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convened in order to address a number of controversial issues that have
sprung up regarding the pending U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) with
Panama. Following the hearing, U.S. Trade Representative for Western
Hemisphere Affairs Everett Eissenstat announced that President Obama
would consult with U.S. lawmakers before sending the controversial FTA
to Congress for approval.
In early March, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
issued a statement of intent, indicating that it would move on the
pending Panama Free Trade Agreement "relatively quickly." However, a
number of road blocks, including strong U.S. labor opposition and
concerns over Panama's classification as a tax haven, are currently
holding up the FTA's ratification in the U.S. Congress.
The Free Trade Agreement, which has been re-branded as a "Trade
Promotion Agreement (TPC)," in order to distance itself from the
controversy surrounding other FTAs, was signed by the Bush
administration on June 28, 2007. The accord was passed by Panama's
assembly the following month, in what some have called a rushed and
non-transparent process. Critics attacked the legislation on grounds
that no Spanish version of the agreement had been made available, and
that members of civil society who were known to be opposed to the pact
were not given adequate time to review and comment on the text. The
opposition within Panama has been made up of a mixed bag of labor
unions, farmer groups, leftist politicians and progressive church
voices, who, according to one Panamanian reporter, developed their own
meaning for the acronym TPC: "Todo Panama Colonizado" (All of Panama
Colonized).
Nevertheless, both the Torrijos government and now the
president-elect of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, have been pushing hard
to get the agreement ratified before those who oppose the trade pact on
human rights grounds are able to block its passage on the Hill.
Torrijos has expressed his desire to see the accord passed before he
leaves office on July 1. While some trade specialists are convinced
that the U.S.-Panama FTA will pass the U.S. Congress, a number of
highly regarded analysts think to the contrary. According to Eric
Jackson of Panama News, "I would expect this treaty to die,
but I also expect talks about a new proposal to eventually take place
between the Obama and Martinelli administrations. Those would not be
easy negotiations."
The Panamanian government has insisted that none of the issues
holding up the FTA in Congress are, in its eyes, legitimate concerns.
Talking with Reuters, Martinelli's top economic advisor Frank de Lima
claimed that the "perception that Panama is a tax haven is totally
false." He went on to assert that Panama respects labor rights and
collective bargaining. However, a growing body of evidence increasingly
points to the contrary.
Panama's Phantom Economy
For decades, Panama has adjusted its laws and regulations in order to
ensure that its 'business climate' is one of the most competitive in
the world. On the other hand, critics maintain that such regulation
offers a number of opportunities for foreign companies interested in
dodging fair taxes, exploiting malleable labor regulations, and taking
advantage of shrouded financial transparency. Panama's level of Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) has skyrocketed since legislation was passed in
1992 which established "Export Processing Zones (EPZs)" in a number of
locations across the country. Companies from all over the world are
welcome to establish factories in these zones for "light manufacturing,
assembly, high technology, and specialized and general services."
Companies operating there are exempt from all taxation on imports and
exports, sales tax, and imports on capital and assets. In addition,
EPZs are free from all restrictive national labor and immigration
standards. Instead, they are allowed to operate under provisions which
are "more favorable [to foreign companies] than the current Panamanian
Labor Code."
Since Public Citizen released a report in April 2009
highlighting the country's banking secrecy rules and lax financial
regulations, there has been much circulation in the media concerning
Panama's status as a top tax haven. All foreign corporations conducting
business in Panama are exempt from national taxes, making the country a
"100 percent tax haven," according to the report. It comes as no
surprise that over 350,000 foreign-registered companies nominally
operate from Panama, and $25 billion of U.S. investment already has
been sunk into the country, according to the U.S. State Department.
