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For Immediate Release
September, 30 2015, 01:15pm EDT
Contact:
Contact: Peter Maybarduk, pmaybarduk@citizen.org, (202) 390-5375
Burcu Kilic, bkilic@citizen.org
Melinda St. Louis, mstlouis@citizen.org, (202) 441-7579
Public Citizen Experts Are at TPP Negotiations in Atlanta, Can Keep You Updated on the Talks
Follow @burcuno for Regular Updates
WASHINGTON
WHAT: Public Citizen experts are at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in Atlanta, Ga., and are available for interviews. The experts can explain how the TPP would dramatically increase the cost of medicines and delay access to affordable treatments, threaten Internet freedoms and privacy, restrict access to knowledge online and offline, empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards, and more.
Follow @burcuno and @PCmedsaccess for live Twitter updates. Please contact one of the experts above for an interview. If you would like to get in touch with international allies or local anti-TPP activists, please contact Mina Itabashi at mitabashi@citizen.org or (510) 220-6528.
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 1
WHERE: Atlanta, Ga.
WHO: Peter Maybarduk, director, Public Citizen's Global Access to Medicines Program
Burcu Kilic, legal counsel, Public Citizen's Global Access to Medicines Program
Melinda St. Louis, international campaigns director, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
Escalating Attacks in Strait of Hormuz Risk Return to 'Full-Blown War'
"The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a problem CAUSED by US military power, not one US military power can fix," said one critic.
May 04, 2026
Iran on Monday launched missiles and drones at US military forces and merchant ships after President Donald Trump announced plans to help vessels navigate the Strait of Hormuz.
According to The Washington Post, the Iranian strikes "were carried out just after Central Command announced that two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels passed through the strait, the first known to have done so since the ceasefire, closely following the passage of two US destroyers."
Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, a senior Iranian commander, warned in a statement given to the Iranian Mehr News Agency that his country's military "will attack any foreign force, particularly the US military, if it attempts to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz."
Trump responded to the Iranian attacks by once again threatening to carry out war crimes, telling Fox News' Trey Yingst that Iran will "be blown off the face of the Earth" if it attacks US military ships.
Trump's latest threat comes just over a month after the president delivered an openly genocidal threat against Iran, warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," if Iran's leaders didn't give into his demands.
Amid the resumption of hostilities, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) warned that the US and Iran could be stumbling into a dangerous new phase of the war, which Trump launched in late February without any authorization from the US Congress.
"In seemingly daring Iran to fire on US vessels by testing their restriction of naval traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," NIAC wrote in a social media post, "the US risks instigating a Gulf of Tonkin-like incident that would serve as a spark for deeper military hostilities. The consistent rejection of diplomatic off-ramps and use of brinksmanship to seek to enhance leverage at the negotiating table is a losing game that risks tilting the US and Iran back into full-blown war."
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, relayed comments from an unidentified Iranian analyst who said Iran's decision to fire "warning shots" at US military vessels represented a move to a more aggressive strategic posture.
"If Trump plans to restart the war, Iran will not wait for Trump to do so before it retaliates," Parsi wrote. "It will strike preemptively in a measured way to deter Trump."
Sina Toossi, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, called attention to Trump's claims that his escort mission to get two commercial vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz was a "success," even as it led to reported Iranian strikes on ports in the allied United Arab Emirates.
"Reads like another desperate attempt to steady markets as events suggest otherwise," Toossi remarked.
Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, said the latest round of hostilities showed the Trump administration was still in denial about what needs to happen to reopen the strait.
"The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a problem CAUSED by US military power, not one US military power can fix," Kavanagh explained. "The sooner Washington accepts this, the sooner we can start working toward a diplomatic resolution."
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'Prepared to Fight': Sanders Endorses NJ Medicare for All Advocate Dr. Adam Hamawy for Congress
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US Sen. Bernie Sanders over the weekend endorsed New Jersey surgeon Dr. Adam Hamawy for Congress, citing the Democratic candidate's long record of saving lives in humanitarian disasters from 9/11 to Israel's US-backed destruction of Gaza, as well as his support for Medicare for All and willingness to take on the billionaire class.
“Dr. Adam Hamawy has saved lives with great courage and honor—he did it as a 9/11 first responder, as a combat trauma surgeon in Iraq, as a volunteer in hospitals under bombardment in Gaza, and in emergency rooms in New Jersey," Sanders (I-Vt.) said on social media.
"As a physician he understands firsthand that our current healthcare system is broken, that healthcare is a human right, and that we must pass Medicare for All," the senator continued. "Dr. Hamawy is prepared to fight for real campaign finance reform to stop billionaires from buying elections, and will not waste billions of taxpayer dollars on endless and illegal wars."
