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For Immediate Release
June, 15 2009, 01:09pm EDT
Contact:
Vaishalee Raja, Communications Director, EQCA (916) 284-9187, vaishalee@eqca.org
Louise Brooks, Media Coordinator, CFE (626) 993-4605, louise@cafaithforequality.org
Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA, (510) 332-0872, media@marriageequality.org
Same-Sex Couples, Faith leaders Celebrate First Anniversary of Marriage
Community members to hold anniversary events across the state, honoring historic milestone
WASHINGTON
What:
Faith leaders, same-sex couples, friends and family will gather across
the state to celebrate in honor of the one-year-anniversary of couples
who married last year when same-sex couples were able to legally marry.
Faith leaders will offer brief remarks, and couples will gather for a
group photo at each event.
When/Where:
June 16
Los Angeles: 4 p.m.
West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vicente Boulevard
San Francisco: 6:30 p.m.
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
1187 Franklin St, Starr King Room
June 17
Fresno: 6 PM
Historic Water Tower in Downtown Fresno
2444 Fresno St.
Inland Empire: 6:30 p.m.
Redlands UCC Church
168 Bellevue Ave.
Orange County: 6 p.m.
Fairview Community Church, Costa Mesa
2525 Fairview Rd.
San Diego: 5:30 p.m.
Mission Hills United Church of Christ
4070 Jackdaw St.
Sacramento: 6 p.m.
Sacramento County Clerk's Office
600 8th St.
For more information, please visit: www.eqca.org/anniversary
Event sponsors include, Equality California, California Faith for
Equality, Marriage Equality USA, Jordan Rustin Coalition, API Equality
- LA, Equality Inland Empire, Redlands United Church of Christ's
Christians for Marriage Equality, Orange County Equality Coalition,
Equality Action NOW, PFLAG, Courage Campaign- Fresno Equality Team,
Yes! on Equality, and Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry,
Spousesforlifeproject.com.
Equality
California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past
decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with
extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state
with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the
nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to
advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and
community empowerment. www.eqca.org
California
Faith for Equality is a statewide network of clergy and lay leaders
from a diversity of faith traditions who are committed to equality. www.cafaithforequality.org
Marriage
Equality USA is a national organization whose mission is to secure
legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the federal and
state level, without regard to gender identity or sexual orientation. www.marriageequality.org
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New Text Makes Clear 'House Republicans Are Proposing More Tax Cuts for the Wealthy'
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Since Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday evening released tax-related legislative language and announced a markup for President Donald Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill," economic justice advocates have sounded the alarm.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) scheduled a Tuesday afternoon hearing, shared 28 pages of legislative proposals for the reconciliation package, and positively framed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed in 2017. The tax reform push comes just months away from parts of that law—which critics call the "GOP tax scam"—expiring.
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Hanauer's group specifically noted that "the 2017 changes to personal income tax rates and brackets would be made permanent," as would the deduction that individuals receive from "pass-through" businesses, which would also increase from 20% to 22%. Republicans also want to hike the estate tax exemption from $13.99 million per spouse to $15 million and have it continue to rise with inflation.
"The very generous version of a tax break for offshore profits (the GILTI deduction) would be made permanent, effectively taxing the foreign profits of American corporations half as much (at most) as their domestic profits are taxed," the think tank highlighted.
ITEP also flagged that "the 2017 change to the standard deduction would be made permanent, and a temporary four-year boost would bump it up to $16,000 for individuals, $24,000 for taxpayers filing as head of household, and $32,000 for married couples."
"The child tax credit would temporarily increase to $2,500 per child from $2,000 per child for four years, but 4.5 million citizen kids would lose access to the... CTC due to a requirement that both their parents have Social Security numbers," the group warned.
Chuck Marr, vice president of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, similarly said in a series of Friday social media posts that the emerging "bill appears highly skewed to the wealthy, [with] several regressive expansions of 2017 tax cuts and full of costly timing gimmicks, while, despite their rhetoric, failing to deliver for millions of working-class families."
Like ITEP, Marr blasted House Republicans for their "glaring failure" on the CTC as well as for continuing to push the pass-through deduction and estate tax exemption, the latter of which he called "the most skewed provision of the 2017 law."
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"So tonight we've learned—despite all the Trump bluster—House Republicans are proposing more tax cuts for the wealthy, increasing its already bloated costs, while harshly failing to deliver for millions of families he promised to help," he concluded.
Smith's legislative text notably does not include letting the top tax rate revert from 37% to 39.6% for taxable income greater than $5 million for married couples and $2.5 million—an idea that Trump floated this week but, as NBC Newsput it, "is running into a buzz saw of opposition in the Republican Party."
Trump said on his Truth Social Platform early Friday: "The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!"
While Trump's comments this week have generated headlines about the president proposing "to raise income taxes on wealthy Americans," ITEP's Steve Wamhoff and Carl Davis argued in a blog post that "nobody should be deceived: The wealthiest taxpayers got enormous tax breaks from Trump's 2017 law and are getting additional large tax breaks in what Trump and Republicans are proposing now."
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
India and Pakistan accused each other of violating a cease-fire that had been announced Saturday by officials from both countries and U.S. President Donald Trump amid global fears of escalating tit-for-tat strikes between the nuclear-armed neighbors in the wake of last month's Pahalgam massacre in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
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Drop Site News noted that Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri accused Pakistan of "repeated violations" of the deal.
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The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs later released a statement saying that it "remains committed to faithful implementation" of the deal, accusing India of committing violations, and stressing that troops on the ground "should also exercise restraint."
Earlier Saturday, the Indian minister, Misri, had confirmed the cease-fire agreement, saying that "it was agreed that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea."
Indian officials have not publicly credited the United States for the deal, while Pakistani leaders have. Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar "specifically acknowledged the role played by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the process," according toGeo News.
Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister, said on social media that "we thank President Trump for his leadership and proactive role for peace in the region."
The U.S. president had said on his Truth Social platform: "After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Leaders around the world, including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, have urged diplomacy and restraint since militants attacked Hindu tourists and killed 26 people in Kashmir last month.
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Since returning to office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump—aided by his so-callled Department of Government Efficiency and its de facto leader, billionaire Elon Musk—has worked to quickly overhaul the bureaucracy, even though "the president does not possess authority to reorganize, downsize, or otherwise transform the agencies of the federal government, unless and until Congress authorizes such action," as the coalition's complaint notes.
District Judge Susan Illston agreed with the groups and governments, which include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Alliance for Retired Americans, Main Street Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, the city and county of San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, and more.
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As the newspaper detailed:
"There's a presumption of regularity that used to exist with respect to the government's actions that I think they need to re-earn," she said.
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