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Last Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a non-binding amendment that sought to put the Senate on record opposing using “chained CPI” to calculate Social Security and Veterans’ benefits — which would cut benefits for both programs.

While Sanders had originally pushed for a voice vote, he was convinced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to back off of this demand and allow the amendment under a voice vote. The Senate then passed Sanders’s amendment, putting it on the record against chained CPI.

While the vote was non-binding, and the lack of a roll call vote means we are unable to see which Senators are in favor of chained CPI, it is an important victory that not enough Senators supported it to block Sanders’s amendment.

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter asking Members of Congress to vote against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

Last night, the city of Chicago unveiled a plan to close 54 elementary schools, mostly in low-income and African American areas — meeting fierce resistance from parents, teachers, and students who fear for their safety in longer commutes to new, overcrowded schools. The authors of the plan claim that it’s needed to close a $1 billion city deficit.

But a look at the city’s finances show that it is wasting potentially hundreds of millions of dollars on financing private development projects — all culled from property taxes that traditionally were used to finance the school system instead.

Known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF), this program diverts a portion of property taxes in certain districts to fund development projects — which siphon money off to contractors and private developers — instead.

Estimates of how much money is diverted to the TIF projects range from $500 million to $800 million, and some of the arrangements have been anAi??embarrassmentAi??to the city. For example, the city gave $30 million “to the developers of River Point, an upscale office complex on the banks of the Chicago River downtown, in the hottest real estate market in the city.”

This morning, a parent-led organization called Raise Your Hand held a press conference highlighting the impact of the closings on special education students in particular (6,000 are expected to be impacted). “Chicago Public Schools has traumatized these families,” says the first speaker. Watch it:

With school closing plan causing uproar in many Chicago communities, and it is expected to impact 30,000 kids and 1,000 teachers overall if enacted — making it difficult to see why the city is closing schools but not looking at the TIF program for savings.

Last year, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a strike to fight against school privatization, decaying school infrastructure, and unfair contracts for teachers. Their popular strike won a series of concessions from Chicago Public Schools, despite opposition from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But the CTU is once again being forced to mobilize as CPS has unveiled a plan to close almost 50 neighborhood schools, in a scorched earth budget-cutting maneuver. CPS principals were astonishingly not even told their schools would be closing until 6 a.m. today. “Iai??i??m angry. Iai??i??m upset. Iai??i??m shaking to the core. I didnai??i??t think theyai??i??d actually go through with this, the largest number of closings ever. Thereai??i??s been no real planning,” saidAi??Clarice Berry, president of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

Chicago has never closed more than a dozen schools in a single year, and Emanuel reportedly pushed for closing so many at one time, deciding to offer a five-year moratorium on closings in the future as a bargaining chip.

CTU is planning a rally for next Wednesday to bring together students, teachers, parents, and other community members to protest against the school closure plan.

UPDATE: The full list has been unveiled. 54 schools are slated to be closed. They are all elementary schools and almost all of them are in low-income and/or black neighborhoods.

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Late yesterday, the New Hampshire state house took a bipartisanAi??189-139 vote to ask the U.S. Congress to overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision by amending the U.S. Constitution.

The text of the bill explicitly states that the legislature is “requesting Congress to begin the process for a constitutional amendment establishing that human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights.”

Click here to join our Take Back Democracy campaign to help stop the influence of money in our politics.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D)

There are signs that Congress may be backing off support for a renewed assault weapons ban, and even a proposal to require universal background checks for gun purchases may be in peril.

But out West, one state is taking the lead, not waiting for Congress to act. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) today signed into law legislation that will expand background checks and limit the size of ammunition magazines. As Salon’s David Sirota points out, Hickenlooper was at firstAi??hesitantAi??to embrace reform, but polling showed that it was popular and he was eventually pushed by activists to help pass it.

Click here to sign on in support of the White Houseai??i??s bold plan to stop gun killings.

A growing number of people across the ideological spectrum are calling for breaking up the Big Banks — which would threaten to harm the global economy if they go under.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year, I discussed this idea with William Temple, a Tea Party activist and colonial re-enactor from Brunswick, Georgia:

THE DAILY CHANGE: There was another thing in [Rand Paul’s] speech that I think should appeal to everyone, people who aren’t even into politics. He said it’s not conservative to bail out bankers, Big Banks.

TEMPLE: That’s right.

THE DAILY CHANGE: There’s actually a group of Republicans, David Vitter is one of them, who are saying if these banks are going to get so big that they demand bailouts we should just break them up, we shouldn’t let them run our country. What do you think about that?

TEMPLE: Ai??I agree. That we should never have any entity in this country that is propped up by our government. It also shows that our government and big corporations are in bed together. You rotate out of a big company and you go right into politics. Or you go right out ofAi??politicsAi??and into a big company. And these companies are such, there’s nothing wrong with being a big company, but when a company gets so big that they can influence legislation — and work the system to such a degree that the small mom and pop shops, the small businesses that are trying to get started can’t compete. And when you’ve got government passing legislation that makes it almost impossible for any new entity to even get started, things are out of whack […]

THE DAILY CHANGE: And you would agree with people like David Vitter that say when an institution is …

Student debt is a huge problem in the United States, with the average student debt hitting a record high of $27,000 recently. But college wasn’t always this expensive in the United States. In fact, in some parts of the country it was virtually free.

