December, 09 2015, 12:15pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Expert contact: Karen Orenstein, (202) 222-0717, korenstein@foe.org
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, edyson@foe.org
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, edyson@foe.org
FTT Advances Could Lead to Down Payment on Climate Finance Gap
In response to today's announcement by European Finance Ministers that advances the proposed European regional Financial Transaction Tax, Friends of the Earth's Senior International Policy Analyst Karen Orenstein said the following:
WASHINGTON
In response to today's announcement by European Finance Ministers that advances the proposed European regional Financial Transaction Tax, Friends of the Earth's Senior International Policy Analyst Karen Orenstein said the following:
Ten major European countries made progress today in advancing a regional financial transaction tax, popularly known as a Robin Hood Tax. The timing - during the Paris Climate Summit - couldn't be better to remind world leaders that there is indeed a good deal of money available to pay for climate finance, if there is political will. The cost of climate chaos is growing by the day, and the financial transaction tax is an invaluable means by which to make a down payment on the climate price tag.
In addition to civil society around the world, the Climate Vulnerable Forum and French President Hollande have recently called for a portion of the new FTT revenue to help close the climate finance gap, and help the world's poor take climate action.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
'A Big Deal': Progressives Applaud New Biden Plan to Provide Student Debt Relief for Millions
"Progressives have led the fight for student debt cancellation, and Joe Biden has responded," said one advocate.
Apr 08, 2024
Organizers who have tirelessly pushed for student debt cancellation applauded on Monday as President Joe Biden—who years ago dismissed the proposal as "unrealistic"—announced a plan to help tens of millions of Americans burdened with educational debt.
Biden announced his new plan at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin, less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous program, which would have provided relief to 40 million borrowers by canceling up to $20,000 in debt per person.
Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director of the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) credited Biden with publicly resolving to find a solution for struggling Americans "only hours after the Supreme Court callously struck down his original debt relief program."
The president's new plan would wipe out the entire debt amount held by about 4 million people, give debt relief of at least $5,000 to 10 million borrowers, and reduce the undergraduate and graduate student debt of 23 million people whose interest would be eliminated.
The plan would allow millions of young people to "finally get on with their lives instead of their lives being put on hold," said the president.
Student debt is "not just a drag on them, it's a drag on our local economies," Biden said in Madison. "When you can't afford to buy a home, start that small business, chase that career that you'd been dreaming about for a long time."
I said I wouldn't back down from using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the relief they need.
That's why today we're announcing new plans that, if implemented, would cancel student debt for millions more. pic.twitter.com/rNiCxzzlU3
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 8, 2024
Bañez said in addition to bringing "tens of millions of borrowers one step closer to realizing the life-changing impact of student debt cancellation," Biden's announcement "also offers a roadmap for how this administration should deal with a hostile Supreme Court majority captured by right-wing special interests."
"Call the high court's bluff by aggressively using the full power of the law and delivering for working people," she said. "For too long, student debt has blocked homeownership, inhibited savings, limited career opportunities and economic mobility, and choked at the promise of entire generations. Taken together, the Biden administration's actions are setting a path to a debt-free, brighter economic future for more than 30 million Americans."
"Now, the president must move fast and finish the job," she added.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said pressure from "borrowers, activists, and progressives in Congress" pushed Biden to develop a new plan after his original program was struck down.
"Progressives were the earliest and loudest champions of student debt cancellation, and this president is delivering—despite Republican obstruction," she said. "We are proud to continue our partnership with the Biden administration on its implementation of this and other pathways to cancellation."
The Biden administration said it expected Republicans to file legal challenges, which could prevent the new provisions from going into effect by the time Americans choose between Biden and former President Donald Trump in November.
"President Biden will use every tool available to cancel student loan debt for as many borrowers as possible no matter how many Republican officials stand in his way," Karine Jean Pierre, the White House press secretary, told The New York Times.
"At a time when young people across the country are struggling economically, President Biden's decision to reduce the outrageous level of student debt they face will be extremely helpful."
Americans who now owe more in student debt than the amount that they originally borrowed due to interest would have up to $20,000 in interest wiped out. People who make less than $120,000 per year could have all of their interest canceled.
People who took out federal loans for undergraduate degrees and began repaying them more than 20 years ago would have their debt automatically canceled. The same would apply for people who began repaying their graduate degree loans more than 25 years ago.
People who attended colleges that have since lost their certification or their eligibility to participate in federal student aid would have their debt wiped out, and Americans who are particularly burdened with other necessary expenses could apply to have their debt canceled.
The program "will change lives," said U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) as she pledged to continue her push to "cancel student debt fully."
Andrew O'Neill, legislative director for progressive advocacy group Indivisible, noted that combined with the $146 billion in relief Biden has already provided to about 4 million borrowers through executive actions and other measures, "more than 30 million folks will now get relief from Biden's programs."
"Progressives have led the fight for student debt cancellation, and Joe Biden has responded," O'Neill told the Times.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime advocate of student debt cancellation and tuition-free college, applauded Biden for "using every possible tool to reduce student debt."
