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Tony Newman 646-335-5384
Tommy McDonald 510-338-8827
On the eve of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem, world leaders and activists have signed a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him to set the stage "for real reform of global drug control policy."
The unprecedented list of signatories includes a range of people from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders to businessmen Warren Buffett, George Soros, Richard Branson, Barry Diller, actors Michael Douglas and Woody Harrelson, Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, singers John Legend and Mary J. Blige, activists Reverend Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem and Michelle Alexander, as well as distinguished legislators, cabinet ministers, and former UN officials.
"The drug control regime that emerged during the last century," the letter says, "has proven disastrous for global health, security and human rights. Focused overwhelmingly on criminalization and punishment, it created a vast illicit market that has enriched criminal organizations, corrupted governments, triggered explosive violence, distorted economic markets and undermined basic moral values.
"Governments devoted disproportionate resources to repression at the expense of efforts to better the human condition. Tens of millions of people, mostly poor and racial and ethnic minorities, were incarcerated, mostly for low-level and non-violent drug law violations, with little if any benefit to public security. Problematic drug use and HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases spread rapidly as prohibitionist laws, agencies and attitudes impeded harm reduction and other effective health policies.
"Humankind cannot afford a 21st century drug policy as ineffective and counter-productive as the last century's."
"The influence and diversity of the leaders who signed this letter is unprecedented," said Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which orchestrated the initiative in collaboration with dozens of allied organizations and individuals around the world. "Never before have so many respected voices joined together in calling for fundamental reform of drug control policies - in particular limiting 'the role of criminalization and criminal justice... to the extent truly required to protect health and safety'."
The UN Special Session, which will take place April 19-21, is the first of its kind since 1998, when the UN's illusory but official slogan was "A drug-free world - we can do it!" The upcoming UNGASS was proposed in late 2012 by the Mexican government, with strong support from other Latin American governments. Last year UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a strong call-to-action, urging governments "to conduct a wide-ranging and open debate that considers all options." Today's public letter to him was prompted in part by the obstacles to such debate within the confines of the United Nations.
"This letter was drafted and all the signatures secured in just the past few weeks," noted Nadelmann. "The signatories represent a tiny fraction of the distinguished leaders in politics and public policy, academia, law and law enforcement, health and medicine, culture and entertainment, business, and religion who would agree with the sentiments expressed in this letter."
"We've come a long way since 1998," said Nadelmann, "with a growing number of countries rejecting drug war rhetoric and policies. But the progress achieved to date pales beside the reforms still required." As the letter says: "A new global response to drugs is needed, grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights."
Below represent just a few of the distinguished individuals around the world who signed the public letter to Ban Ki-moon. For a complete list go to: https://www.drugpolicy.org/ungass2016
Gordon Bajnai (Hungary)
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil)
Ruth Dreifuss (Switzerland)
Vicente Fox (Mexico)
Cesar Gaviria Trujillo (Colombia)
Aleksander Kwasniewski (Poland)
Ricardo Lagos (Chile)
Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria)
George Papandreou (Greece)
Pedro Pires (Cape Verde)
Andries A. van Agt (Netherlands)
Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico)
Toney Anaya (Former Governor, New Mexico)
Cory Booker (U.S. Senator, New Jersey)
Howard Dean (Former Governor, Vermont)
David Dinkins (Former Mayor, New York City)
Gary Johnson (Former Governor, New Mexico)
Bob Kerrey (Former Governor and Senator, Nebraska)
Ed Markey (U.S. Senator, Massachusetts)
Jeff Merkley (U.S. Senator, Oregon)
Gavin Newsom (Lieutenant Governor, California)
Bill Richardson (Former Governor, New Mexico)
Bernie Sanders (U.S. Senator, Vermont)
Kurt Schmoke (Former Mayor, Baltimore)
Peter Shumlin (Governor, Vermont)
Elizabeth Warren (U.S. Senator, Massachusetts)
Arni Pall Arnason (Former Minister of Social Affairs, Iceland)
Pedro Aspe (Former Minister of Finances, Mexico)
Norman Baker (Minister of State at the Home Office, U.K.)
