Mersky
Mersky's JournalPolicy Options for Improving SSI - Senate Finance Committee Hearing 9/21
https://www.finance.senate.gov/hearings/policy-options-for-improving-ssi___
My niece is excited about these proposals. Would mean a great improvement in her young life outlook where the current system she knows keeps her reliant on family and little but poor access to healthcare in her adult years, especially as she resides in Texas.
Please note, this a hearing regarding SSI, not SSDI. Should be noted that under the SSI system, monthly payments are $794 vs. $2-3k under SSDI. The current rules penalize efforts to live with dignity, security, and seeking greater independence. Is long overdue for reform as little has changed since 1972.
TxGQP is conducting business w/ #FAKEQUORUM in the lege
Texas House finally makes quorum, but Democrats say Republicans cheated to get thereTexas Tribune
BY PATRICK SVITEK AUG. 20, 2021 6pm CT
There were 99 members registered as present Thursday evening, the exact number needed to end the 38-day Democratic quorum break over the GOP’s priority elections bill. But not all of those members were physically on the floor.
That means that the House could be operating with a tenuous quorum in the coming days, even if more Democrats start returning — though none were giving any indication of that Friday.
While some Democrats conceded Thursday night that the quorum bust was over, others were less willing to admit defeat.
“Based on numerous media reports, it seems evident there was not a true quorum present today — ironic, given this entire session is premised around Republicans preaching about so-called voter integrity,” Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.
A group of 34 House Democrats released a statement Friday that called it a “questionable quorum” and warned that Republicans “will lie about the number of legislators present at the Capitol to establish quorum, keep Texans in the dark, and bend the rules to get their way.”
In a follow-up interview, Turner said the apparent lack of a real quorum was “of grave concern.” He declined to speculate on whether the Democratic presence on the floor would grow when the House nexts meets on Monday.
-snip-
[/https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/20/texas-house-quorum-democrats/
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Gina Hinajosa and Colin Allred appeared on The Last Word with Capehart in for O’Donnell. TxDems are exploring their options as they view this as a game changer for how things might proceed.
https://twitter.com/miyashay/status/1428908824715571207
TEXAS DEMS! WE’VE GOT TO ORGANIZE AND PUSH BACK!
ENOUGH OF THE GQP’S LIES AND DEATH.
Yeah, so, the Texas Capitol is currently flooding
https://twitter.com/KXAN_News/status/1426985893739573253?s=20https://twitter.com/wsbyerly/status/1426980932741959681?s=20
Texas Senator Carol Alvarado is filibustering the voter suppression bill
https://twitter.com/CarolforTexas/status/1425591685661265921?s=20Willie Nelson to perform at Texas Capitol voting rights rally this weekend
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Willie-Nelson-to-perform-Saturday-at-Texas-16347406.php 
March from Georgetown to Texas Capitol inspired by events in Selma
Taking a stand that helped define the civil rights movement, thousands of protesters marched 54 miles from Selma, Ala., to the state capitol in Montgomery in 1965 in support of voting rights for Black citizens.
As Democrats, civil rights leaders and voting rights groups continue to oppose Republican election bills in the Texas Legislature and across the South, activists are hoping to have a Selma-like impact with a 27-mile trek from Georgetown to Austin that they're calling the Moral March for Democracy.
The Texas march, broken into smaller legs over four mornings from Wednesday to Saturday, was organized by the Rev. Dr. William Barber with the Poor People’s Campaign and by former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s voter outreach organization, Powered by People.
The Poor People’s Campaign, a faith-based group that protests economic inequity, has led several other protests across the country to push for voting rights reforms, including some that ended in arrests in the nation’s capital.
-snip-
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/07/28/march-georgetown-texas-capitol-inspired-selma/5390612001/
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Find out how to join the marches and rally on Saturday:
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
https://poweredxpeople.org/
Hope to see y’all there!
Voting rights advocates set out on 1960s-style march to Austin: 'We need federal protection'
Several dozen religious leaders and community activists began marching Wednesday toward the Texas Capitol, invoking the civil rights movement of the 1960s as they work to build momentum for national voting protections and other progressive causes.
The marchers set out just after sunrise from Christ Lutheran Church in Georgetown, about 30 miles north of Austin, snaking three by three along a frontage road in the sticky summer heat. Highway traffic droned in the distance as they chanted protest songs and voiced their demands: an end to the Senate filibuster, a $15 minimum wage, immigration reform and congressional action to combat a slate of new voting restrictions passed by Republican states.
“Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around,” they sang. “I’m gonna keep on a-walking, keep on a-talking, marching down to freedom land.”
-snip-
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/We-need-federal-protection-Voting-rights-16346222.php
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Find out how to join the marches and rally on Saturday:
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
https://poweredxpeople.org/
Hope to see y’all there!
So proud of the Tx Dems -- They're on for O'Donnell's hour w/Jonathan Capehart
Will replay later tonight, and I’ll look for Rhiannon’s video links, etc. and add them in here.
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Member since: Fri Oct 19, 2018, 12:32 AM
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