Astra Taylor, a filmmaker and leading student debt cancellation activist, noted that Biden's plan falls short of complete debt relief, but said the power of economic justice campaigners' advocacy is undeniable, considering the president's decision to prioritize student debt.
"A reminder that a U.S. president leaning into debt cancellation like this was unimaginable not that many years ago," said Taylor. "Do we need to keep pushing so actions match words? Yes. Do we need to keep fighting to win not only debt relief but free college? Of course."
"Organizing," she added, "is everything."
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Progressives Unveil 10-Point Agenda to 'Prevent Fascist Takeover' in 2024
"With our support and voice, progressives may persuade and enable President Biden to achieve more progressive policy objectives during his second term and prevent a fascist takeover."
Apr 08, 2024
A coalition of national progressive advocacy groups on Monday released a list of 10 policy objectives that it believes President Joe Biden should embrace to consolidate support for his high-stakes electoral rematch against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The platform—released by Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and the State Democratic Party Progressive Network—frontloads the threat that Trump and the fascist movement at his back pose to basic freedoms and democracy itself.
"The 2024 presidential election presents a challenge for progressives to preserve and amplify our voice while fighting the most dangerous threat to U.S. democracy in our nation's history," reads the platform's introduction. "Our best strategy to advance both goals is to become state and national Biden delegates at the state and national Democratic Party conventions, and to elect Joe Biden for a second term. Throughout this process, we must advocate for a progressive policy agenda that builds and expands upon progressive elements of President Biden’s original Build Back Better (BBB) plan."
"With our support and voice," the document adds, "progressives may persuade and enable President Biden to achieve more progressive policy objectives during his second term and prevent a fascist takeover."
The first plank of the agenda urges Biden and the Democratic Party to "develop and repetitively use more aggressive messaging against and educate the public about the dangers of fascism including exposing and condemning Project 2025, the fascist blueprint for a second Trump administration."
It also calls for more concrete policy changes such as filibuster reform, term limits for Supreme Court justices, and the passage of robust voting rights legislation in the face of l arge-scale Republican attacks on the franchise.
Other planks of the agenda include working to end the privatization of public goods such as housing and healthcare, using "all means available" to raise the long-stagnant federal minimum wage and slash poverty, raising taxes on billionaires and corporations, overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, canceling student debt and establishing tuition-free public college, expanding Medicare benefits, declaring a climate emergency, and conditioning U.S. aid to Israel.
The groups said Monday that they plan to submit the policy agenda to the Democratic Party Platform Committee ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.
"We intend this to be a unifying effort, urge the second Biden administration to fulfill the 10 policy objectives outlined in these proposals, and invite the Democratic presidential campaign to engage in dialogue with us to achieve unity and progressive electoral support around them," the progressive coalition said Monday.
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'Whole Thing Is an Epic Fraud': RFK Jr. Official Admits Goal Is to Elect Trump
"As the saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them," said a Democratic National Committee spokesperson.
Apr 08, 2024
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s stated platform in the 2024 presidential race centers on promoting an "honest government," a "clean, healthy environment," and the protection of civil liberties—but his New York State director last week boiled down the Independent campaign's true goal at a meeting with Republican voters: ensuring former President Donald Trump wins the election.
Speaking at a meeting last Thursday, Rita Palma first checked to make sure there were "no Biden voters in the house" before telling her audience that her "No. 1 priority" is to ultimately take electoral votes away from President Joe Biden.
"The Kennedy voter and the Trump voter," said Palma, "our mutual enemy is Biden."
States including New York, California, and "most of the Northeast" are likely to vote for the Democratic president, she continued, but if Kennedy, whom Palma referred to as Bobby, is on the ballot in New York, the campaign could help "get rid of Biden."
video shows RFK Jr’s NY director laying out a clear plan:
“The Kennedy voter & the Trump voter—our mutual enemy is Biden. … if nobody gets to 270, Congress picks the president. So who are they going to pick if it’s a R Congress? They’ll pick Trump.”pic.twitter.com/YQKDcEFUlm
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) April 8, 2024
She urged the assembled GOP voters to give their "vote to Bobby and at least get rid of Biden and give those 28 electoral votes to Bobby rather than to Biden, thereby reducing Biden's 270 [electoral votes]."
"Two hundred seventy wins the election," added Palma, who was hired by Kennedy's campaign after she canvassed for Trump in 2016 and 2020. "If nobody gets to 270 then Congress picks the president, so who are they gonna pick if it's a Republican Congress? They'll pick Trump, so we're rid of Biden either way."
Political observers have noted in recent months that Kennedy has drawn support from right-wing billionaires, but Palma's blunt description of her plan to "block Biden from winning the presidency" left critics stunned as the video of the event circulated on social media on Monday.
"Whole thing is an epic fraud. Kennedy is spouting Russian propaganda, is now openly betraying the country," said political strategist Simon Rosenberg, referring to the candidate's recent comments about Russia's claim that it aims to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
"RFK Jr.'s campaign is saying the quiet part out loud," Matt Corridoni, spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, told CNN. "As the saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them: RFK Jr.'s campaign isn't building a plan or a strategy to get 270 electoral votes, they're building one to help Trump return to the Oval Office."
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