Jonathan Kantrowitz

Republican Senate Minority Whip John Kyl has admitted that the Republicans will continue to protect the super wealthy, while ignoring struggling, out of work Americans, who are suffering due to the misguided and out of touch economic policies put into place by the Republican establishment. Yesterday, in a television interview, Kyl called for extending the Bush tax cuts for the super wealthy even if they add to the deficit, while continuing to block Democratic efforts to extend unemployment benefits for millions of struggling, out of work Americans.

As Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly notes:

It’s quite a message to Americans: Republicans believe $30 billion for unemployment benefits don’t even deserve a vote because the money would be added to the deficit, but Republicans also believe that adding the cost of $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy to the deficit is just fine.

And what is the overall impact off Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy on the deficit? Well look at this, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Today at Capital Community College, U.S. Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, announced that he will introduce legislation to help workers save money for education and job training through the creation of worker-owned, employer-matched educational accounts. The Lifelong Learning Accounts Act will give our country’s workers the chance to pursue training and educational opportunities and support their personal growth and the economic competitiveness of the United States.

Congressman Larson was joined at today’s announcement by Chancellor Marc Herzog of Connecticut Community Colleges System, Amy Sherman of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), Maura Banta from IBM, and Alice Pritchard from the Campaign for a Working Connecticut.

“Now more than ever, continuing training and education are invaluable for workers to remain competitive in the job market. The Lifelong Learning Accounts Act recognizes this fact and provides workers with the ability and flexibility to further their education while they work, throughout their careers. By providing an opportunity for workers to participate in these types of employer-matched savings accounts, this bill will provide a significant tool to make it easier for millions of Americans to continue their education,” said Congressman Larson.

Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs) can be used to save for a wide range of educational opportunities, including part time education, job training, and apprenticeships. The bill provides several financial incentives to workers and employers to participate. Like a 401(k), employers can choose to match workers’ contributions, and contributions to the accounts will grow tax-free. A total of $2,500 can be contributed to the account during a year, and workers can receive up to a $750 tax credit for making these contributions.

In addition, employers have the option of contributing as well and will receive a 25% tax credit on their contributions. The accounts will also be portable and worker-owned, meaning that they will stay with the individual even if they lose their job, switch jobs, or stop working.

The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) has been a pioneer in finding ways to give working adults the opportunity to advance. They conducted a successful multi-site LiLA demonstration program and have worked with several states that have adopted pilot programs.

“Lifelong Learning Accounts are a win for both employers and employees. In pilot programs across the country, workers are using their LiLAs to pay for everything from industry certificates to graduate level degrees,” stated Amy Sherman, Associate Vice President of CAEL. “We have seen workers who have been promoted, earned more, and moved into hard-to-fill positions in high demand fields, such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing and IT. LiLAs help give workers the means to get the education and training they need to achieve their career goals. Under the leadership of Representative Larson and his colleagues, we are excited to see LiLAs move to the next level.”

IBM, a world leader in innovation and technology, is an innovator in employer-matched savings accounts through its Personal Learning Accounts Program.

“IBM commends Congressman Larson and his colleagues for introducing the Lifelong Learning Accounts Act,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs, and President of IBM’s Foundation. “We are strong proponents of this concept. We successfully launched a similar program for IBM employees in 2007. Thousands of IBMers have taken advantage of it, and have viewed it very positively. It’s a terrific collaborative effort: We cultivate a more dedicated, diverse, versatile and skilled workforce, while employees broaden their skills and horizons in an affordable way, and become more valuable to the company.”

The Skills2Compete-Connecticut campaign, led by the Campaign for a Working Connecticut, seeks to raise awareness of the need to train Connecticut residents for middle-skill jobs, which require more than a high school education but less than a four-year degree.

Alice Pritchard, Executive Director of Campaign for a Working Connecticut, stated, “If we are to realize Connecticut’s full economic potential, access to training that prepares workers for middle skill jobs is imperative. Congressman Larson understands the importance of investing in education and this legislation will make a real difference in the career opportunities of Connecticut’s workers and the competitiveness of our businesses.”

Congressman Larson added, “As we continue to transition into a knowledge-based economy, the workers of Connecticut and our nation must have the opportunity to further their education in the way they see fit. The global economy is moving too fast, and it will be to our own detriment if we do not provide an opportunity for workers to further their education and properly save to finance the costs.”

Dan Malloy and Nancy Wyman, the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor, met today with seniors in three Connecticut towns to discuss their plans for supporting Connecticut’s elderly population.