Marek Balicki (Former Minister of Health, Poland)
Peter Baume (Former Minister for Health, Australia)
Neal Blewett (Former Minister for Health, Australia)
Frits Bolkestein (Former Minister of Defence, the Netherlands)
Michal Boni (Former Minister of Administration and Digitization, Poland)
Emma Bonino (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy)
Frank Carlucci (Former U.S. Secretary of Defense; Former Deputy Director of the CIA, U.S.)
Fernando Carrera (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala)
Nick Clegg (Former Deputy Prime Minister, U.K.)
Bernt Johan Collet (Former Minister of Defence, Denmark)
Hedy d'Ancona (Former Minister of Health, the Netherlands)
Bob Debus (Former Minister for Home Affairs, Australia)
Uffe Elbaek (Former Minister of Culture, Denmark, Denmark)
Baroness Lynne Featherstone (Minister of State at the Home, U.K.)
Diego Garcia-Sayan (Former Minister of Justice; Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Peru)
Alejandra Gaviria (Minister of Health, Colombia)
Mark Golding (Former Minister of Justice, Jamaica)
Anthony Hylton (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jamaica)
Vasyl Knyazevytch (Former Minister of Health, Ukraine)
Bernard Koucher (Former Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, France)
Sandro Kvitashvili (Minister of Health, Ukraine)
Norman Lamb (Former Health Minister, United Kingdom)
Cecilia M. Lopez (Former Minister of Agriculture, Colombia)
Maria Julia Munoz (Minister of Education and Culture, Uruguay)
Svatopluk Nemecek (Minister of Health, Czech Republic)
George Papandreou (Former Prime Minister, Greece)
Robert Reich (Former Secretary of Labor, U.S.)
Yesid Reyes (Minister of Justice, Colombia)
Miguel Samper (Former Deputy Minister of Justice, Colombia)
George Shultz (Former U.S. Secretary of State; Former US Secretary of Labor; Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, U.S.)
Thorvald Stoltenberg (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Former Minister of Defence, Norway)
Umberto Veronesi (Former Minister of Health, Italy)
Dallas Austin
Mary J. Blige
Tom Brady
Michael Douglas
Eve Ensler
Jane Fonda
Peter Gabriel
Adrian Grenier
Herbie Hancock
Woody Harrelson
Natalie Imbruglia
DJ Khaled
Billie Jean King
Norman Lear
John Legend
Annie Lennox
Rita Marley
Rita Ora
Busta Rhymes
Carly Simon
Gloria Steinem
Sting
Alexander Wang
Paul Beirne (U.S.)
Chris Blackwell (Jamaica)
Richard Branson (U.K.)
Eli Broad (U.S.)
Susie Buell (U.S.)
Warren Buffett (U.S.)
Jannie Chan (Singapore)
Mark Cuban (U.S.)
Barry Diller (U.S.)
Christopher Forbes (U.S.)
Tom Freston (U.S.)
David Geffen (U.S.)
Ryan Holmes (Canada)
Mo Ibrahim (Sudan)
Alexander Rinnooy Kan (Netherlands)
Dustin Moskovitz (U.S.)
Zbigniew Niemczycki (Poland)
Pierre Omidyar (U.S.)
Salvador Paiz (Guatemala)
Antonio del Valle Perochena (Mexico)
Alex Ramirez (Mexico)
Stuart Resnick (U.S.)
Eugenio Clariond Reyes Retana (Mexico)
Joao Roberto Marinho (Brazil)
Ricardo Salinas (Mexico)
George Soros (U.S.)
Lord Rumi Verjee (U.K.)
J. Arturo Zapata (Mexico)
Louise Arbour, Former Justice, Supreme Court of Canada; Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Canada)
Mark Bennett, US District Court Judge, Northern District of Iowa (U.S.)
