Today VotoLatino launched its PSA for its BeCounted Campaign on getting more young people to take part in the census!

The recent vote to rewrite textbooks by the conservative dominated Texas State Board of Education has received a great deal of attention over the last few days. The lesson that we as progressives need to take away from it is one that conservatives internalized long ago: people that are elected to "downballot" races can have a lot of power in shaping the direction of our communities, states, and the country as a whole.

The textbook industry is dominated by a few large states. One of the most important is Texas. Since the mission of textbook companies is to sell books, they cater their content to the whims of those states that have large enough markets to make demands. What this means is that the Texas State Board of Education is really setting textbook standards for a large portion of the country.

In the past we have mostly focused on the big prizes: the White House, U.S. House and Senate, and governorships. Downballot races don't get anywhere near the attention, especially outside their respective jurisdictions. As we now see, there are many students outside of the state of Texas that will be directly affected by what at its surface appeared to be a local election.

If you realize that the Texas State Board of Education ruling is not just a local issue and you want to help, here are some things you can do:

• Support the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that specifically fights the religious right's attempts to hijack education.
• Follow Democratic candidates for the Texas State Board of Education like Rebecca Bell-Metereau (@voterebecca) and Judy Jennings (@VoteJudyJ)

Stand with Texas progressives to shift the control of the State Board of Education, and remember that these local races are local in name only and affect us all.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) is by far the greatest step ever taken in Washington to combat the control of giant banking moguls over our country's youth. Consistently, we have seen the cost of higher education climb pricing many young people out of the opportunity for a better future. At the same time assistance available to young people has actually gone down.

Twenty years ago, 60% of young people who were able to pay for college on Pell Grants today that number has dipped to half of that. The bill is the first meaningful step in a long-term solution to the predatory private lenders who take advantage of students.

Among other things, the bill will

• Invest $40 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2011, the scholarship will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent.
• Strengthen the Perkins Loan program, a campus-based program that provides low-cost federal loans to students, by providing the program with more reliable forms of credit from the federal government and expanding the program to include significantly more college campuses.
• Keep interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012. These interest rates are currently set to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012. (This compares to loans that Courtney mentioned whose loans can have a 7.2 percent or even 10 percent interest rate).
• Provide loan forgiveness for members of the military who are called up to duty in the middle of the academic year.
• Convert all new federal student lending to the stable, effective and cost-efficient Direct Loan program. Beginning July 1, 2010, all new federal student loans will be originated through the Direct Loan program, instead of through lenders like Sallie Mae that are subsidized by taxpayers in the federally-guaranteed student loan program. Unlike the current lender-based program, the Direct Loan program is entirely insulated from market swings and can therefore guarantee students access to low-cost federal college loans, in any economy.

This was one of the biggest promises the President made to young voters this past election, and it came dangerously close to being thrown under the school bus by elected officials willing to sell out to any bidder. Luckily, youth across the country emailed, called, and tweeted elected officials begging for the change they were promised. The result was a commitment to the original bill that stops these wasteful subsidies and moves the program under the already existing Direct Loan program, and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will be folded in with the health insurance reform bill.

There must be reform, and Washington MUST choose students over the banking industry. Washington subsidized the banking industry with as much as $87 billion over the last 10 years, which has lead to a nationalization of the banking industry that continues to make CEOs richer while young people face a race to the bottom.

The best investment Washington can make in its future is with an investment in the nation's youth. With young people who are trained and well educated our country can spur a new cycle of innovation capturing the entrepreneurial spirit of a generation. But with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, these students can't take any risks even if they could begin a new cycle of growth and progress in these dire economic times.

This bill is the first major step in what could be the greatest overhaul in education. There is such possibility ahead, and nested in that is the glimmer of hope we'd nearly lost to the banking lobby.

Crossposted from Firedog Lake

In the wake of the release of the Powerpoint presentation revealing the Republican Party's strategy of fear, a new ad scaring young Americans away from supporting health insurance reform.

From the Press Conference this morning. For details on this and what has been going down with reform on student loans see the earlier blog post.

Rep. George Miller

Rep. Xavier Becerra

Rep. Jim Clyburn

UpdateII: The Washington Post is now reporting that the US Senate may add the student loan overhaul in as a part of the health care bill that they hope to pass through reconciliation.

"The move would create a potential double victory for President Obama, who has championed both causes as among domestic priorities. And Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said Thursday, "There was a stronger feeling for including" the education proposal. Some senators disagreed with the strategy, Durbin said, adding that a final decision has yet to be reached."

UPDATEI: All of the youth groups are going all hands on deck with this. Here's how you can help:
Step 1: Call 1-888-254-5087
Step 2: Ask for your senators
Step 3: Use the script:

"Hi, my name is____. I a am calling today to urge Senator_______ to support students by putting Student Aid Reform in the Budget Reconciliation process. If student aid reform is not included, the maximum Pell Grant will be cut by thousands of dollars. 500,000 students will lose their Pell grants and 8,000,000 students will see their awards cut by 60%. This is UNACCEPTABLE.