This morning, Malloy and Wyman visited a Genesis Health Care Center in Meriden and the Luther Ridge Senior Living Center in Middletown, touring each facility and meeting with residents. The pair will make a third stop this afternoon at the Whitney Center in Hamden.

In their discussions on senior issues, Malloy and Wyman have focused on investing in services that give seniors choices in where and how they receive medical care, properly funding nursing homes to cover the actual costs of providing quality care, and initiating long-overdue comprehensive tax reform that will help relieve the property tax burden on seniors living on fixed incomes. More of their thoughts on supporting seniors can be viewed at http://www.danmalloy.com/Seniors.pdf.

“The same way that it’s unacceptable to send our children into a public school system that’s failing them, it’s also unacceptable that we don’t support our senior population that has given us so much,” said Malloy. “This isn’t just a moral imperative; it’s also an economic one. Connecticut’s population is already among the oldest in the country, and getting older. We need to make the necessary systemic changes now, or the challenges are only going to become that much more daunting in the years ahead.”

“I am committed to a long-term care plan for our seniors that includes strict quality-control and proper funding of our nursing homes for those who truly need 24-hour care,” Wyman said. “But my emphasis as Lt. Governor will be to increase the use of home care so that our seniors can remain in their home among family and friends whenever possible. Caring for my own parents in their later years showed me how home care can not only extend the quantity of life, but the quality of life for our loved ones.”

George Jepsen, Democratic candidate for Attorney General, has met the qualifications needed for public financing.

“I am extremely grateful that more than 1,300 individuals contributed to my campaign, allowing me to run under the program,” Jepsen said. He is the only candidate for Attorney General participating in the public financing program.

Connecticut’s Clean Election law, passed after the corruption conviction of former Gov. John Rowland, has been hailed as one of the most comprehensive public campaign finance laws in the nation. Candidates for constitutional offices, such as Attorney General, qualify for public money if they raise $75,000 in contributions of $100 or less from qualified donors. Meeting that requirement makes the candidate eligible for a $750,000 state grant for the general election.

“I supported the clean elections system while serving in the legislature,” Jepsen said. The bill became law in 2005, after Jepsen had left the state Senate.

“The public understands full well that candidates who rely on special-interest money to fund their campaigns are less responsive to the needs of ordinary voters,” Jepsen said.

“It’s time we return to a government of, by, and for the people, not a government bought and paid for by special interests.” Public financing enables more candidates to run and to spend more time connecting with voters, rather than dialing for dollars, he said.

“CCAG congratulates George Jepsen for qualifying to participate in Connecticut’s landmark citizen election program. It is vital that the Attorney General’s office continue to be free of the taint that has clouded Connecticut’s recent past. George Jepsen’s commitment to the Citizen’s Election Program shows why he will be the Attorney General Connecticut deserves and exemplifies why CCAG is proud to have endorsed him,” said Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group. “
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Scandals during the Rowland era are still fresh in people’s minds and have cost Connecticut taxpayers millions of dollars in bad deals, no-bid contracts and a massive loss in public trust,” Swan said.

Tom Folly’s campaign has been attracting a lot of attention this week – none of it good.

The Connecticut Post in its front page article, Foley’s Iraq experience: What’s fact, what’s fiction? points out that some claims on Tom Foolery’s website seem exaggerated:

1. “Donning bulletproof vests, dodging rockets and mortars, and avoiding IEDs became regular parts of the routine.”

But Mr. Folly had previously downplayed the danger, said he often traveled around Baghdad without an escort and “never once ran into a situation that I considered hostile.”

2. The Foley campaign website notes Mr. Foley’s his team of 10 helped restart many businesses, rewrote commercial law and “helped restructure the banking system.”

But Mr. Foley did not oversee financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies.

The article also presents Foley’s defense after he said “I don’t give a shit about international law” when told it was against international law to sell an occupied country’s assets.

He was not an international law expert and he didn’t privatize businesses – he just created a plan to do so.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg:

His Republican opponents want to know more about his two arrests for vehicular assault.

And Foley is suing to stop his opponent Mike Fedele from getting public financing.

He even has had to deny that he beat his wife, (she had charged that he was abusive, then recanted) but could not deny that he was involved in a highly contentious custody battle that “raged in state courts for a dozen more years, including a year when he was co-chairman of a commission studying changes to the state’s divorce and custody laws.”

For even more background on Foley in Iraq read these posts:

Tom Foley in Iraq: The Failure of Greed

Tom Foley: “I don’t give a … about international law.”