Al Franken's Blog, page 39
October 17, 2014
Where to get free tickets to see First Lady Michelle Obama
This Tuesday, October 21, First Lady Michelle Obama will headline a grassroots GOTV event in support of Sen. Al Franken and Gov. Mark Dayton at Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis. Doors will open at 2PM, and tickets are required for entry.
Who: First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator Al Franken, Governor Mark Dayton
What: Grassroots GOTV event
Where: Patrick Henry High School, 4320 Newton Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55412
When: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014. Doors will open at 2PM.
TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of tickets will be available for pick-up at the following locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul:
Minneapolis Coordinated Campaign Action Center – NE Minneapolis
67 8th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
10am to 6pm
Minneapolis Field Office – South Minneapolis
2410 E 38th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55406
10am to 6pm
St. Paul Field Office
262 University Ave. W
St. Paul, MN 55103
10am to 6pm
** Note: If you’ve already RSVP’d to the event online, you will need to pick up a ticket at this location. All attendees must have a ticket to enter the event. **
The post Where to get free tickets to see First Lady Michelle Obama appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 16, 2014
Getting out the vote: Clarice
Sally King, Digital Intern
Clarice, a phone bank volunteer in St. Paul, got the call back in April to get involved with Team Franken. She jumped in right away.
“I was waiting for the call – I wasn’t a hard sell at all! This has been such an incredible experience — the energy in the field office is contagious, and I always leave with a positive feeling. I’m really proud of the fact that I have been able to do this.”
Through hours and hours of talking to voters on the phones at the field office, she’s made a lot of new friends, too.
“A lot of people come in and out of this office for a canvass, a phone bank or to pick up a yard sign. At this point, we all know each other by name — and I consider everyone a new friend.”
Clarice encourages anyone and everyone to help Team Franken get out the vote in these final 20 days.
“I tell people that volunteering is good for you, because it is! I feel good because I’m working on something that means a lot to me. Instead of staying at home, I’m meeting new people and making phone calls for Sen. Franken and other DFLers.”
She believes Al should be re-elected because he fights for what is important to her and her family.
“I’m with Al, because he’s worked so hard for my family in the Senate. He wrote the 80/20 rule in the Affordable Care Act, which insures my health care dollars go into actual health care. And as someone on Social Security, I know he’s fighting to protect it from privatization, which is scary. But most of all, I’ve been impressed by his warm personality when he stops by the field office. He’s truly thankful for our work on this campaign.”
Join Clarice at a GOTV shift near you.
The post Getting out the vote: Clarice appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 15, 2014
Getting out the vote: Clarice
Sally King, Digital Intern
Clarice, a phone bank volunteer in St. Paul, got the call back in April to get involved with Team Franken. She jumped in right away.
“I was waiting for the call – I wasn’t a hard sell at all! This has been such an incredible experience — the energy in the field office is contagious, and I always leave with a positive feeling. I’m really proud of the fact that I have been able to do this.”
Through hours and hours of talking to voters on the phones at the field office, she’s made a lot of new friends, too.
“A lot of people come in and out of this office for a canvass, a phone bank or to pick up a yard sign. At this point, we all know each other by name — and I consider everyone a new friend.”
Clarice encourages anyone and everyone to help Team Franken get out the vote in these final 20 days.
“I tell people that volunteering is good for you, because it is! I feel good because I’m working on something that means a lot to me. Instead of staying at home, I’m meeting new people and making phone calls for Sen. Franken and other DFLers.”
She believes Al should be re-elected because he fights for what is important to her and her family.
“I’m with Al, because he’s worked so hard for my family in the Senate. He wrote the 80/20 rule in the Affordable Care Act, which insures my health care dollars go into actual health care. And as someone on Social Security, I know he’s fighting to protect it from privatization, which is scary. But most of all, I’ve been impressed by his warm personality when he stops by the field office. He’s truly thankful for our work on this campaign.”
Join Clarice at a GOTV shift near you.
The post Getting out the vote: Clarice appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
SATURDAY: Join me, Elizabeth Warren and Jeremy Messersmith in Northfield!
Al Franken
What are you doing on Saturday? Would you like to hang out with me and Elizabeth Warren at Carleton College?
If no, why not? It’s going to be a great time. We’ll be discussing the upcoming election and the issues that are important to Minnesotans. And Senator Warren is a progressive rock star. Were you hoping for an actual rock star?
You were, huh? Ok.
Then join me, Senator Elizabeth Warren and singer-songwriter Jeremy Messersmith at Carleton College THIS SATURDAY.
