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For Immediate Release
June, 05 2015, 03:30pm EDT
Contact:
David Vance,,dvance@commoncause.org
Common Cause Urges Action This Year To Strengthen Voting Rights
Americans shouldn't have to wait for the election of a new President to get strong federal and state action to protect and strengthen voting rights, Common Cause said today.
"It's encouraging to see voting rights and voter participation emerging as issues early in the race for the White House," said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport. "But Congress should be working now, as many of our state legislatures already are working, to make it easier for Americans to register to vote and to cast their ballots.
WASHINGTON
Americans shouldn't have to wait for the election of a new President to get strong federal and state action to protect and strengthen voting rights, Common Cause said today.
"It's encouraging to see voting rights and voter participation emerging as issues early in the race for the White House," said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport. "But Congress should be working now, as many of our state legislatures already are working, to make it easier for Americans to register to vote and to cast their ballots.
Rapoport praised proposals for expanded early voting, online registration and improved election administration outlined this week by candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. "These ideas ought to be a starting point for bipartisan action to ensure that every qualified American has the right to vote, is able to cast his or her ballot easily and can be confident that the ballot will be counted as cast," he said. A bipartisan commission created by President Obama after the 2012 election already has put forth a series of comprehensive, common-sense steps to shorten voting lines and increase efficiency.
"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. This month marks two years since the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of that law in Shelby County v. Holder. And yet Congress has done nothing to restore the act; the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee refuses even to convene a hearing," Rapoport said.
"There is no reason - none at all - why this should be a partisan issue," he added. "The original Voting Rights Act and the revisions that have been adopted over the years all enjoyed bipartisan support. Those laws have made it possible for millions of Americans who once were shut out of our democracy to become full partners in the American experiment."
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
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UN Warns 14,000 Babies in Gaza Could Die in 48 Hours Without True Lift of Israeli Blockade
"The limited entry of aid into Gaza cannot be mistaken for meaningful progress," said one humanitarian expert.
May 20, 2025
The United Nations estimated that the Netanyahu government's continued starvation of more than 2 million Palestinians could kill up to 14,000 infants in the next two days without a serious influx of aid.
News outlets have reported since Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed five aid trucks carrying baby food and other nutritional aid into the besieged enclave—but humanitarian experts and workers have decried the arrival of the aid as "a trickle among a sea of need."
Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs for the United Nations, said the tiny amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean" in a bombarded enclave where food security experts announced earlier this month that nearly a quarter of a million people are facing "extreme deprivation of food" and the entire population has "very high" levels of acute malnutrition and excess mortality.
While many medical workers have been killed in Israeli bombings, Fletcher told the BBC's Radio 4"Today" program that teams have assessed that 14,000 infants are likely to die within 48 hours if food aid can't reach them. The small amount of trucks allowed in through the Karem Abu Salem crossing Monday—a fraction of the 600 per day that provided food, medications, water, and other aid to Palestinians during the recent cease-fire—have yet to actually reach civilians.
On Tuesday, 100 more U.N. trucks were given clearance to enter Gaza. Fletcher said humanitarian workers fear potential looting of aid trucks due to the chaotic, desperate situation faced by Palestinians.
The current blockade began March 2, and international humanitarian groups operating in Gaza have exhausted their reserves of food aid over the past 79 days.
"For over 70 days Israel has been starving the people of Gaza, depriving them of food, water, medicine, and essential supplies while escalating its cruel and indiscriminate bombing campaign," said Wassem Mushtaha, Gaza response lead for Oxfam. "Two million people are on the brink of famine, and they are not just starving, but also traumatized, sick, and displaced from their homes."
"The limited entry of aid into Gaza cannot be mistaken for meaningful progress, especially alongside the expansion of Israel's brutal bombing campaign across the Gaza Strip," said Mushtaha. "It is not a turning point, but at best a narrow concession that seems to reflect mounting international pressure."