Will Senator______ support students by including student aid reform in the budget reconciliation process?

Thank you for supporting students, have a good day.

Proposed Tweet: URGENT: Call 1-888-254-5087 to ask your Senators to support #SAFRA in the reconciliation bill. They ARE deciding today!! CALL NOW!

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Forgive my cynicism but... it figures. Once again the Sallie Mae lobby has bought their way into the overhaul in student lending that the President promised would happen in this Congress.

From the New York Times

"But Democrats in the Senate, where the private student lending industry has strong allies, predicted on Wednesday night that the education bill would not be part of an expedited budget measure containing the final revisions to the health care legislation. Some Democrats said that such a move would stall the student loan changes at a minimum for several months, and perhaps kill the overhaul altogether.

Mr. Obama’s plan would end a program in which the government pays private, for-profit student lending companies to make risk-free loans using taxpayer money. Instead, the proposed overhaul would broaden the government’s existing direct-lending program, saving billions of dollars that the president had proposed using to expand Pell grant scholarships for low-income students.

But the education bill is strongly opposed by some Senate Democrats, particularly those in states where for-profit student lenders are major employers. In a letter to the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, six Democrats said they disliked the president’s proposal.

"We write to make you aware of our concern with provisions of contemplated student lending reform that could put jobs at risk," the senators wrote. "Increase our nation’s commitment to higher education funding is a priority, but we must proceed toward this objective in a thoughtful manner that considers potential alternative legislative proposals, while still delivering an equivalent amount of savings over the next ten years."

Oh happy day. Ed and Labor Chairman George Miller isn't giving up his strong support on behalf of students and is about to hold a press conference in a few minutes. Once the video is available and there is further info I'll post it.

From the release:

" At 11:45 am eastern today, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, and other House leaders will hold a press conference on the urgent need to include student loan reform as part of the reconciliation bill.

The student aid bill would make historic investments in our economic future by increasing Pell Grants, making college more affordable and helping more students graduate – and all at no cost to taxpayers."

Last weekend Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to VA public colleges and universities encouraging them to drop discrimination bans against gays and lesbians.

In the wake of Cuccinelli's homophobic actions, Virginia students have been using Facebook to take a stand against this attempt at discrimination and the Virginia Young Democrats are mobilizing against the repeal.

Here is VAYD President Sean Holihan addressing the situation:

The Virginia Young Democrats are taking part in a Facebook Day of Action using Facebook statuses to show opposition to the discrimination repeal and encouraging members to contact Governor McDonnell about the issue.

In what is some bad news for the Democratic candidates in November's midterm elections, young people simply aren't that excited to vote.

According to Gallup daily tracking poll data from March 1 - March 7, 18-29 year olds were the age group with the highest lack of enthusiasm toward voting, with 44 percent of respondents noting that they were "not enthusiastic" about voting in 2010.

One potential problem for Democrats is the lower enthusiasm about voting among young Americans. Twenty percent of registered voters aged 18 to 29 say they are very enthusiastic about voting this November. That compares with 31% to 39% of older age groups who are very enthusiastic.

Younger Americans are decidedly more Democratic than the national average. Thus, their apparent lack of motivation to vote -- if it continues until Election Day -- could deprive Democrats of the full benefit they could in theory derive if all 18- to 29-year-olds were to vote.

Democrats need to knock this number down quickly if they want to have anything resembling success this November. One way of doing that would be to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation. Young people want to see their politics made up of officeholders who are strong, problem-solving leaders, instead of weak, timid politicians.

While David Plouffe and Barack Obama drew praise with his outside-the-box approach in the 2008 election, including the amazing mobilization of thousands of new young voters, 2010 will be a different story for Democrats across the country unless something significantly changes. While it is only March, this is still very disappointing.

UPDATE: From Political Wire:

A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll of 18 to 29 year-olds finds young Republicans are showing more enthusiasm than young Democrats for participating in the upcoming midterm elections with 41% of Republicans planning on voting, compared to 35% of Democrats and 13% of Independents.

This weekend Craig countered a Wall Street Journal article that falsely claimed the minimum wage increase is the main factor leading to increased youth unemployment. Unfortunately, Republicans in Arizona are running with this false argument in an attempt to drastically reduce the minimum wage for young adults.

This attempt is AZ House Bill 2639:

Legislation approved by the House Commerce Committee would set the minimum wage for anyone younger than 22 at 75 percent of what those 22 and older are required to be paid. With the state minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, that translates to $5.44.

Rep. Laurin Hendrix, the author of the bill, makes the following argument about how this is good for young people:

But that’s not all. Hendrix said once they have jobs — even jobs that don’t pay the full minimum wage — it will “get them in the habit of going to work and developing a work ethic that will be useful to them later in their lives.”

Translation: we are going to get these kids in the lifelong habit of working their asses off for scraps.

This measure is the handiwork of Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, and Barry Aarons, one of Norquist's lobbyists, was the only one to testify in favor of the bill.

