e-Team Report, Sept. 20, 2012

Calling out the Do-Nothing Congress

In the last week, Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) have taken to the House floor to decry the fact that our current "Do-Nothing Congress" is, well, not doing much, especially for the Postal Service.

As Rep. Johnson said, "The U.S. Postal Service was not in danger of becoming insolvent until Congress decided to meddle in its affairs," and "Instead of wasting time today, this Do-Nothing Congress should vote to stop the damage inflicted upon the United States Postal Service."  Rep. Kaptur added, "House leadership wasted precious time," and "We should have spent our time debating comprehensive jobs legislation, a farm bill, and legislation to save the U.S. Postal Service.

To read their full remarks, please click here for Rep. Johnson (text in lower right column) and click here for Rep. Kaptur (text in lower middle column).

The regretable inaction by our current House of Representatives leadership, particularly on postal reform, has to stop.  That's why APWU President Cliff Guffey is calling on members to focus their efforts on November 6th, when we can elect leadership in the House that will fix the fiscal mess they created.

National Voter Registration Day

With the November election getting closer by the day, time is running out for unregistered voters to get registered.  While voting rights are under attack in state after state, it is crucial to ensure everyone has full access to this cornerstone of our democracy.  Together, we must fight back against this effort to disenfranchise Americans.

As such, Tuesday, September 25th has been declared "National Voter Registration Day."  It is a nationwide day of action to highlight the need to register, educate, and mobilize voters.  To join in one of the more than 1,000 National Voter Registration Day events, please click here to find one closest to you.

Have you registered yourself?  Know someone who still needs to register?  If so, you can head on over to www.gottaregister.com to get the process started.

Voter ID laws

Speaking of the assault on voting rights, the drama over the restrictive new Pennsylvania voter ID law continues.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week issued a ruling saying that a lower court should block the Republican-backed voter ID law if can't be implemented without disenfranchising voters.  Please click here to read more about the ruling.

To read about a similar Texas voter ID law that was struck down as discriminatory by federal courts last month, please click here.