In addition to tax incentives, Panamanian law also makes it easy for
multinational corporations to "cook the books." According to the Public Citizen
report, "Panama has one of the world's most restrictive information
exchange regimes," which allows the country to withhold information
even within the framework of a criminal investigation. Moreover,
extremely strict slander laws known as "Calumnia Y Injuria" rules can
be used to arrest journalists for reporting facts and figures, if they
do not reflect well on business interests. This lack of transparency,
coupled with a lenient regulatory system governing the country's
banking and financial sectors, enables corporations to "conceal their
financial losses and engage in off-balance sheet activities." Evidence
also links Panama's Colon Free Zone (CFZ) with trafficking of narcotics
and other illicit substances, in addition to off-shore activities
carried on by foreign corporations. Panama's CFZ, which is the second
largest free trade zone in the world, provides a centrally located
"transit area for drugs and related money laundering," activities
moving up through Mexico to its northern border, according to the
International Monetary Fund.
The illicit matters have grown even more controversial since the
G-20's recent conference decided to crack down on tax havens and step
up financial regulation as key steps toward global financial recovery.
Various U.S. government bodies estimate that closing global tax havens
would save U.S. taxpayers between $210 Billion and $1 Trillion over the
next decade.
A free trade agreement with Panama, argues Public Citizen,
would actually hinder efforts on the part of the US government to crack
down on tax evasion and money laundering in Panama. The proposed FTA
contains provisions that forbid cross-border regulations on financial
transactions between the U.S. and Panama, and would provide
subsidiaries operating in Panama enhanced "investor rights," enabling
them to challenge any attempt by the U.S. government to monitor or
limit financial transactions. In the words of Lori Wallach, director of
Global Trade Watch: "Members of Congress wouldn't vote to let AIG not
pay its taxes or to give Mexican drug lords a safe place to hide their
proceeds from selling drugs to our kids, but that's in essence what the
Panama FTA does."
Bad News for Labor
According to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who has been straining
to get safe passage for the Panama trade measure during his short time
in this position, Panama has made "very good progress" on labor issues
hindering U.S. approval of a free trade agreement. Kirk and others
point to the fact that the agreement incorporates the policies of the
"New Trade Policy for the Americas (TPA)." This provision contains the
same labor and environmental protections which were added to the
recently enacted US-Peru FTA. However, in Peru such punative
protections failed to guard labor or the environment from being scaled
back and hassled as result of its FTA being enacted. Additionally, the
U.S. Labor Advisory Committee stated in its report that the labor
stipulations in the Panama FTA "will not protect the fundamental human
rights of workers in either country." Although the FTA makes reference
to the UN International Labor Organization's Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work Declaration, it contains no provisions that would force
the signatories to strictly implement the UN's labor standards.
Further, the agreement does not prevent Panama from "weakening or
reducing the protections afforded in domestic labor laws" in any future
effort it may make to "encourage trade or investment."
The U.S.-Panama FTA contains only one enforceable labor provision: a
requirement for the government to adhere to its own labor laws.
Unfortunately, there is a significant canard involved in this language.
Panama's labor track record is not entirely clean; in August 2007 two
construction union members were assassinated while demonstrating for
worker rights. Furthermore, if existing labor laws are broken, the
FTA's "dispute settlement system," set in place to uphold these
standards, serves as little more than window-dressing. The maximum
government fine is capped at $15 million, which amounts to about
one-tenth of one percent of total US-Panama trade in 2006.
Additionally, these funds, in the unlikely circumstance that they ever
will be collected, are paid a "joint commission to improve labor rights
enforcement," which in turn could be easily funneled back into
Panamanian government's coffers.
Given that the Panamanian labor code does not even apply in Export
Processing Zones, and in conjunction with the fact that approximately
two-thirds of Panamanian workers operate in the informal economy, the
remedial power of any labor provisions that might be included in the
agreement would be severely limited. This FTA will ultimately exonerate
the signatories from meeting an acceptable human rights standard.
Agriculture Markets and Rural Poverty
In addition to labor and tax issues, the FTA will inevitably have the
effect of slowly eroding the protections that Panama has worked to
maintain in its most vulnerable economic sectors. Due to a number of
existing regional trade agreements, Panamanian products already enter
the United States duty free. The pending FTA, according to the State
Department's Charles S. Shapiro, would simply "reduce [Panama's]
tariffs on products imported from the United States." Aware of the
dangers associated with the FTA's role in opening the country up to the
behemoth U.S. economy, Panama's negotiators were able to reserve some
protections for the country's developing sectors, specifically
agriculture. This relatively young sector not only employs 17% of the
country's labor force, but also supports 40% of the country's rural
population, according to the US Congressional Research Service. Thus,
the Panamanian government has argued that opening the country's markets
to U.S. agricultural goods, which are subsidized by the government and
produced on a much greater scale than its more protective partner,
would be "highly detrimental to the social structure of the rural
economy, leading to increased unemployment, poverty, and urban
migration."
