The big news is obviously that Congress was simply unable to act last week.  The House could not move its budget bill with $50 billion in onerous cuts; the Senate Finance Committee couldn’t move the tax cuts, thanks to Sen. Snowe joining the Democrats in rejecting them.  This was an historic and unexpected victory, as the Associated Press noted.

YWCA USA CEO Peggy Sanchez spoke for many coalition leaders: "The YWCA is grateful for the support of both Democrats and Republicans who are choosing to protect the most vulnerable of our society and refusing to sacrifice them to unnecessary, harmful and politically motivated cuts. We ask them to continue to fight for what is morally just. No one on either side of the aisle should forget the lessons of Hurricane Katrina - that there are too many people in the United States living in and on the edge of poverty."

Yesterday, Senate Finance did move the tax bill – but without the most regressive tax cut, which would extend capital gains and dividend rate cuts.  Our pressure has created the first rejection of an existing Bush tax break for millionaires.  But Sen. Frist remains firm: he wrote that "Tax relief has worked" and calls for Congress to reauthorize cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes ("which we eventually need to eliminate altogether"). 

Meanwhile, more and more Republican Congressmembers have staked out positions against their own leadership's budget:

• Rep. Jim Leach, R-IA: "the proposal of significantly reducing student loans, food stamps and a host of other social programs at a time of many wrenches in the economy appears un-compelling."
• Rep. Rob Simmons, R-CT, in the Hartford Courant: Simmons and others find such changes hard to explain back home. "This budget package is too big," the congressman said. "It's too adverse for the times."  He's uneasy with how the bill tries to chop Medicaid spending by $12 billion over the next five years.
• Rep. Chris Shays, R-CT: "The poor bear an unfair burden of the proposed reductions.  I'm concerned about cuts to higher-education funding, child care, child welfare and food stamps. These are simply the wrong priorities."
• Rep. Tim Johnson, R-IL is also worried that changes to student-loan funding will adversely affect the three public universities in his district, a spokesman said. "Right now it appears the gulf is too wide, but he has not closed the door on it," said Phil Bloomer, a spokesman for Johnson.

On Nov, 15, the Congressional Budget Office concluded that “flexibility” language in Medicaid revisions pending in the House would reduce benefits for 2.5 million Medicaid enrollees in 2010. By 2015 that total will climb to 5 million enrollees, or about 8 percent of the Medicaid population.

Last week, our campaign conducted 37 separate actions on 39 target Republican Members, and constituents completed 25,624 calls to Congress, inundating target Congressional offices.  30,000 people placed virtual yard signs at www.actnow.org.

Today, MoveOn is conducting 137 separate "Speak Outs" to stop the reverse Robin Hood budget.   Members will tell their personal stories about Medicaid, food stamps and student loans.  NJ Citizen Action will sponsor a rally at Congressman Frank LoBiondo’s office: Stand up and Fight for the right priorities! Don't Cut Medicaid, Don't Cut Student Loans, Don't Cut Foster Care Spending and Don't cut Student services.  They will deliver a pair of boxing gloves to his office that say, Stand up and fight for the right priorities.

Also today, United for a Fair Economy (UFE) will release, in national and local press calls, a letter signed by hundreds of  wealthy individuals and business owners opposing the tax and budget package.  Yesterday, UFE released a new study, "Nothing to Be Thankful For: Tax Cuts and the Deteriorating U.S. Job Market," which examines the administration's claim that tax cuts create jobs – and finds it without merit.

All of this is happening in a context highlighted yesterday in the New York Times, "Voters Showed Less Appetite for Tax Cuts."  "The rejection of ballot measures in three states that would have rolled back taxes or limited spending may indicate a cooling of American voters' ardor for tax cuts."