Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, and Rep. Keith Ellison, one of only two Muslims in Congress, have called for an end to the blockade of Gaza, after the deadly flotilla incident with Israel. In a letter to President Barack Obama, they urge him to make the same commitment to call for lifting the blockade, [...]

Obviously it hasn’t run through the legislative wringer yet, but the Local Jobs For America Act proposed by House Education and Labor Secretary George Miller looks like an exceedingly good piece of policy. It would provides through the community development block grant program $100 billion dollars to create local jobs through state and municipal budgets. [...]

With Mike Stark returning to FDL as a Hill reporter, I thought I’d post some of his recent exclusives, most of which are about the health care bill. Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva is fired up: Grijalva: What the Senate is doing is effectively emasculating the opportunity to have a public option. It’s up to [...]

We’re at a really tense time in America. The economy is improving mildly but job losses continue to mount. The stimulus package seems to have improved things and saved the country from disaster, but it wasn’t big enough, and its impact is basically peaking right now in terms of how much money is going out. [...]