Despite the fact that "agriculture was one of the most sensitive
issues for Panama," its officials failed to reach lasting and effective
compromises in order to protect their markets from U.S. incursion. The
FTA immediately eliminates tariffs on over 60 percent of U.S.
agricultural exports to Panama, with most remaining tariffs to be
gradually eliminated over a period of 15 years or less. Two key
products: locally-grown rice (which currently supplies over 90% of
Panama's domestic demand) and sugar (which presently accounts for a
third of Panama's agricultural exports, as well as 41percent of its
agricultural exports to the United States), will retain limited
protections in the short-term. However, as tariffs are slowly lifted
over a fixed period of years, Panama could lose the "relatively high
wage rates" that it currently enjoys in these sectors.
According to the congressional report, this phase-out period would
"buy time for Panama to develop its nontraditional export crops, such
as melons, palm oil, and pineapples, which some view as the future of
this sector." Unfortunately, these are precisely the crops that the
rest of Central America already exports to the U.S. at bottom-barrel
prices. Thus, Panama, under this new regime, would be forced to join
the regional 'race to the bottom' in order to ensure competitive prices
for its products on the global market. The impact on Panama's rural
poor could be debilitating. In addition, Panama's already spotty social
safety net stands to suffer as the global economic partnership
involving Panama develops. In a bid to attract foreign investment,
President-elect Martinelli has committed his government to "massive
infrastructure spending in partnership with foreign investors,"
according to Reuters. This spending is not likely to benefit the
approximately one third of Panama's population currently living below
the poverty line in the country's rural areas. Already, very little
public spending is allocated to this demographic. The World Bank has
identified sharp geographical inequities in health care and education
spending, which disproportionately benefits the urban upper and middle
classes far more than the rural poor and indigenous populations. This
trend will likely worsen with a free trade agreement that opens
Panama's agriculture markets to fierce competition and commits further
government revenue to the country's urban commercial centers.
In short, the U.S.-Panama free trade agreement inevitably will be a
bonanza for big business. It would contribute to the elimination of
many inconvenient hurdles that cut down on corporate profits, such as
labor regulations, taxes, and fair-minded market signposts. A far
larger portion of the population could lose out under the FTA including
those who benefit from these protections, such as workers in both
countries, poverty-stricken Panamanian farmers, and the American
taxpayer. As a battle between corporate interests and civil society
ensues in the U.S. Congress, a parallel struggle to sway public opinion
is taking place in the media. However, whichever way the decision
falls, a lasting solution to global economic ills is unlikely without a
fundamental shift in the way the United States conducts its business in
developing countries.
This analysis was prepared by Research Fellow Mary Tharin
May 27th, 2009
Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.
"Consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said one advocate.
On the heels of the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's investment of $20 million in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—including offers of $1 million checks to individual voters—didn't manage to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor, the Trump administration adviser's electric car company learned of more trouble: Tesla's global sales declined by 13% in the first quarter of 2025, dropping to their lowest point in nearly three years.
The plunge in sales was evident across markets, even in countries where Musk hasn't sparked outrage by embedding himself into politics by bankrolling and supporting far-right candidates and groups.
In Norway, The New York Times noted, electric cars account for more than 90% of new car sales—but among Norwegians, whose prime minister recently rebuked Musk's involvement in the political systems of Germany and the U.K.—Tesla sales have nearly matched the global trend so far this year, declining by more than 12% in the first quarter.
Sales in other European countries were even more dire in the first three months of 2025—down 41% in France, 50% in the Netherlands, and 55% in Sweden, where consumers have Musk's anti-labor practices to contend with in addition to his political activities in Europe.