Ernesto Pazmino Granizo, Public Defender General (Ecuador)
Webb Hubbell, Former Associate Attorney General of the United States; Former Chief Justice, Arkansas Supreme Court; Former Mayor, Little Rock, Arkansas (U.S.)
Ketil Lund, Former Supreme Court Justice (Norway)
Lord Jonathan Marks, Barrister; Peer, House of Lords (UK)
Cruz Reynoso, Former Justice, California Supreme Court (U.S.)
Hal Sperling, Former Judge, Supreme Court of New South Wales (Australia)
Jon Steinar, Gunnlaugsson, Former Supreme Court Judge (Iceland)
Robert Sweet, US Federal Judge, UD District Court, Southern District of NY (U.S.)
Patricia Wald, Former Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit; Former Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (U.S.)
Vaughn Walker, Former District Judge, US District Court, Northern District of California (U.S.)
Raul Eugenio Zafaronni, Judge, Inter American Human Rights Court; Former member, Argentinean Supreme Court of Justice (Argentina)
Sette Camara, Former Police Commissioner, Federal Police (Brazil)
Gustavo de Greiff, Former Attorney General (Colombia)
TJ Donovan, State's Attorney, Burlington, Vermont (U.S.)
Kim Foxx, Cook County State's Attorney, Illinois (U.S.)
Pete Holmes, City Attorney, Seattle (U.S.)
George Gascon, District Attorney, San Francisco (U.S.)
Jim Manfre, Sheriff, Flagler County, Florida (U.S.)
Mick Palmer, Former Commissioner Australian Federal Police (Australia)
Karl Racine, Attorney General, District of Columbia (U.S.)
Ellen Rosenblum, Attorney General, Oregon (U.S.)
Graham Seaby, Former Detective Superintendent, New Scotland Yard (U.K.)
David Soares, District Attorney, Albany, New York (U.S.)
Hubert Wimber, Police Chief, Muenster (Germany)
Michelle Alexander
Senator Cory Booker
Geoffrey Canada
Congressman John Conyers
Ron Daniels
Professor Angela Y. Davis
David Dinkins
Professor Troy Duster
Professor Michael Eric Dyson
Congresswoman Donna Edwards
Congressman Keith Ellison
James E. Ferguson II
Alicia Garza
Professor Carl Hart
Congressman Alcee Hastings
Alice Huffman
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries
Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Marc Morial
Svante Myrick
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Congressman Bobby Scott
Kurt Schmoke
Bryan Stevenson
Opal Tometi
Toney Anaya
Jacob Candelaria
Juan Cartagena
Oscar Chacon
Tannia Esparza
Christian Estevez
George Gascon
Congressman Ruben Gallego
Antonio Gonzalez
Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham
Ian Haney-Lopez
Steven Lucero
Angela Pacheco
Gerald Ortiz y Pino
Maria Poblet
Cruz Reynoso
Bill Richardson
Duke Rodriguez
Congresswoman Linda T. Sanchez
Sergio Sanchez
Antonio Vasquez
Father Xavier Albo
Reverend Dr. William Barber II
Reverend Janet Cooper-Nelson
Reverend Dr. Yvonne Delk
Reverend Martin Ignacio Diaz Velasquez
Reverend Dr. John C. Dorhauer
Reverend Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue
Reverend James A. Forbes
Reverend Wendell Griffin
Reverend Hector Gutierrez
Reverend Frederick Haynes III
Reverend Miguel A. Hernandez
Reverend M. William Howard
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Reverend Peter Morales
Reverend Dr. Otis Moss III
Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid
Rabbi Jonah Pesner
Reverend Dr. Bernice Powell-Jackson
Reverend Barbara Ripple
Reverend Edwin Sanders
Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright
Chris Beyrer, President, International AIDS Society; Desmond Tutu Professor in Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore (U.S.)