The continued blockade on effectively all humanitarian aid prompted the United Kingdom, Canada, and France to issue a joint statement Monday saying that "the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable" and threatening "targeted sanctions."
On Tuesday, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament that the government had suspended trade negotiations over Netanyahu's blockade and plan to expand military operations across Gaza.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Tuesday that the country also supports a review of the European Union's trade relationship with Gaza.
"The blind violence and the blockade of humanitarian aid by the Israeli government have turned the enclave into a death trap, not to say a cemetery," Barrot said. "This must stop... It is an absolute violation of all the rules of international law."
The European leaders' comments were a departure from many Western governments' insistence since 2023 that Israel is operating in self-defense and that it is targeting Hamas in retaliation for the group's attack on October 7, 2023. Humanitarian groups, rights experts, and progressive lawmakers have called on Western governments to end their support for Israel, which faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam's policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory and Gaza, said Tuesday that "what is urgently needed is for all crossings to be opened to allow a full and proper humanitarian response that allows real access, with safe corridors and respect for international humanitarian law."
"A token convoy does not equal progress, only sustained, accountable access through every crossing will end the impunity that keeps aid from flowing," said Khalidi. "We must also see an end to the relentless bombing and attacks on Palestinian people, with an urgent and permanent cease-fire, alongside justice and accountability for all."
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'What Don't They Want You to Know?' GOP Sets 1 AM Hearing to Advance Disastrous Medicaid Cuts
"They have such contempt for the American people," said Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern.
May 20, 2025
House Republicans are set to take the next step toward passage of their sprawling reconciliation bill at a Wednesday hearing scheduled to begin while most Americans are fast asleep.
The GOP-controlled House Rules Committee will convene at 1 am ET Wednesday morning to consider the legislation and recent changes pushed by Republican hardliners, who are demanding even more aggressive cuts to Medicaid and green energy programs.
Specifically, a faction of far-right Republicans led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas wants the bill's proposed work requirements for Medicaid recipients to take effect earlier than the originally proposed 2029 start date. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Tuesday that Republicans had settled on "early 2027" as a new start date.
While the House Rules Committee has not responded to reporters' questions about the timing of Wednesday's hearing, critics said it appears to be an attempt to avoid the kinds of protests and public scrutiny that daytime meetings have attracted.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the rules panel, blasted his Republican colleagues over the dead-of-night hearing time, writing on social media that "they have such contempt for the American people."
"If Donald Trump's big beautiful tax break for billionaires is so great... why not pass it in primetime?" McGovern asked. "Why jam it through in the middle of the night? What don't they want you to know?"
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) added that "if you think you are doing what is right for the American people, you don't consider it in the dead of night."
"This bill doesn't just cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid, and it will cause millions of eligible people in House districts across the country to lose access to the Medicaid benefits they need."
The GOP reconciliation package, a centerpiece of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, would slash Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance by more than a trillion dollars combined over the next decade—cuts that would help offset the cost of massive tax breaks for rich Americans.
The spending cuts, which would be achieved in part through draconian and ineffective work requirements, would strip healthcare coverage and food aid from millions of Americans and potentially devastate rural hospitals, farmers, and local economies.
"Instead of listening to the millions of Americans clogging their phone lines and showing up at townhalls, or even those in their own party warning against severe cuts to Medicaid, House Republicans are making bigger cuts and terminating people's healthcare coverage even faster," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA.
"This bill doesn't just cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid, and it will cause millions of eligible people in House districts across the country to lose access to the Medicaid benefits they need," Wright said. "When will we hear from those members?"
Later Wednesday morning, Medicaid recipients from across the country—including districts represented by House Republicans—are set to gather on Capitol Hill to protest the GOP legislation.
"Upon arrival on May 21, they will hold a press conference, demand face-to-face meetings, deliver petitions signed by thousands of constituents urging GOP decisionmakers to change course, and take direct action in order to be heard," the People's Action Institute and Popular Democracy said Tuesday.