Sweden's largest insurer said Wednesday it had sold its $160 million stake in Tesla after investing in the company since 2013, saying Tesla's workers' rights position violates its investment guidelines.
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country."
Musk, whose net worth is $386.6 billion, has long refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement with fewer than 200 mechanics in Sweden to ensure they earn a fair wage. Unionized mechanics in the country have been on strike for over a year.
One Norway Tesla owner told the Times that he "would never drive a Tesla again."
"It's a question of ethics," said urban planner Geir Rognlien Elgvin.
After pouring nearly $300 million into the 2024 elections in the U.S. to help President Donald Trump and other Republicans get elected, Musk has spent the past two months boasting of his push to cut public spending and government jobs—attacking the popular anti-poverty Social Security program as a "Ponzi scheme"; gutting the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other federal agencies; and pushing tens of thousands of civil servants out of their jobs through the Trump-created advisory body the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with government watchdog Public Citizen's climate program, said Wednesday that Tesla's most recent sales numbers illustrate how anger over Musk's activities—which has also been expressed with protests at Tesla dealerships—extends past U.S. borders.
"Tesla's plummeting sales show that consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said Zuckerman. "They are fed up with DOGE's effort to gut life-saving services and aid. Consumers want electric vehicles, not cruelty, fascism, racism, and neo-Nazism. Unless Musk changes course, Tesla sales will continue to decline."
A poll by Yahoo News and YouGov late last month found that two-thirds of Americans said they would not drive a Tesla, with a majority saying Musk himself was the reason for their distaste.
"Musk is driving our country into the ground," said Zuckerman when the poll was released. "If he continues, he could take Tesla and America's urgent transition to an electric future with it."
Tesla's plummeting sales contrast with global electric car sales overall, which are on the rise. Ford Moter, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are among the automakers planning to soon introduce new electric vehicles.
"Previously consumers might have struggled to find other options than Tesla that really competed," Will Roberts of research firm Rho Motion told the Times. "That's now not the case."
Trump has attempted to shore up his benefactor and ally's company, holding an event on the White House lawn last month during which he praised Musk's electric cars and condemned protests at Tesla dealerships. He also suggested people who are turning away from Tesla are "Radical Left Lunatics" who are "trying to illegally and collusively boycott" the car company.
His administration has since doubled down on threatening people for vandalizing the cars or dealerships, with the president saying he would send them to El Salvador, where hundreds of people accused of being gang members have been sent to a prison in recent weeks.
But despite the show of loyalty, Trump was reportedly considering pulling back on Musk's front-and-center presence in the administration Wednesday.
Economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative said Musk's impending exit—which Trump denied was coming—is likely in response to Musk proving "to be a liability," but cautioned that rights advocates will still have to fight the Trump agenda even without Musk in the White House serving as a "special government employee."
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the group. "Musk's threat to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has pushed consumer confidence to new lows. Businesses are pulling back on investments, and markets have plunged. Americans can now celebrate Musk's exit."
"But Musk's ouster is only the first step in achieving true liberation," said Owens. "He is a symptom of a broader disease, which is that billionaires are tightening their grip on our democracy. To cure the disease, we must put our power back in the hands of the people."
"We need a leader who will tell a clear story about what Musk and Trump are doing... rally the people and organize in congressional districts across the country, and... engage forcefully and clearly in the media."
Dozen of advocacy organizations on Wednesday joined the growing call for U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his leadership position after caving to Republicans on a stopgap spending measure last month.
Given GOP control of Congress and the White House, people across the country saw the looming government shutdown as a rare opportunity for Democratic lawmakers to fight against President Donald Trump's agenda. However, Schumer (D-N.Y.) led 10 caucus members in partnering with Senate Republicans to force through the spending legislation.
Since then, polling has made clear that voters are frustrated with the Democratic Party and Schumer in particular, and want political leaders to challenge the GOP's agenda, which is primarily passing more tax giveaways for the wealthy and gutting the federal government—an effort led by Trump adviser Elon Musk, the richest person on Earth.