"Status quo politics is not working," Sanders added. "We need bold leaders like Dr. Hamawy in Congress. I am proud to endorse him and look forward to working with him after he is elected.”
Hamawy said he was "excited" by Sanders' endorsement.
"I am running to fund healthcare, not bombs, to abolish ICE, and to unrig our economy," he said. "In Congress, I'll fight right alongside Bernie to defeat fascism and deliver for working people."
"As a doctor, I am proud to fight alongside him for Medicare for All," Hamawy added. "As a veteran, I am grateful for his advocacy for our community and his leadership in fighting against endless wars. I am deeply honored to have earned his support.“
Hamawy, the son of immigrants from Egypt, is running for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District seat, currently held by retiring Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman. He grew up in Old Bridge Township and is a graduate of Rutgers University and what is now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
The 46-year-old physician joined the United States Army Medical Corps and served during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq as a combat trauma surgeon. Hamawy—whose highest rank was lieutenant colonel—became nationally known after saving the life of then-Army helicopter pilot and current US Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004. Duckworth later credited him with preventing her from becoming a triple amputee.
After leaving the Army, Hamawy volunteered in emergency and war zones including after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, during the Syrian Civil War, and the ongoing Gaza genocide—when he joined an international medical mission and performed roughly 120 surgeries, many on children wounded in Israeli attacks.
Hamawy and the other doctors on the team became trapped inside Gaza after Israel closed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Duckworth urged then-US President Joe Biden to secure the doctors' evacuation. According to reporting, Hamawy was one of three US doctors who refused to be evacuated from Gaza until non-American members of his medical team could also leave.
After returning stateside, Hamawy testified about conditions in Gaza, describing catastrophic shortages of medicine and other vital equipment and the high mortality rates among severely wounded civilians.
In addition to Sanders, Hamawy is endorsed by Duckworth, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and progressive groups including Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Veterans for Responsible Leadership, Council on American-Islamic Relations Action, and Track AIPAC.
While some pro-Palestine congressional incumbents and candidates including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), and Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American from Illinois, have been defeated amid a torrent of funding from groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, others have won their races in recent elections, including Omar and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Analilia Mejia (D-NJ), who was sworn into office last month.
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"Kicking 4.3 million Americans off of SNAP is not a flex, it's a failure," said Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown.
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US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Saturday openly celebrated millions of people losing their food assistance, which experts say is a direct result of the Republicans' 2025 budget law that slashed funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $186 billion over a decade.
In a social media post pointing to preliminary data from her department, Rollins boasted that there were now "4.3 million off SNAP and counting!"
"Under President Trump, Americans are getting back to work!" Rollins added. "Healthy employment numbers mean less reliance on government programs. Leaving benefits for those who truly need them. America is back in business!"
In reality, the unemployment rate is currently higher than when President Donald Trump took office in February 2025 and there has been almost no growth in net employment since the president announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs just over a year ago.
The Associated Press on Monday published a fact check of Rollins' claims about SNAP, finding that Republicans' cuts to the program were far more likely responsible for the historic drops in enrollment than any purported improvement in the economy.
Caitlin Caspi, an associate professor at the University of Connecticut who studies food insecurity, told the AP that current job creation numbers are nowhere near strong enough to explain the massive number of Americans losing access to SNAP.
"We’re not seeing a linear kind of drop-off,” Caspi said. “We are not seeing, if you look at the unemployment rates, things that might be an indicator that a strong economy was driving this change. We don't see, for example, a pattern of decline in unemployment that would match the pattern of decline in SNAP participation."
Caspi's analysis was echoed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), which last week published an analysis finding that "economic conditions haven’t been improving as the number of people receiving SNAP has plummeted in recent months, representing the sharpest decline in decades."
Instead, CBPP pointed the finger squarely at the GOP's budget law as the biggest culprit behind the decline.
"The deep cuts to federal funding for SNAP are shifting significant new costs to states," wrote CBPP, noting that the GOP law "also dramatically expands SNAP’s already harsh and ineffective provision taking away people’s benefits for not meeting the work requirement."
Rollins' claims about SNAP enrollment were also criticized by Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), who expressed disgust that the administration is bragging about kicking people off food assistance during a time when the price of groceries has continued to rise thanks in part to Trump's own policies.
"Better economy where?" Brown wrote on social media in response to Rollins. "You mean the one where Americans paid $300 more on their groceries to compensate for Trump's tariffs? Kicking 4.3 million Americans off of SNAP is not a flex, it's a failure. That's why I've authored legislation to reverse the Trump SNAP cuts."
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