Progress Illinois

Former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias talked frequently about the importance of reforming the rules of the U.S. Senate to rein in the increasing and ahistorical use of the filibuster threat. It's too bad he's not serving in the world's most deliberative body this month.

The Hill is reporting that some Democrats are planning to make a push in the coming days to alter procedures in the upper chamber that would effectively lower the 60-vote bar necessary to end debate on legislation. They are being buoyed by a coalition of progressive groups (including SEIU, whose Illinois State Council sponsors this website), which outlined eight principles that would "[put] an end to the needless obstruction that threatens the vibrancy of our democracy."

The odds of reform are still long. The best (and perhaps only) shot advocates have is to invoke what's known as the "Constitutional Option" on the first day of the new Congress. (This would only require 51 votes for passage.) U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is on board. Newly-elected U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk? Not so much.

The Thomson Correctional Center in rural Northwest Illinois is back in the news.

For those who haven't followed this story, here's a brief recap. Late last year, the White House announced that the near-empty 1,600 bed facility was a potential candidate to house terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. This caused a collective freak-out among local Republicans, who unleashed a barrage of unhinged attacks on Gov. Pat Quinn and the White House for even considering moving "Jihadists" onto our soil. (Few were much interested in the due process rights of those detainees.)

The Obama administration's Justice Department changed course this past March, alerting the state of its intent to purchase Thomson, regardless of whether Congress decided to allow the transfer of Gitmo inmates. (Since then, lawmakers explicitly barred the feds from doing so.) Earlier this week, the state made clear it was putting the prison up for auction on December 21. Although the state can't legally sell Thomson for under $219.9 million, the U.S. House only appropriated $95 million in next year's budget to cover the cost. The White House wants its bid figure increased in the U.S. Senate.

AFSCME Council 31, which represents Illinois prison guards, says the low-ball is another indication that Illinois should keep hold of its asset and use the space to relieve prison crowding in its penitentiary system. The governor, according to the Sun-Times, has "ruled out making use of the prison for state inmates." While short-term fixes like the option AFSCME offers are logical, we'd like to see the state pursue forward-thinking criminal justice reforms that will reduce Illinois' surging prison population once and for all. Re-instituting the "Meritorious Good Time" early release program is a good place to start.

As some anticipated, U.S. House Democrats are balking at a proposed tax cut deal negotiated by the White House and Republicans on the Hill. This morning, some members of the Democratic caucus blocked a vote on the package, which would extend temporarily emergency unemployment insurance and the Bush-era tax cuts for all earners, among other provisions.

House Dems are frustrated with how well the nation's rich make out under the current accord. They are particularly angry with changes to the estate tax law, which they consider far too generous for the wealthiest households in America (and they are right).

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky is one progressive who is working hard to make the deal better for average people. On PBS' Charlie Rose last night, she reminded viewers that income inequality is a "threat to our democracy" and that this deal exacerbates that problem. Watch it: (Here's the full appearance):

Still, there's a lot of urgency to get some type of deal passed. The tax cuts will expire on December 31 for everyone along the income scale unless Congress approves an extension. Unemployment insurance, as we know, already lapsed. By February, some 241,000 workers in Illinois are scheduled to exhaust their benefits if no additional relief is provided. And the bill, as ugly as it is, would provide some fiscal stimulus to an economy that's not chugging along at full strength.

Tim Fernholz outlined four ways the party could improve the package here.

The economy is still scuffling along, according to the latest jobs report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Absent additional stimulus from Congress, the national unemployment rate crept back up to 9.8 percent last month. When part-time employees and folks who have given up looking for a job are included in that total, the rate is more like 17 percent. And the United States is now registering some of the highest levels of long-term unemployment in its history.

In downtown Chicago today, allies of Chicago Jobs With Justice rallied for more federal action to boost job growth and protect unemployed workers. Roberta Wood, who works at a community center here, called Congress' inaction "unconscionable." Watch:

Encouragingly, the White House is jumping into the debate over insurance. President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers released a report yesterday that estimated the economy would lose 600,000 jobs (because of a drop in consumption) if emergency benefits weren't extended through 2011. The president then said that any deal to extend tax cuts to the richest Americans must include funding for additional unemployment assistance. By the end of the year, roughly 127,000 Illinoisans will hit their unemployment benefit limit.