"As Trump and Musk seek to dismantle not just the key public health and safety functions of our federal government, but also the fundamental pillars of our democracy itself, we require the unflinching, bold and strategic resistance of every single Democrat in Washington—especially party leaders such as Senator Schumer," said Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation at Food & Water Watch, in a statement.
"Schumer's inexplicable surrender and support for a dangerous and cruel MAGA spending bill amounted to a complete dereliction of duty and failure of leadership. For this simple reason, Schumer must step down as Senate majority leader immediately," added Jones, whose group led the letter with Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).
"Sen. Schumer, you have lost the confidence of elected Democrats, and you have lost the confidence of our organizations."
Ultimately, over 50 other groups signed on to the letter to Schumer, which begins, "We write to urge you in the strongest terms to step down as Senate minority leader so that someone more prepared and willing to fight the disastrous Musk-Trump agenda can step up and lead."
Pointing to the shutdown battle, or lack thereof, the letter asserts: "You surrendered one of the very few points of leverage Democrats have to stop the full-scale dismantling of key government functions and Musk-Trump's complete disregard for congressional actions. Further, it was evident throughout the process that there was no plan, no message, and no strategy. We face an existential crisis for our food, water, health, communities, and climate. We simply cannot afford more of the same."
"Trump, Musk, and the Republican Congress are engaging in an assault on basic government functions," the letter stresses. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "is cutting or eliminating many critical programs that include consumer protection from corporate fraud, clean water and food safety and assistance, education, renewable energy, and healthcare and retirement and access to them including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."
With the spending bill, "is clear there was no strategy around the fight and no communication plan. Frankly, there hasn't been since the start of the Trump administration," the groups argued. "You simply gave your vote and support, receiving nothing in return except praise from Trump. This is inexcusable."
"Sen. Schumer, you have lost the confidence of elected Democrats, and you have lost the confidence of our organizations," the coalition continued. "We need strong leadership to really fight the Musk-Trump agenda. We need a leader who will tell a clear story about what Musk and Trump are doing, who will hold daily briefings with key messages, who will rally the people and organize in congressional districts across the country, and who will engage forcefully and clearly in the media—including alternative media."
"Allow a Democratic senator who can do all these things to step up and lead," the organizations implored. "It's time to do the right thing. It's time to step down as Senate minority leader."
While the groups did not put forth any alternative names to fill the role, PDA executive director Alan Minsky said Wednesday that "we need a fearless Senate minority leader who will seize every opportunity to disrupt Trump's plans. Chuck Schumer has never been a strong negotiator, and his capitulation last month over the budget showed he is not the right leader for this moment. Democrats need a new minority leader—one who understands the stakes and will never back down."
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at CBD, warned that if Schumer remains, "the best Democrats can hope for is permanent minority status in the Senate, the worst will be the end of our democracy, complete ruin of the climate, and the evisceration of all our bedrock environmental protections."
"Booker said that he was speaking in spite' of [Thurmond's] remarks against the 1957 Civil Rights Act." This is a much-improved record, to say the least. Congratulations and thank you to @booker.senate.gov for standing up for democracy!
[image or embed]
— Food & Water Watch ( @foodandwater.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The letter came a day after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a 2020 presidential candidate, broke the record for the longest Senate speech with over 25 hours of remarks decrying Trump and Musk's assault on the government. Multiple Democrats, including Schumer, asked Booker questions, to give him opportunities to rest and shift topics.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats and sought the party's 2016 and 2020 presidential nominations—is in the midst of a "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here"
tour across the United States. Multiple Democratic lawmakers have joined him, including New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who faces mounting pressure to primary Schumer in the 2028 cycle.
Israeli forces also bombed an U.N. clinic in Jabalia, killing at least 68 Palestinians including elders, women, and children—one of them a newborn baby.
Israel's far-right government on Wednesday admitted to a major land grab in the embattled Gaza Strip, where the forced removal of Palestinians accelerated amid ongoing airstrikes that killed scores of civilians, including at least 68 people slain in the bombing of a health clinic run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) renewed assault is "expanding to crush and clean" Gaza while "seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the state of Israel for the protection of fighting forces and the settlements," a reference to plans by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for the ethnic cleansing and Israeli recolonization of the Palestinian enclave.
