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Yesterday, the U.S. Senate reauthorized the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), expanding coverage to include an additional four million uninsured children.

SCHIP provides health insurance for low-income children from families who are not covered by private insurance and do not qualify for Medicaid. It currently helps states provide over seven million children with health insurance.

The bill will also provide coverage to immigrant children and pregnant women. Current legislation bars legal immigrants from receiving aid until they have resided in America for five years. Several Republican senators offered amendments to limit the availability of SCHIP funding for legal immigrants, but the amendments did not pass.

"Those kids come from low-income families with parents that work hard and pay taxes just like citizens," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D. Mont. "And, those kids need checkups and prescriptions just like all other [SCHIP] kids."

President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law this morning, making it easier for employees to challenge pay discrimination in court.

The law reverses a damaging Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that restricted an employee's ability to file claims to 180 days from the date that the first discriminatory pay decision was made. This law makes clear that each discriminatory paycheck is a separate act of discrimination that can be challenged in court.

The law "reestablishes the law’s incentive for employers to correct discriminatory pay practices.  Employers will no longer have the free pass to continue to discriminate against their employees without ever having to worry about being held accountable," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, in a statement.

Obama was joined at the signing by Lilly Ledbetter, after whom the law is named. Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for almost 20 years before learning that she had been paid less than her male colleagues. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that Ledbetter had filed her discrimination complaint too late and could not receive damages from her employer.

A national poll conducted for Half in Ten after the November 2008 election shows strong support for the fundamental goal of the Half in Ten campaign – cutting poverty in the United States in half within 10 years.

The poll also shows a strong consensus across ideological, age, and race divides that "the negative consequences of poverty" affect everyone rather than "mostly those living in poor neighborhoods." A full 52 percent of respondents said that either they or someone in their immediate family was poor, up from 36 percent who answered that way in a 2001 poll from Pew Research Center.

These numbers show that solving the problem of poverty is a vital part of economic recovery and a matter of core importance to the nation – and not just about solving economic problems for low-income Americans.

Tim Geithner was sworn in as treasury secretary yesterday evening having been confirmed earlier that day by the Senate in a 60 to 34 vote. As treasury secretary, Geithner will serve as the principle economic advisor to President Obama, advising him on how best to manage the federal government's economic policy, at a time when the nation is dealing with a mortgage crisis and a recession.

At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Geithner urged Congress to pass Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.  The plan, outlined in Obama's first weekly address, will create three million new jobs, with just over 80 percent in the private sector, while also providing direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers. Geithner called the plan "a critical part" of the solution to the nation's economic crisis but stressed that it had to be accompanied by "aggressive action to address the housing crisis and to get credit flowing again."

Geithner also noted that much of the problem with the nation's economy is related to "unprecedented foreclosure rates" and cited the need to provide a "comprehensive" plan for addressing the nation's housing crisis.

Video of the hearing (Real Player).

A January 2009 report from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that amid the current national climate of anticipation and hope, the U.S. is sliding backward toward segregated and highly unequal schools.

Professor Gary Orfield, the author of "Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge," commented that "it would be a tragedy if the country assumed from the Obama election that the problems of race have been solved, when many inequalities are actually deepening."

Orfield goes on to say that we should strive to extend the educational opportunities which President Obama had to "the millions of Blacks and Latinos who still face isolation and denial of an equal chance."

The report states that 40 percent of Latinos and 39 percent of blacks now attend intensely segregated schools, in which 90 to 100 percent of students are non-White. The typical Black or Latino student attends a school where nearly 60 percent of the students are low-income, creating a doubly-damaging race and poverty divide that is worsening the isolation felt by these minority communities.

These segregated schools form the epicenter of the nation's dropout crisis as they struggle to get the best teachers in the midst of student instability.

As a final point, the report calls on the Obama administration and Congress to look at our current situation and work towards more integrated schools and communities.

Today, the Senate voted (61-36) to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.  The legislation would fix a damaging Supreme Court decision and restore the longstanding rule recognizing each discriminatory paycheck as a separate act of discrimination that can be challenged in court.

"We are heartened that this legislation was such an early priority of the Congress and of the new administration, highlighting a return to the values and concerns of ordinary Americans around the issue of fairness.  We applaud Congress for its swift action and look forward to President Obama, who supported the legislation, quickly signing it into law," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of LCCR, in a statement.

Just hours after being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing military prosecutors to seek a 120-day delay of all military tribunals at a U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

According to a court document (PDF), Obama will use that time to "undertake a thorough review" of both pending Guantanamo cases and the process for trying enemy combatants. Approximately 245 detainees are currently held at Guantanamo.

A military judge granted the request for the delay on Wednesday.

Following up on the executive order, Obama signed a series of orders today that include setting a timeline for shutting down Guantánamo detention centers within a year and closing down secret detention centers run by the CIA where detainees were reportedly tortured.

Human rights advocates welcomed putting the brakes on Guantánamo Bay. "This is the first ray of sunlight in what has been eight long years of darkness, of trampling on America's treasured values of justice and due process. The order is remarkable in its timing and its clear intent to close down Guantánamo," said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.

On Saturday morning, several hundred parishioners and guests gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., for bacon, eggs, and celebration.  

The prayer breakfast, organized by the Brotherhood of Shiloh Men, is an annual event held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, the cause for celebration was extended to the imminent inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, spoke at the event, lauding the work of Dr. King and the election of President-elect Obama, but also reminding listeners that there are still obstacles of iniquity to overcome:

“If ever there was a time to remember Dr. King and all of the Moses generation, it is right now, at this historic moment – this mountaintop moment. The struggles that took us to this moment offer the inspiration, teach the lessons, and chart the course that will take us forward from this moment…

That road has been rocky. But our ideals are enduring. From this mountaintop, we can see the hardships that we have survived and the history that we are making. And, more than ever before, we have reason to believe that we as a people – and we as a nation – will reach the promised land.”

With only a month left until the DTV Transition on February 17, organizations across the country are working to make sure people in their communities are ready for the switch to digital television. Fixed-income families, older Americans, people of color, and individuals with disabilities are more likely to rely on over-the-air television, and many will need help to make the transition.

LCCREF has teamed up with organizations in several cities to open assistance centers providing outreach to at-risk communities.

In Minneapolis, two assistance centers opened this week: the Lao Assistance Center, providing outreach to the Southeast Asian community, and the Main Street Project, which will target the Latino community.

The assistance centers will be hubs for information on the transition and will offer trainings and technical assistance to local community members.

Other cities where LCCREF is establishing DTV assistance centers include Seattle (opened on January 13), San Antonio (opening today), Atlanta, Portland, Detroit, and the San Francisco/Oakland area.

As Inauguration Day approaches, we are reminded that social justice activism has been integral in helping us reach this historical moment. But our work is not done; we urge you to renew your commitment to social justice by working in your own community to address inequity.

Throughout the country, LCCR and LCCREF work with local groups that are shining examples of how to create change on a local level. This past year, we partnered with the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance to organize a successful conference that brought immigrants, African Americans and Asians together to discuss how to build a more unified Mississippi.

And in Colorado, we partnered with Colorado Unity, a statewide coalition that educated voters about the importance of equal opportunity and made Colorado the first state to defeat an anti-equal opportunity ballot initiative.

Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service — an opportunity for you to honor Dr. King's teachings of nonviolence and social justice by volunteering in your community, not just during this historic week but throughout the year.