STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT: INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE HELPS OUR NATION'S VETERANS. Senate Democrats believe that responsible Americans who work full time deserve a fair shot at making a good living. That means making sure that our veterans have access to economic opportunity, and that no veteran leaving the battlefield has to fight to stay out of poverty. The Minimum Wage Fairness Act would boost incomes for over 1 million veterans across the country and help us build a strong economy from the middle out, not the top down. [DPCC, 4/24/14]

STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT OF THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET ON SENIORS. The Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it by moving seniors from guaranteed benefits to a voucher program that sticks them with higher health care costs. For the fourth budget in a row, Republicans have made it clear that they would rather rely on seniors to shoulder the burden of deficit reduction than close even one tax loophole that benefits wealthy special interests. The consequences for seniors are devastating. Click for a report on how the Republican budget would impact seniors in each state. [State By State Reports, 4/23/14]

STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT OF THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET ON WOMEN. Senate Democrats are working to provide a fair shot for everyone to succeed by creating good paying jobs and opportunity for working women. Instead of protecting programs critical to women across the country, Republicans have again introduced a budget that would take an enormous toll on women by cutting the services they rely on for their health and the health of their children. Click for a report on how the Republican budget would affect women in your state. [State By State Reports, 4/23/14]

STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT OF REPUBLICAN BUDGET ON THE ECONOMY. Senate Democrats are working to provide a fair shot for everyone to succeed by creating good paying jobs and opportunity for working families. Our country is strongest when our economy grows from the middle out, not the top down, but the Republican budget takes the opposite approach. It benefits the few at the top by showering tax breaks on millionaires and corporate special interests while shifting the burden to middle-class families.[State By State Reports, 4/15/14]

STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT OF REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTION OF UI COMPROMISE.Senate Democrats and six Senate Republicans voted to extend emergency unemployment compensation. Almost 270,000 veterans would benefit from enacting this legislation into law. Veterans are losing this vital lifeline every day. It's time for the House to act. See how many unemployed veterans would benefit from the Senate-passed unemployment insurance compromise in your state. [DPCC, 4/8/14]

STATE REPORTS: REPUBLICAN BUDGET WILL HURT WOMEN. Senate Democrats have introduced a budget that cuts wasteful spending, invests in what the economy needs to grow, and protects programs critical to women across the country. Meanwhile, Republicans have again introduced a budget that would take an enormous toll on the nation's women, cutting the services they rely on for their health and the health of their children. [State By State Reports, 3/20/13]

STATE REPORTS: REPUBLICAN BUDGET WILL HURT THE MIDDLE CLASS. The Republican budget is anything but balanced. It would grant millionaires an extra $245,000 tax cut, while raising taxes on middle class families by $3,000 on average. It would cause two million job losses next year alone, and gut investments that the middle class relies on to get ahead. Senate Democrats have a budget that takes a balanced approach. It cuts what we need to cut, without hurting our economy and our middle class. [State By State Reports, 3/19/13]

STATE REPORTS: REPUBLICAN BUDGET WILL END MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT AND FORCE SENIORS TO PAY MORE FOR HEALTH CARE. The new Republican budget introduced by Congressman Paul Ryan would end Medicare as we know it by moving seniors from guaranteed benefits to a voucher program that sticks them with higher health care costs. For the third budget in a row, Republicans have made it clear that they would rather rely on seniors to shoulder the burden of deficit reduction than close even one tax loophole that benefits wealthy special interests. The consequences for seniors are devastating. [State By State Reports, 3/13/13]

DPCC RELEASES STATE-BY-STATE DATA ON THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF THE GOP'S MEDICARE-ENDING BUDGET.  DPCC released new state-by-state reports that outline the devastating impact of the new Republican budget. Instead of strengthening Medicare, the new Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it, raise the eligibility age to 67, and turn guaranteed benefits for over 45 million seniors into a voucher that will shift higher costs to seniors over time. Under the proposal, seniors could see their out of pocket costs increase by as much as $5,900 per year. [State by State Reports, 3/22/12]

THE SENATE TRANSPORTATION BILL WILL CREATE OR PRESERVE MILLIONS OF JOBS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined Senate Democrats in a press conference urging the House to pass the Senate's bipartisan transportation bill that would create and sustain almost three million jobs. If the highway bill does not pass the House by March 31st, thousands of construction projects across the country would ground to a halt and hundreds of thousands of workers will stop receiving paychecks. The Senate's bipartisan transportation bill will help rebuild America's crumbling roads and bridges, and create jobs in all fifty states.  [State By State Jobs Figures, 3/15/12]

PAYROLL TAX CUT WILL PUT $1,000 ON AVERAGE IN POCKETS OF 160 MILLION AMERICANS.  After months of Republican opposition, Democrats were able to extend the payroll tax cut through the end of 2012.  This tax cut will put an additional $1,000 on average in the pockets of middle-class families.  In January, the Joint Economic Committee Democrats released a report, "Keeping More Money in the Pockets of American Families," detailing how much money the 12 month extension will put in the pocket of one- and two-earner families at a county and state-level. [Keeping More Money in the Pockets of American Families, JEC, 1/25/12]

VOW TO HIRE HEROES ACT WILL HELP RETURNING VETERANS FIND JOBS.  After serving our country honorably, all veterans deserve the chance to earn a paycheck and support their families.  In November, Senate Democrats passed, and the President signed into law, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act which will provide job training for veterans and tax credits to certain business and tax exempt organizations that hire them. The bill addresses a critical problem facing the nation - the high rate of unemployment among our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  The DPCC has compiled county-level statistics showing the number of veterans, and the local unemployment rate for veterans, for each county in the country. [Veterans Unemployment Statistics, DPCC, 11/4/11]

GOP BUDGET TO END MEDICARE WOULD FORCE SENIORS TO PAY THOUSANDS MORE IN HEALTH CARE COSTS.  The 2012 Republican budget, authored by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), would end Medicare as we know it and force the next generation of America's seniors to pay thousands of dollars more in out-of-pocket costs for health care.  The Republican budget would also hurt current seniors on day one by immediately repealing the Medicare "donut hole," forcing current Medicare enrollees to spend more on their prescriptions drugs.  The DPCC released state and county-level data on how much repealing the "donut hole" fix will cost today's senior citizens over the next ten years. [Impact of Repealing Donut Hole Fix, DPCC, 4/4/11]