In 2006 Arizona voters approved the creation of a state minimum wage tied to inflation despite the attempts of Norquist's organization.

Even if the state legislature fails to pass this discriminatory policy, it won't yet be dead:

Hendrix does have a backup plan. He convinced committee members to also approve HCR2043, which would send the question to voters in November.

The Young Democrats of Arizona sent out an action alert to their membership encouraging members to take action against the GOP effort:

Subject: Make Less Money?

That's exactly what will happen if the Republican legislature has its way. House Bill 2639; introduced by a Republican Representative from Gilbert may be up for a vote next week. This Bill if passed and signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer will cut the minimum wage for workers under the age of 22 by 25%.

Yes, this is a serious proposal. Republicans in the state legislature don't think its hard enough for young Arizonans to pay their bills already.

Take action!

There is still time. You can make a difference, and hopefully stop this law from passing. Here is what you can do:

1. Write a letter to the editor of a local paper. We need to get the message out. Too many times bad legislation gets through because people don't realize what is happening.

2. Call your legislators and make sure they know you oppose this bill.

3. Sign up to join a small group to meet with legislators. Legislators take meetings with lobbyists all the time; now they need to hear from everyday Arizonans!

Together we can make a difference. Take action today!

This measure, if passed, would be devastating to young Arizonans attempting to work their way through college as they face huge tuition and fee increases and even worse for those students entering the workforce immediately after high school.

The other day in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Salena Zito penned a piece headlined "Young Voters Increasingly Identify with Conservative Politics." Not surprisingly (especially considering the paper's conservative editorial page), that conclusion is flawed.

The headline writer seems to base his or her conclusion on this:

Civic involvement among politically aware young people is growing, based on attendance at the Feb. 18-20 Conservative Political Action Conference in the nation's capital.

Elementary, high school and college students who pre-registered for the conference accounted for 60 percent of the crowd, up 10 percent from 2009, said the event's director, Lisa De Pasquale. They wore business attire, but many could be seen connecting to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook while mingling.

Yes, young people are engaged in politics at a higher rate -- even at conservative political conferences. But I am still waiting for something to prove the headline hypothesis.

Zito next moves to the recent Pew Research Center study on the Millennial generation. The report found that youth job approval of President Barack Obama is decreasing.

In Pew Research’s February 2010 survey, 57% of Millennials approved of the way Obama was handling his job as president, down from 73% in February 2009. Moreover, Millennials have become much more critical of Obama’s handling of several major issues, especially the war in Afghanistan. In January, Millennials were the only age group in which more disapproved than approved of Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan.

Also, the Democratic Party's appeal among Millennials has taken a hit as well. This has resulted in an increase in the number of Millennials identifying with the Republican Party.

Between the 2004 and 2008 presidential election years, the Democratic Party opened a substantial advantage nationwide in party identification. In 2004, Democrats held a slim 47% to 44% advantage in leaned party identification among registered voters. By 2008, this lead had expanded to 51% to 39%.

But the Democrats’ advantage peaked in 2008 and early 2009, and it has decreased over the past year. In the first quarter of 2009, 53% of registered voters identified with or leaned to the Democratic Party, compared with 38% who identified with or leaned to the Republican Party. But in the final quarter, Democrats had only a 49% to 42% advantage over Republicans among
voters.

This overall shift has taken place within most age groups. The share of Millennial voters who identified or leaned Democratic fell from 60% at the beginning of 2009 to 54% at the end of the year, while the share who identified or leaned Republican rose from 31% to 40%. While the Democratic Party still maintained an advantage among Millennials at the end of 2009, the margin had shrunk substantially.

So, yes, the Republican Party has attracted Millennials over the past year. And while one could fairly question whether or not young people are becoming more conservative, one cannot credibly conflate the phenomenon of more young people attending CPAC and the report that Millennials are becoming disenchanted with Democrats and gradually identifying with the Republican Party to make that case. Both are faulty generalizations. The first one doesn't allow for better recruitment efforts, better weather, or better economics that also could have enabled more young people to attend CPAC. The second seems to equate the Republican Party with "conservative." Ask some Texas Republicans about Kay Bailey Hutchison and they'll let you know that the two terms are mutually exclusive.

Indeed, the subtitle of the very same Pew Research report Zito cites labels Millennials "a pro-government, socially liberal generation." The data reveal that Millennials still hold on to pro-government values. More than half (the only generation that can claim this) of youth favor government intervention and an activist government.

Millennials are significantly less critical of government on a number of dimensions than are other age cohorts. This tendency has been seen on a variety of individual survey questions as well as on a three-question index of items from the political values survey; this index covers opinions about government’s effectiveness, government regulation of business and whether the government has too much control over people’s lives.

What does it take for us to get better journalism in this country? I would assume a headline writer or editor constructed the headline in this case, but Zito still was trying to conflate the two examples above to seemingly make some kind of faulty conclusion that youth are more conservative. As long as our citizens continue to read misinformation, our democracy and trust in institutions like the press suffers.