Welcome, We The People–PA activists, advocates, and supporters, to another edition of our biweekly eBlast! We bring you legislative news from the federal and state levels and ways to get involved!
SPECIAL EVENT
POSTPONED: Tax the Ultra-Rich NOW! Fest in Philadelphia. In light of the 100°F forecast for the Philadelphia region on Sunday and the advisories being issued by health care professionals, we have postponed the Tax the Ultra-Rich NOW! (TURN) Fest, which was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, July 24th, in Philadelphia. We will share information about the new date and time when the event is rescheduled. Thank you for your interest in tax fairness and TURN Fest, and please stay hydrated and avoid the heat. Click here to sign up to receive updates on this event!
Don’t forget to sign the petition in our Call to Action section!
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
State Update:
The PA Senate is in recess until September 19, 2022. The PA House is in recess until September 12, 2022.
Federal Update:
Read more from Americans For Tax Fairness about proposals to make the ultra-rich pay their fair share, including the Babies Over Billionaires Act: https://billionairestax.org/the-plans/
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INVOLVED
From March On Harrisburg: We are hosting a workshop with Professor Sophia McClennen on designing effective, nonviolent direct-action campaigns on August 10 at 7 p.m. See an event description below. Sign up here! Join us for this workshop with Sophia McClennen, professor of international affairs and comparative literature at Penn State and co-author of the book Pranksters vs. Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism, which offers a structured, strategic approach to fighting back against authoritarianism, as well as for defending democracy. We’ll be learning about dilemma actions, what they are, and why they work. Professor McClennen will also lead us through a conversation about how we could be thinking about our actions and our narratives, and we’ll be workshopping actions for our most current campaign. Pennsylvania direct-action orgs, you are very much welcome to join and bring questions specific to your campaign.
IN THE NEWS
“Here’s how Pennsylvania’s advocacy community reacted to the 2022-23 state budget: From schools to climate change, a cross-section of comments on the $45.2B spending plan” – Penn Capital-Star
Quotes from some of you, our partners, are included in this article.
We The People–PA: “Budgets reflect our fundamental choices and ideals. Sadly, the budget released today shows that the Republican-dominated General Assembly cares far more about the richest Pennsylvanians and multinational corporations than they do about everyday Pennsylvanians.
“The vast majority of Pennsylvanians—no matter where they were born, where they live, what they look like, or what work they do—have been struggling economically for a long time. And that was true even before corporations started raising prices so dramatically.”
CALL TO ACTION
The wealthiest people in our country keep getting richer while working families struggle to make ends meet and the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of us grows. The nation’s 740 billionaires now control more wealth than the 65 million households that make up the bottom half of our economy. They use that wealth to buy off politicians and keep the system rigged in their favor, while paying lower tax rates than firefighters, teachers, and nurses. Click here and tell Congress to fix this unfair tax system by:
- raising taxes on the ultra-rich millionaires and billionaires to make them less rich.
- ending estate tax loopholes that allow the ultra-wealthy to hoard their wealth for generations.
HELP US TO HELP YOU
Keeping track of the Commonwealth’s numerous groups and organizations can be a daunting task. To that end, we’ve launched an online form for you to alert us to any events, actions, social media, news, etc. that you’d like us to amplify!
You can also DM us on our social media accounts or email Jay at grandis@pennbpc.org.
SIGN OFF
We hope you found this week’s eBlast valuable, and we appreciate your support and the demanding work you all do in your own areas every single day. Keep on keepin’ on!
In Solidarity,
Marc, Nick, Vivienne, Jay, Maddie, and the rest of the WTP–PA team