Date: Saturday October 18th
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: Weitz Center for Creativity Commons
Address: Carleton College
320 3rd St. East, Northfield, MN 55057
I hope to see you there,
Al
P.S. I shouldn’t say that Senator Warren isn’t a real rock star. With the skills she’s shown in fighting for progressive values like affordable education and consumer protection it wouldn’t surprise me if she could also throw down a mean Purple Rain guitar solo. I don’t know if we’ll find that out on Saturday, but RSVP here and join us.
The post SATURDAY: Join me, Elizabeth Warren and Jeremy Messersmith in Northfield! appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 14, 2014
Did you see: “Franken wants ‘stalker’ app crackdown”
Sam Fettig, Communications Assistant
Al’s working hard on privacy issues in the Senate — particularly, on the issue of so-called “stalking apps.” These applications can track a subject’s cell phone activity — emails, phone calls, text messages and location — if a perpetrator has access to the subject’s cell phone to download it. According to a National Network to End Domestic Violence survey, 72 percent of programs serving domestic violence and stalking victims in the U.S said their clients had reported being tracked using GPS devices.
Read more on how he continues to press the Department of Justice on this issue in The Hill:
Federal officials need to punish developers of “stalker” applications that track people without their knowledge, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said on Monday.
Franken, who has been a vocal critic of the apps, is renewing his push against the developers two weeks after the Justice Department made its first arrest of someone trying to sell a spyware app.
“Ending the proliferation and use of these apps is vital to protecting victims of stalking and domestic violence,” he wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday.
Franken, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, has previously pushed Congress to enact new protections for data about people’s location.
“While Congress ultimately must enact such legislation to fully strengthen our federal efforts to protect Americans’ location privacy, there remains more that the [Justice Department] can do under current law to stop those that develop and market stalking apps,” he told Holder.
The post Did you see: “Franken wants ‘stalker’ app crackdown” appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 13, 2014
Mike McFadden is not for us
The Facts:
MCFADDEN IS OPPOSED TO LEGISLATION TO HELP ENSURE WOMEN RECEIVE EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK
McFadden Called Pay Equity “An Election Year Trick.” ”[McFadden] called the vote concerning gender-based pay discrimination an election-year trick and said personhood legislation, which seeks to give fetuses the same rights as people, is a ‘polarizing’ issue that he wouldn’t focus on.” [Huffington Post, 4/10/14]
McFadden: Proposed Pay Equity Legislation Is Part Of “Election Year Tricks” And “Politics As Usual,” Said He Wanted Political Leaders To Focus On Other Issues. During an April 2014 press conference, McFadden was asked about proposed pay equity legislation in the Senate. After initially evading the question, another reporter followed up:
REPORTER: “To Brian’s Question – that was a yes or no, again – would you have voted to move the debate forward? Or not?”
MCFADDEN: “Well, once again, I think it’s the wrong question. The right question is how we get…”
REPORTER: “But that’s a question you would have been asked if you were in the Senate yesterday.”
MCFADDEN: “But I wasn’t in the Senate yesterday. I hope to be in the Senate next January. These are election year tricks. It’s politics as usual. This same bill has come up in 2010, 2012, it will come up in 2014. I want politicians and leaders to focus on how we get this economy growing.” [McFadden Press Conference, 4/10/14]
View Video Of McFadden’s Comments Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lwQo5fS6O8&feature=youtu.be
MCFADDEN WOULD RAISE THE MEDICARE RETIREMENT AGE
McFadden Supports Raising The Age Of Eligibility For Medicare. In July 2013, the Associated Press reported: “A major field of debate between Franken and his opponent is likely to be how to reduce the national debt. McFadden said Congress has to tackle the costs of Social Security and Medicare, and he suggested one way could be raising the eligibility age of 65 for both programs. ‘Not for people near the retirement age now — that’s not fair because they don’t have time to change their planning,’ McFadden said. ‘But it seems to me that some conversation around some age, and below, that the age upon which you receive these benefits would increase. The logic behind this would be that the mortality rate has gone up since those programs were created.’” [Associated Press, 7/23/13]
McFadden Said He Supported Raising Eligibility Age For Medicare, “Take The Average Lifespan Minus Some Number Of Years.” During an interview, McFadden said: “So on Medicare you’ve got two issues: you’ve got a demographic issue and a cost issue. And I think we need to look at the retirement age and what age an individual becomes eligible for Social Security, excuse me, for Medicare.” The reporter asked: ”Obviously look at raising it?” McFadden: ”Yeah. Absolutely. And you know, Eric, if we were progressive, when this was put into place when the average lifespan was significantly lower than it is today, you’d almost put it in as a formula, take the average lifespan minus some number of years. Because otherwise we’re gonna have to revisit this question.” [MinnPost, 7/23/14]
CBPP: “Raising Medicare’s Eligibility Age Would Increase Overall Health Spending And Shift Costs To Seniors, States, And Employers.” “Raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67 … would not only fail to constrain health care costs across the economy; it would increase them. While this proposal would save the federal government money, it would do so by shifting costs to most of the 65- and 66-year-olds who would lose Medicare coverage, to employers that provide health coverage for their retirees, to Medicare beneficiaries, to younger people who buy insurance through the new health insurance exchanges, and to states.” [Center On Budget And Policy Priorities, 8/23/11]
Meanwhile, CBO Estimates Show Raising The Medicare Retirement Age Wouldn’t Even Save The Government That Much Money. According to The Atlantic, “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now estimates that gradually increasing the Medicare age from 65 to 67 would only save the government $19 billion between 2016 and 2023 — or 0.01 percent of GDP over that time. Nor would it save much more over the longer term; just 0.07 percent of GDP by 2038.” [The Atlantic, 10/25/13; CBO, 10/24/13]
MCFADDEN IS WILLING TO CONSIDER PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY
McFadden Said Privatization Of Social Security Should Be On The Table.
