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What separates Congress from people like you and me? About a million dollars, among other things. A new report from the Center for Responsive Politics finds that for the first time in history, a majority of Congressional members have a net worth exceeding $1 million.

Millionaires occupy the majority of seats in Congress for the first time since ethics laws mandated personal financial disclosures, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics report.

Out of 534 members of Congress -- there was one vacant seat -- 268 have an average net worth of more than $1 million.

Contact:
Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen (202) 454-5188
Elizabeth Kennedy, Demos (212) 419-8772
Blair Bowie, U.S. PIRG (202) 546-0173

In a speech at AEI today, Senator Marco Rubio outlined a broad vision for reducing poverty and increasing opportunity. Here's the most important thing that Rubio said: 

Fifty years ago today (January 8) President Lyndon B. Johnson used his 1964 State of the Union address to declare an "unconditional war on poverty."

What led LBJ to make such a bold move? The Cold War, the civil rights movement, and a taste for ambitious goals were all part of the mix. [...]

Not only is the U.S. far from achieving a post-racial society, but dog-whistle politics is reinforcing the role of race and contributing to the decline of the middle class as whites vote against their own best interests.

Montgomery, AL – The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, represented by attorneys from Project Vote, Demos, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the law firms Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP and Copeland Franco, signed settlement agreements with the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), and the Alabama Medicaid Agency addressing deficiencies in the state agencies’ provision of voter registration services and setting out procedures intended to guarantee compliance with Section 7 of the National Voter Registratio

True or false? When techies and "creatives" take over a neighborhood or city, the poor and the middle class get screwed.

Imagine there are two ways to fight poverty: Option A, we accept an economy where a third of all jobs pay near-poverty wages, but we spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually on transfer payments to lift millions of Americans technically above the poverty line. Or Option B: we do what it takes to transform the economy so enough good jobs exist that anyone who works hard can afford a decent life and save enough for a secure retirement.