Jo Ivey Boufford, President, New York Academy of Medicine (U.S.)
Pedro Cahn, Former President, International AIDS Society (Argentina)
Grant Colfax, M.D.; Former Director, White House Office of National AIDS Policy (U.S.)
Jeffrey S. Crowley, Program Director of the National HIV/AIDS Initiative, O'Neill Institute, Georgetown University Law Centre; Former Director White House Office of National AIDS Policy (U.S.)
Eric P. Goosby, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy on TB; Professor of Medicine; Director, Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy, Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco (U.S.)
Anand Grover, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (India)
Paul Hunt, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (U.K.)
Stephen Lewis, Former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa (Canada)
Marina Mahathir, UN Person of the Year (2010) for Achievements in Gender, Women's Empowerment, and HIV/AIDs; Human Rights Activist (Malaysia)
Julio Montaner, Director, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (Canada)
David Nutt, Director, Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, Imperial College London; Former Chair, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (U.K.)
Peter Piot, Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Former Executive Director, UNAIDS; Discoverer of the Ebola virus (Belgium)
Steve Safyer, President and CEO, Montefiore Health System, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (U.S.)
David Vlahov, Dean & Professor, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing (U.S.)
Andrew Weil, Director, Center for Integrative Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona (U.S.)
Lord Paddy Ashdown, Former leader, Liberal Democrats; Former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Former Member of Parliament (U.K.)
Robert Curl, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996; University Professor Emeritus, Rice University (U.S.)
Asma Jahangir, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions (Pakistan)
Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize in Literature, 2010 (Peru)
Lou McGrath, Nobel Peace Prize, 1997; Founder, Mines Action Group (U.K.)
Manfred Nowak, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (Austria)
John Polanyi, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1986 (Canada)
Lionel Rosenblatt, President Emeritus, Refugees International (U.S.)
Javier Sicilia, Founder, Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity in Mexico; Poet; Journalist (Mexico)
Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize in Economics, 2002; Professor of Economics; Founder and President, International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics (U.S.)
Shashi Tharoor, Former Under-Secretary General, United Nations; Member of Parliament (India)
Mabel van Oranje (The Netherlands)
Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Former Director-General of UNESCO; Chairman, Foundation for a Culture of Peace (Spain)
*Institutional affiliations and titles are included solely for identification purposes and should not be understood as indicating the respective organization's agreement with the content of this letter.
The Drug Policy Alliance is the nation's leading organization promoting drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
(212) 613-8020"As a result of your strong grassroots organizing, you have defeated the wealthiest person on earth," said Sen. Bernie Sanders to the state's voters after the Supreme Court race was called. "You have set an example for the rest of the country."
The battle over a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was settled decisively on Tuesday night as the Democratic favorite Susan Crawford dispatched with far-right favorite Brad Schimel, a candidate backed by tens of millions of dollars in outside money and corporate interests, including an estimated $20 million or more from President Donald Trump sycophant and world's wealthiest individual Elon Musk.
As of this writing, Crawford, a Dane County Judge, was enjoying "an unexpectedly easy" win with 55.5% of the vote compared to the 44.5% received by Schimel, the state's former Republican attorney general. Numerous decision desks called the race in her favor shortly after polls closed and the returns were clear.
"Thank you," Crawford said in a victory speech from the city of Madison shortly after 9:30 pm local time. "Alright Wisconsin—we did it!"
Crawford said she had just received a concession phone call from Schimel—describing him as "gracious" in defeat—as she thanked the people of Wisconsin for delivering a hard-fought victory in what has been documented as the "most expensive judicial race ever" in U.S. history.
"Tonight, the grassroots have risen up to defeat Musk and the MAGA authoritarianism he's funding."
"Thank you for trusting me to serve you on the Wisconsin Supreme Court," she told the audience of supporters and national television cameras. "I'm so grateful to have earned the trust and support of voters across this great state." She continued by explaining that she got into this race—like the way she had spent her life—"in order to do what's right, to protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of all Wisconites."