REPORTER: “Ok, and does that allow perhaps some of that public money to be invested in the stock market, which some people say is privatization?”
MCFADDEN: Potentially. Potentially. I would want to look at that, Tom. I think everything needs to be on the table. We need to save these programs. I mean, they’re important to our seniors. I mean, we, as a society, have to take care of our seniors. I absolutely believe that. [Minnesota Public Radio Policast with Mike Mulcahy, 7/16/13]
MinnPost: In Answer To A 2013 Question About Social Security Privatization, “McFadden Said it Should Be On The Table.” “Coleman had supported Bush’s first push to partially privatize Social Security. But heading into his 2008 reelection campaign, he downgraded his support to a statement that privatization was an option that should be ‘on the table’ (the quote in that link is not actually from Coleman but from his campaign manager speaking for him) and that anything to revise Social Security should come from a commission that has considered all the options. It foreshadowed the McFadden position about putting everything on the table but hesitating to endorse the options once they were tabled. In fact, although I negligently failed to ask McFadden where he stood on privatization, MPR reporter Tom Scheck did ask him last year; McFadden said it should be on the table.” [MinnPost, 7/24/14]
CBO Estimated That A Social Security Plan That Diverts Money Into Private Accounts Will Force Benefit Cuts. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, President Bush’s private accounts plan “would reduce expected retirement benefits relative to scheduled benefits, even when the benefits paid from IAs [individual accounts] under CSSS Plan 2 are included… For example, benefits for the 1980s birth cohort would be 30 percent lower, and benefits for the 2000s cohort would be 45 percent lower.” [CBO, “Long-term Analysis of Plan 2 of the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security,” 7/21/2004, page 15 and Table 2]
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Because President Bush Proposed No New Revenues, “Benefit Cuts Would Be Deeper Than Necessary.” In an April 2005 editorial, the Star Tribune wrote, “So far, the president has said almost nothing about new revenues as part of a solution. This means, ipso facto, that benefit cuts would be deeper than necessary.” [Star Tribune, Editorial, 4/30/05 (emphasis added)]
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Private Accounts “Carved Out” Of Social Security “Would Require Social Security To Make A Second Round Of Benefit Cuts In The Future To Recover The Lost Revenue.” In an April 2005 editorial, the Star Tribune wrote, “The president continues to insist on private retirement accounts that are ‘carved out’ of Social Security – that is, funded by rebating a portion of current payroll taxes to younger workers. This has two grave consequences: It would require hundreds of billions of dollars in new government borrowing, at a time when Washington already is deeply in the red, and it would require Social Security to make a second round of benefit cuts in the future to recover the lost revenue.” [Star Tribune, Editorial, 4/30/05 (emphasis added)]
CBPP: Seven In Ten Workers Would See Benefit Cuts From Privatization Proposal. In a 2005 report, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that seven of ten workers would have their benefits cut. They wrote, “All workers with income above $20,000 today would be subject to benefit reductions. Seven of every ten workers would be affected.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/29/05]
MCFADDEN MADE IT CLEAR HE WOULD HAVE VOTED TO PROTECT EGREGIOUS TAX BREAKS FOR CORPORATIONS THAT SHIP AMERICAN JOBS OVERSEAS WHEN HE ATTACKED AL FRANKEN FOR VOING TO END THEM
McFadden Attacked Franken For Voting To Close Tax Loopholes For Companies That Ship Jobs Overseas. Two different McFadden campaign ads have attacked Franken for an August 2010 vote for a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. According to the Washington Post, “To pay for the new spending, the measure would cut off in March 2014 an expansion of food-stamp benefits enacted in last year’s stimulus. And it would end tax breaks for some multinational corporations that are based in the United States but have operations and pay taxes abroad. Closing those ‘loopholes,’ as Democrats call them, is the centerpiece of a House Democratic campaign to promote domestic manufacturing and discourage companies from shipping jobs overseas.” [WCCO, 9/10/14; McFadden Press Release, 9/16/14; Vote 228, 8/5/10; Washington Post, 8/5/10]
The post Mike McFadden is not for us appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
GOTV Volunteers Needed
Alana Petersen, Organizing Director
Did you see Matt’s email this morning? We’re headed into the final weeks of this campaign — and that means more volunteer shifts to fill. Getting out the vote means knocking as many doors and making as many phone calls as we can through Election Day. Read more about why this is so important — then find a GOTV shift near you.