"Did you decide that we are sacrificing hostages for capturing land?"
Israeli forces control what they call a buffer zone along Gaza's entire border and on Monday ordered a sweeping evacuatione that forced approximately 140,000 Palestinians to flee from Rafah and other areas. In scenes reminiscent of the Nakba—during which over 750,000 Arabs fled or were forced from Palestine during the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948—Palestinian families were seen carrying their possessions or loading them atop vehicles and donkey carts as they sought ever-elusive safety.
Ihab Suliman, a former university professor forcibly expelled from Jabalia with his family, toldThe Associated Press on Monday that "there is no longer any taste to life. Life and death have become one and the same for us."
The fresh wave of expulsions follows last month's creation of a new IDF directorate tasked with ethnically cleansing northern Gaza under the guise of "voluntary emigration." Katz said the agency would be run "in accordance with the vision of U.S. President Donald Trump," who last month said that the United States would "take over" Gaza after emptying the strip of its over 2 million Palestinians and transform the coastal enclave into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Trump has since attempted to walk back some of his comments.
The renewed ethnic cleansing of southern Gaza came amid heavy IDF airstrikes throughout the strip, including the Wednesday bombing of a clinic-turned-shelter run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jabalia that killed at least 68 civilians, including women, children, and elders and wounded dozens more, according to local officials. Graphic video of the strike's aftermath showed a man holding up the headless body of a newborn baby outside the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia.
Gaza's Government Media Office called the strike "a full-fledged war crime," while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged the international community to pressure Israel "to halt its genocide, displacement, and annexation, and impose a political settlement per international law."
Israel admitted to carrying out the strike, claiming it targeted "Hamas terrorists" hiding among the civilians. Israeli policy implemented after Hamas led the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 permits the IDF to knowingly kill an unlimited number of civilians in order to kill just one Hamas member, no matter their rank or role in the organization.
Katz called on Gaza residents to "expel Hamas and return all hostages" kidnapped from Israel on October 7.
However, the umbrella group representing families of some of the abductees—24 of whom are believed to still be alive—on Wednesday accused Netanyahu of "burying the hostages alive" by unilaterally abandoning aa cease-fire with Hamas last month.
"Did you decide that we are sacrificing hostages for capturing land?" the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked following Katz's announcement. "Instead of getting the hostages out in a deal and ending the war, Israel's government is sending more soldiers to Gaza to fight in the same places that they already fought over and over again."
Since March 18, when Israel broke the cease-fire with Hamas and resumed its assault on Gaza, more than 1,000 Palestinians, including over 320 children, have been killed, and thousands more wounded, according to local and international officials.
Since Israel resumed its terror bombing of Gaza on March 18, every day we see images of small children with their heads or limbs blown off by U.S. weapons. Doctors having to cut holiday clothes off of children in a desperate attempt to save them. Amputations without anesthesia.
— Jeremy Scahill ( @jeremyscahill.com) April 2, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed or wounded more than 175,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according the Gaza Health Ministry. That figure includes at least 14,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Almost all of Gaza's more than 2 million people have been forcibly displaced, often multiple times. Meanwhile, Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza has exacerbated widespread and sometimes deadly starvation and illness.
On Monday, the Gaza Government Media Office said that at least 1,513 humanitarian workers have also been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. It is uncertain whether that figure includes the 15 first responders—including eight Red Crescent workers and six Civil Defense personnel—whose bodies, some of them allegedly bound and shot, were found in a mass grave that day.
Israel is facing an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, and Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are fugitives from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which last year issued arrest warrants for the pair for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC joined human rights groups on Wednesday in condemning Netanyahu trip to Hungary, a signatory to the Rome Statute governing the world's top war crimes tribunal. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán and other members of his far-right government are set to welcome Netanyahu for a four-day visit underscoring both countries' disdain for international law.
Meanwhile in the illegally occupied West Bank—where thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded by IDF troops and Jewish settler-colonists since October 2023—the UNRWA area director said this week that the scale of forced displacement is unprecedented during the 58 years of Israeli occupation.
This article has been updated to reflect the latest death toll from shelter bombing.