Crediting her career success to the values learned in the small Wisconsin town of Chippewa Falls—"where people watched out for each other" and people respected the ability to "tell right from wrong"—Crawford said that growing up she never imagined she would ultimately "be taking on the richest man in the world" in a political fight that has gained national attention and was widely seen as a political referendum on the first two months of the Trump administration's policies.
The battle, she said, was "over justice in Wisconsin—and we won!"
Musk made himself a key factor in the race over recent weeks by spending many millions of his own money backing Schimel, including a gimmick over the recent weekend in which he handed out $1 million checks to people as a way, according to critics, to purchase their support and vote.
Progressive lawmakers were among those chiming in with applause Tuesday night.
"Elon Musk spent MILLIONS to defeat Susan Crawford in Wisconsin—and it was an epic fail," declared Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) after her victory was announced. "Voters saw through his schemes, and our country is better off for it. Thank you, Wisconsinites."
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, was among those celebrating Crawford's win as a clear rebuke to Musk as well as President Trump.
"Despite pouring over $20 million into this race—including handing out million-dollar checks to voters—the world's wealthiest man has failed to secure a conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court," said Geevarghese. "Crawford's victory is a decisive win for protecting abortion access and workers' rights in Wisconsin. It also serves as a crucial safeguard against Donald Trump's ongoing attempts to subvert American democracy and erode judicial independence."
While the resounding defeat of Schimel by voters will be "viewed as a critical referendum on Trump and Musk’s dangerous, lawless agenda," he added, the amount of money spent during the race "also stands as a stark warning about the deep corruption within our broken campaign finance system. With spending exceeding $100 million, this election has become the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history, with billionaire donations flooding in on both sides."
"Tonight, the grassroots have risen up to defeat Musk and the MAGA authoritarianism he's funding," Geevarghese said. "But the fight to eliminate dark money from our political system is far from over. Continued inaction poses an urgent, looming threat to our democracy and way of life."
American Bridge, a research and rapid response group with close ties to the Democratic Party, feasted on Schimel's loss by deriding the GOP favorite as the "biggest loser in Wisconsin history."
"Wisconsinites have spoken, and together their votes decided that Wisconsin needs leaders who will protect our freedoms while rejecting the politics of fear and division."
Schimel, said the group's spokesperson Monica Venzke, "clearly can’t take a hint, but hopefully this time it sticks—Wisconsin wants nothing to do with him. Not even his out-of-state billionaire supporter could buy him this one. Imagine spending over $18 million and still losing."
According to Venzke, the defeat of Schimel despite the tens of millions spent by corporate forces "is just a preview of how voters are rejecting Trump's agenda of folding to billionaires. Republicans around the country have a choice: stand up to Trump, or lose."
Lucy Ripp, communications director for Better Wisconsin Together, which represents progressives concerns in the state, also credited the work of the state's grassroots, which she suggested was a model for people nationwide.
"Wisconsinites have spoken, and together their votes decided that Wisconsin needs leaders who will protect our freedoms while rejecting the politics of fear and division," said Ripp. "Wisconsin voters chose common sense, progress, and freedom over a radical, right-wing partisan agenda that thrives on dividing our communities and leaving working families behind in service of billionaires and special interests."
"By maintaining a strong progressive majority, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will continue as a first line of defense in protecting Wisconsinites' constitutional rights and freedoms," added Ripp, "and a vital check on the Trump and Musk agenda amid the barrage of threats to our rights and livelihoods coming down from the White House."
As of this writing, neither Trump nor Musk had acknowledged Crawford's victory over Schimel on their main social media channels—though each celebrated the approval of a controversial and "regressive" voter I.D. law in the state. To some critics, their twin silence on the Supreme Court race felt like quite a loud statement.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP—where former Vice President Kamala Harris' husband is a partner—investigated the Capitol insurrection and successfully represented Georgia election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani.