For many years, dating back to the 19th century, California state colleges and universities were tuition-free. At most, students were asked to pay a small fee to cover certain university expenses (in 1899 this was $10 per semester).

When Gov. Ronald Reagan (R) took office, heAi??insisted on imposing a new feeAi??that would later become synonymous with tuition, thus ending Californiaai??i??s tradition of providing virtually free education to qualified college students. Since then, tuition has slowly skyrocketed, eclipsing the ability of many middle class Californians to get an affordable education.

In the past five fiscal years, California public colleges and universities have had the second-sharpest increases in tuition among any state in the country. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates this:

But 1,800 miles away, another state may get a chance at giving its students tuition-free college. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Halter has unveiled a plan called the “Arkansas Promise” which would make any state college tuition-free for a student who graduated from an Arkansas high school and can maintain a 2.5 grade point average.

We’ve launched a campaign to support Halterai??i??s bold plan to guarantee tuition-free college to students who work hard.Ai??Click here to sign on as a citizen supporter of the Arkansas Promise.

Last year, Michigan Republicans pushed through a radical “right to work” anti-union law. In the days before the law was passed, thousands of Michiganders protested, as it was being pushed through in a lame duck session so a number of defeated Republicans could vote for the unpopular measure.

During those protests, Fox News contributorAi??Steven Crowder claimed that a union protester punched him. The network ran video showing one protester punching Crowder, giving the impression that it was an unprovoked attack. That video has 1.4 million views on YouTube, and was used as anti-unionAi??propagandaAi??by the network.

Crowder soon filed a police report following the December 11 incident. But the county prosecutor,Ai??Stuart Dunnings III, has now said that he will refuse to prosecute. Dunning explained that he viewed an unedited clip of the same situation — captured by The Young Turks — and that it clearly shows that the protester who threw the punch was first pushed down, and that it appears that he was simply acting in self defense against a larger crowd that first attacked him.

Watch the unedited footage:

“Iai??i??m not holding that against him, but why would they provide the edited video? The longer video clearly shows the guy got pushed down and came up swinging,” said Billings.

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Bill Halter

Former Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, an Arkansas Democratic Party candidate for governor, today unveiled a new proposal that would allow all students in the state who have at least a 2.5 grade point average to attend a state college tuition-free. An except from a statement Halter released about his plan:

ai???I call it the Arkansas Promise. Simply stated, if you go to high school in Arkansas, qualify for a lottery scholarship, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and plan to attend college in the state, we promise to pay your college tuition. The overall scholarship level would be set at the tuition level of the highest-cost, four-year public university in Arkansas.ai???

As millions of Americans face steep college debt, the Arkansas Promise could be a model for college affordability and achievement across the nation.

ai???If you wouldnai??i??t hire a football coach who doesnai??i??t aspire to winning the national championship and have a plan to do so, then why would you hire a Chief Executive Officer of the state who doesnai??i??t aspire to help make Arkansas the best state in America and have a plan to make it happen,” continues Halter’s statement.

Recall that Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) members mobilized in huge numbers to back Halter in his primary against conservative Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). As a result of that primary, Lincoln backed and passed a tough measure to regulate Wall Street banks.

We’re launching a campaign today to support Halter’s bold plan to guarantee tuition-free college to students who work hard. Click here to sign on as a citizen supporter of the Arkansas Promise.

Most Americans want the minimum wage to be raised — 73 percent of them, including 50 percent of self-identified Republicans. But Big Business wants to fight an increase, and has enlisted its allies in Congress to block it.

Last week, the Senate held a hearing on the minimum wage and a business owner testified that a wage hike may force businesses to fire workers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) deftly dismantled this talking point, pointing out that, for example, it would only cost McDonalds four cents more per meal to provide a $10.10 minimum wage to all of its workers.

WARREN: During my Senate campaign, I ate a number 11 at McDonald’s many, many times a week. I know the price on that. $7.19. According to the data on the analysis of what would happen if we raised the minimum wage to $10.10 over three years, the price increase on that item would be about four cents. So instead of being $7.19 it would be $7.23. Are you telling me that’s unsustainable?

BUSINESS OWNER DAVID RUTIGLIANO: Senator Warren, not all restaurants are created equal. I’m in a full service restaurant business. McDonalds has efficiencies and they operate completely differently than I do. I have many jobs, many jobs that pay well above minimum wage. We have a retirement plan. We offer health insurance to our salaried employees. So my business is a little different. I can’t raise a four cent price. I mean I don’t have, I don’t operate like a fast food restaurant. I would hope you appreciate the distinction.

WARREN: I do appreciate the distinction and I’m not going to be in the business of being a McDonald’s representatives but they would talk about having some higher paid jobs and some opportunities for management and advancement …