Leo Gerard acted as master of ceremonies, introducing other labor leaders including SEIU's Andy Stern, CWA President Larry Cohen and the AFL-CIO's John Sweeney.

But the main focus of today's rally was union members from all different sectors who came to Washington, DC to give first-hand testimony about their efforts to form a union--workers who've been harassed, intimidated, and fired from their jobs for trying to improve their working conditions, wages, and benefits by forming a union.

"I'm putting a face on all of the members," SEIU's Theo Jackson told a reporter before sharing his story first at today's rally. Jackson was a case manager--and a two-time Employee of the Month--at a substance abuse recovery center in Scotts Valley, CA before being fired for trying to form a union. "When companies do something, nobody knows, they want the people who get fired to slink away in shame. The very next day, I was in front of the gate, waving at the executive director." (Read Theo's story here)

We heard from Theresa Gars, a New Jersey school bus driver: "I don't think any worker out there is a dime a dozen," she said, speaking of her employers threats that she and her coworkers could--and would--be easily replaced if they were to form a union with TWA. "There's no reason to be scared when you're standing up for something you believe in," she said, eliciting a huge cheer from fellow rally attendees.

Acela Espiritu, an RN from California, took the podium to speak about her successful organizing campaign with AFSCME at an Orange County Kaiser Permanente facility and the benefits that both employees and management gained from having a union. "This is not a Republican-Democrat issue," Espiritu said. "It is an American issue. Passing Employee Free Choice equals worker empowerment."

Watch video highlights from this rally:

Vice President Biden has gone on the record about the timeline for passing the Employee Free Choice Act, saying it will happen this calendar year. But corporate lobbyists are mounting an unrelenting campaign to defeat this bill and we need your grassroots power to fight back and push for the passage of Employee Free Choice Act. In order to accomplish this, the Million-Member Mobilization Campaign has set a new goal: 2 million signatures before Congress goes on its February break.

Join the movement by adding your name to the petition to support Employee Free Choice Act .

To view more photos from the petition delivery rally this afternoon, visit SEIU's Flickr page.

Update: This event is taking place today, February 4th, at 12:30.

Over the past year, organizations and supporters of the freedom to form unions have carried out a national campaign to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Today, thousands of workers from across the country will gather on Capitol Hill to deliver 1.5 million signatures in support of the pending legislation to members of Congress. Activists from the nation's unions and other progressive organizations will join workers in the rally to showcase the broad public support for the bill.

Workers from across the nation will tell their personal stories about what's wrong with our current system and why the Employee Free Choice Act is necessary to help fix it. One of the workers who will speak at the rally is Theo Jackson , who worked as a case manager at a substance abuse recovery center in Scotts Valley, CA for more than three years before being fired for trying to form a union with SEIU. Theo is just one of the thousands of ordinary workers who are harassed, threatened or terminated each year for trying to exercise their basic freedom to form a union and bargain for a better life. (Read Theo's story here)