"The plan to eviscerate Medicaid and other programs in order to siphon public dollars into the pockets of billionaires who already pay less in taxes than working families is universally unpopular," they added.
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'Should Send a Chill Down the Spine of Every American': Trump DOJ Charges New Jersey Democrat
"The most corrupt administration in our country's history is targeting and punishing public officials who seek to hold them accountable."
May 20, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's Justice Department announced Monday that it is pursuing assault charges against a Democratic congresswoman from New Jersey who took part in an oversight visit at a privately run migrant detention center in Newark earlier this month.
In a statement, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba announced the charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), claiming the lawmaker "assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement" at GEO Group's Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded GEO Group a billion-dollar contract earlier this year to detain migrants there, even as the facility faced legal challenges and accusations of abuse.
McIver rejected the charges against her as "purely political," saying that "they mischaracterize and distort my actions" in an attempt to "criminalize and deter legislative oversight."
"We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short," said McIver. "Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor [Ras] Baraka."
Habba said Monday that her office has agreed to drop the trespassing charge against Baraka, who welcomed the decision while expressing solidarity with McIver.
"Congresswoman McIver is a daughter of Newark, past Newark Council president, a former student of mine, and a dear friend," said Baraka. "I want to be clear: I stand with LaMonica, and I fully expect her to be vindicated."
"It reveals the increasingly authoritarian nature of this administration and its relentless, illegal attempts to suppress any dissent or oversight."
The U.S. attorney's announcement sparked an outpouring of support for McIver and grave warnings about the implications of the Trump administration's attempt to prosecute her and other officials who try to stand in the way of its lawless mass deportation effort.
"This is a clear political attack on Rep. LaMonica McIver for having the courage to stand up to Trump's abuses of power," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. "Let's be clear who the real lawbreakers are. In just the last week, both Donald Trump and [Attorney General] Pam Bondi have been caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Bondi sold millions of shares of stock on the same day that Trump announced his disastrous tariffs. And Trump accepted a $400 million luxury plane from the Qatari royal family."
"The most corrupt administration in our country's history is targeting and punishing public officials who seek to hold them accountable," Mitchell added.
McIver's fellow congressional Democrats also rallied to her defense.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) called the charges a "purely political act" and said that "oversight is not a criminal offense unless you are living under a fascist regime."
The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), said that "the baseless charges against Congresswoman McIver for simply doing her job should send a chill down the spine of every American."
A group of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee warned that "charging members of Congress for doing our jobs is a dangerous precedent to set."
"It reveals the increasingly authoritarian nature of this administration and its relentless, illegal attempts to suppress any dissent or oversight, including from judges, members of Congress, and the American people, which check lawless executive power," the lawmakers said. "Representative McIver has our full support, and we will do everything in our power to help fight this outrageous threat to our constitutional system."
The scene at Delaney Hall earlier this month was highly chaotic, with video footage showing jostling and heated verbal exchanges outside of the facility's gate as federal agents moved to arrest Baraka after three New Jersey lawmakers—McIver and Reps. Robert Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman—visited the inside of the detention center, which they have a right to do under federal law.
The Department of Homeland Security released a video claiming to show McIver "assaulting" an ICE agent, and one DHS official accused the Democratic lawmaker of "body-slamming" and "body-ramming" officers. McIver, who rejected the claims, said at the time that federal agents at the scene were "roughing up members of Congress."
Watson Coleman, who is 80 years old, said she was "manhandled" by ICE agents as they moved to arrest Baraka.
In a statement late Monday, Mike Zamore of the national ACLU and Amol Sinha of ACLU-NJ said that "the Trump administration's political charges against Congresswoman McIver [are] a method more suited for authoritarianism than American democracy."
"If the Trump administration can target elected officials who oppose its extreme agenda, it can happen to any one of us," they said. "We demand that they drop the charges against Rep. McIver, and we implore her fellow members of Congress to call for the same."
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