Young Dems Active in the Community

Michael Pyle, South Dakota Young Democrat National Committeeman, and other active citizens in Rapid City mobilized a large group of people on a cold night to urge the Rapid City School Board to expand their non-discrimination policy.

Way to go Michael and the rest of the RC crew for getting involved in your community and making a difference!

Young Dems are active across the state, get involved through the SDYD Facebook group.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Hits Home

Weatherization efforts through Interlakes Community Action Program (ICAP) are more than one-third of the way toward meeting the goal of weatherizing 280 homes in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Through theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus), the weatherization program received a significant boost in funding. Typically authorized annual funding of about $750,000, ICAP received $5.34 million to be put toward weatherization efforts in the next two years.

Counties that are covered by ICAP are Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Kingsbury, Lake, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha and Moody counties.

Check out the Madison Daily Leader for the whole story.

Senate Passes Health Care Bill

This past Thursday, December 24, the US Senate passed HR3590.  The bill passed 60-39.  The bill now moves onto Conference to reconcile the aspects of the Senate Bill and the House Bill. If approved this could extend health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans.  For a report on the passage of the bill and some links to the text of the bill, click here.  For some Q&A about the effects of the bill, click here.

Economic Recovery Act in our nation and our state

Offering further proof that the President’s Economic Recovery Act is working, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released estimates Monday showing that economic recovery funds has saved or created between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in the third quarter and raised the gross domestic product by as much as 3.2 percent. The CBO findings follow a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing leading economists who concluded the Recovery Act “is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would.  To see the effect the Recovery Act is making in South Dakota, click here.