Dear Friend,
In 2008, Al won by 312 votes. I’d be willing to call that a “razor-thin” margin if ever there was one.
Our Get-Out-The-Vote effort made the difference in 2008. It’s going to make the difference again this year, and I want you to be a part of it.
Even the fanciest TV ads aren’t as effective at turning out voters as real, person-to-person contacts. When you knock on a door to remind your neighbors to vote, they can’t exactly change the channel.
312 votes is a ridiculously small margin and none of us wants to see another recount. It’s up to our grassroots volunteers to expand that margin this November.
Not much time left in this race. Let’s finish strong.
Thanks,
Matt
Matt Burgess
Campaign Manager
Al Franken for Senate 2014
The post GOTV Volunteers Needed appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 11, 2014
PHOTOS: #MNVotesEarly Rally with President Bill Clinton
Sara Cederberg, Digital Director
Over 1,000 of our closest friends and supporters. President Clinton, Gov. Dayton, Sen. Klobuchar and Secretary of State Candidate Steve Simon giving fantastic speeches. Yesterday was a great day.
Check out these great photos, below.
Team Franken is ready to win—say you’re in.
The post PHOTOS: #MNVotesEarly Rally with President Bill Clinton appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
New ad highlights Franken’s work to help Minnesotans refinance student loans
Franken student loan bill will help half a million Minnesotans
ST. PAUL [10/11/14] — Today, the Franken campaign released a new TV ad that highlights Sen. Franken’s hard work to help lower the cost of college for Minnesotans.
The 30-second statewide ad, titled “All Together,” features Sen. Franken with a Minnesota family talking about his work to help half a million Minnesotans refinance their student loans:“You can refinance your house. You can refinance your car. So why can’t people like Grace and Ryan here refinance their student loans?”
The average Minnesotan graduates from college $31,000 in debt. To combat the burden this puts on graduates, Sen. Franken introduced the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Actto give Minnesotans the ability to refinance their student loans at lower rates. The bill is paid for by enacting the Buffett rule, which would ensure millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes.
Documentation of the ad can be found here.
TRANSCRIPT:
AL FRANKEN: You can refinance your house. You can refinance your car. So why can’t people like Grace and Ryan here refinance their student loans? It’s one of those Washington things that make no sense. The average Minnesotan graduates from college $31,000 in debt. So I’m working to pass a law to let people renegotiate their student loans. It’ll help half a million Minnesotans. I’m Al Franken. We’ve gotta help these guys pay off their student loans, so they can worry about this little guy when he goes off to college, and that’s why I approve this message.
###
The post New ad highlights Franken’s work to help Minnesotans refinance student loans appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
October 9, 2014
Getting Out the Vote: Rajan
At the Shoreview office, volunteers are taking charge and getting the job done. For Rajan, it’s all about talking to Minnesotans and making sure they’re ready to vote between now and Election Day.
“I feel that if you don’t participate in the process, then you can’t complain. I grew up in a household where it is important to show that you have a voice. That’s why I volunteer.”
Rajan has been impressed by Al’s hard work for Minnesota — and distressed by investment banker Mike McFadden’s history of putting profits over people.
“Mike McFadden’s record of putting profits over people as an investment banker concerns me greatly. On the other hand, Al has entered this race with a long record that has put Minnesota first — making sure we’re investing in a skilled workforce for a 21st century economy, and taking on Wall Street for shady practices that led to the financial collapse.”
But what keeps Rajan coming back to volunteer is the relationships he’s built with other supporters.
“You get to have face-to-face conversations every day with people on the issues they care about. Many times, you’ll hear a personal story that moves you to do more. People are excited to get out the vote for Al — I encourage everyone to volunteer.”
Sign up to get out the vote for Team Franken as a volunteer today.
The post Getting Out the Vote: Rajan appeared first on U.S. Senator Al Franken, Minnesota -- Official Campaign Website.
Al Franken's Blog
- Al Franken's profile
- 651 followers
