August, 17 2011, 02:51pm EDT
Sanders to Steelworkers: No. 1 Challenge America Faces Is a Jobs Crisis
WASHINGTON
Sen. Bernie Sanders will address the urgent need to create jobs to both jumpstart the economy and reduce the national debt during the United Steelworkers "Stand Up, Fight Back" convention in Las Vegas this afternoon.
Shortly before Sanders speaks to more than 3,000 union leaders throughout North America today, President Barack Obama is scheduled to make remarks to the steelworkers' convention by video. On Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addressed the steelworkers' convention and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) delivered his own remarks in a video address.
"While everyone understands that we have got to reduce the deficit, the number one challenge America faces right now is a jobs crisis," Sanders said, noting that over 16 percent of American workers, 25 million Americans, today are either unemployed or underemployed. "Creating the millions of new jobs that we desperately need is not only vitally important to our economy but will be the means by which we reduce the deficit over the long term. New jobs mean more government revenue, which makes a lot more sense than having to spend billions on unemployment compensation, food stamps, and other programs needed during a severe recession."
During his speech, Sanders will outline his own vision to put millions of Americans back to work. His plan calls for rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure, transforming our energy system, and rewriting our trade policy so that American products -- not jobs -- are our number one export.
Sanders said, "Everyone in Vermont and across the country understands that we can put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding the nation's bridges, roads, schools, dams, culverts, rail systems and public transportation, among other vital needs. We must also transform our energy system away from fossil fuel and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. A significant number of jobs can be created through weatherization, and the manufacturing of American-made wind turbines, solar panels, and heat pumps. Also, we must make fundamental changes in our trade policy so that we rebuild our manufacturing sector. Corporate America must invest in the United States and stop the outsourcing of jobs to China, Vietnam, and other low-wage countries."
In his remarks, Sanders will also call on the recently created congressional Super Committee to find $1.5 trillion in savings by reducing the deficit in a fair and responsible way, in part, by aggressively eliminating tax loopholes for the wealthy and large corporations and taking a hard look at excessive military spending.
Sanders will also emphasize that he plans to vigorously oppose efforts to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.
"Social Security has not contributed a nickel to the deficit, it has a $2.6 trillion surplus, and it can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 25 years. It must not be cut," Sanders said.
"Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the most vulnerable, it is time to ask the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in this country to pay their fair share," Sanders said.
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Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders are pressing the Democratic Party to offer "a clear alternative and inclusive vision for how we will make life better for the 90% who are struggling in this economy."
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In the wake of U.S. federal elections resulting in Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress—in no small part due to Democrats' failure to win working-class votes—leading congressional progressives are pushing a plan to rebuild the Democratic Party by rejecting corporate cash and uplifting low- and middle-income Americans.
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- Embrace grassroots donors and reject special interest and dark money, including by reinstating the DNC's 2008 ban on corporate political action committee donations, and pushing to prohibit super PAC spending in state primaries;
- Rebuild Democrats' multiracial, working-class base by uplifting poor, low-, and middle-income voices and concerns; and
- Highlight recent electoral successes while working to build broad coalitions to win elections.
The progressives' memo urges the DNC to "invest in showing our commitment to real populism versus Trump's faux populism
through lifting up working-class voices and issue-based campaigns that take on corporate concentration and monopoly power at the expense of working people."
The principles enumerated in the memo resonated beyond the CPC. Responding to the proposed agenda in a social media post, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) concurred: "The next DNC chair should absolutely refuse to take corporate PAC money. If we are the party of the working class—and we are—then let's raise $ like we mean it."
Casar, who before running for elected office worked as policy director for the Workers Defense Project—whose victories included rest and water breaks for outdoor laborers, anti-wage theft legislation, and living wage requirements—has repeatedly stressed the imperative "to re-emphasize core economic issues" that matter most to American workers.
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"The Democratic Party, at its best, can hold people or can have inside of its tent people across geography, across race, and across ideology," he added. "Because we're all in the same boat when it comes to making sure that you can retire with dignity, that your kids can go to school, that you can buy a house."
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The families, who are being represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project, have asked the court to take the product offline.
The explosive court filing comes not long after a mother in Florida filed a separate lawsuit against Character.AI in October, arguing that the chatbot service is responsible for the death of her teenage son because it allegedly encouraged him to commit suicide, per CNN.
Character.AI is different than other chatbots in that it lets uses interact with artificial intelligence "characters." The Texas complaint alleges that the 17-year-old, for example, engaged in a conversation with a character modeled after the celebrity Billie Eilish. These sorts of "companion apps" are finding a growing audience, even though researchers have long warned of the perils of building relationships with chatbots, according to The Washington Post.
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Nobel laureates rarely wade into politics as a group, but Monday marked the second time in two months that dozens of winners of the prestigious Nobel Prize have banded together to speak out against the agenda of President-elect Donald Trump—this time, calling on U.S. senators to reject his nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
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