In the latest capitulation to his retributive attacks on Big Law, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that his administration struck a deal with a law firm that took part in the investigation into the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and whose partners include the husband of former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP proactively reached out to President Trump and his Administration, offering their decisive commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession," Trump said on his Truth Social network. "The President is delivering on his promises of eradicating Partisan Lawfare in America, and restoring Liberty and Justice FOR ALL."
According to Trump, Willkie—whose partners include former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff—will provide a total of at least $100 million in pro bono services to veterans, active duty U.S.en troops, and Gold Star families; law enforcement and first responders; to "ensuring fairness in our justice system;" and combating antisemitism.
The firm also agreed to commit to "merit-based hiring" and refrain from "illegal" diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring, promotion, and retention. It must also "not deny representation to clients, such as members of politically disenfranchised groups... who have not historically received legal representation from major national law firms... because of the personal political views of individual lawyers."
Willkie said in a statement that "we reached an agreement with President Trump and his administration on matters of great importance to our firm. The substance of that agreement is consistent with our firm's views on access to legal representation by clients, including pro bono clients, our commitment to complying with the law as it relates to our employment practices, and our history of working with clients across a wide spectrum of political viewpoints."
"The firm looks forward to having a constructive relationship with the Trump administration, and remains committed to serving the needs of our clients, our employees, and the communities of which we are a part," the statement added.
The agreement averts what could have been a ruinous executive order from Trump targeting the firm. Willkie drew Trump's ire for actions including employing a top investigator for the House committee that examined his role in fomenting the attack on the U.S. Capitol and for representing two Georgia election workers who sued his former attorney and adviser, Rudy Giuliani, for defamation. In December 2023, the former New York City mayor was ordered to pay $148 million to the workers for falsely accusing them of engaging in a nonexistent conspiracy to "steal" the 2020 U.S. presidential election from Trump.
According toThe Associated Press, "Emhoff made it known internally that he disagreed with this deal and told firm leadership they should fight, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations."
Tuesday's deal outraged democracy defenders.
Absolutely shameful. Doug Emhoff of all people should understand the danger that will come from lawyers capitulating to a man hell-bent on destroying our democracy. Emhoff and other partners need to show they stand on the side of the rule of law by quitting—there’s absolutely no other option.
[image or embed]
— Molly Coleman ( @mollycoleman.bsky.social) April 1, 2025 at 2:19 PM
"Emhoff and other partners need to show they stand on the side of the rule of law by quitting—there's absolutely no other option," argued Molly Coleman, executive director of the People's Parity Project and PPP Action and a St. Paul, Minnesota City Council candidate.
The Willkie agreement follows
similar surrenders by white-shoe law firms including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Trump accused these and other law firms of weaponizing the judicial system, and last month, he issued a memo directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to "seek sanctions" against firms and lawyers that the administration says have engaged in "frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States."
"They are deciding that the way we're gonna do this is break the Senate and make up our own rules," said Sen. Cory Booker.
During 2021 battles to raise the minimum wage and advance the Build Back Better agenda, congressional Democrats refused to "ignore" the unelected U.S. Senate parliamentarian—but Republican lawmakers are now planning to do just that, so they can give the wealthy trillions of more dollars in tax cuts, at the expense of programs that serve working people.
GOP Senate leadership and the White House want to make permanent tax cuts that President Donald Trumpsigned into law in 2017, "without having to account for how much it would add to the deficit," Axiosreported Tuesday. "Now, they're saying all they need is for Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to decide that's what they're going to do."
"Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) backed the argument, laid out by Graham, that Republicans don't need the Senate parliamentarian to bless the current policy approach during Tuesday's Senate GOP lunch," Axios detailed. "Graham is expected to release the language of the budget resolution as soon as Tuesday, according to GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)."
As a trio of experts at the Center for American Progress—including economist Lawrence Summers—wrote Tuesday: "The majority is attempting to force the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to say the fiscal impact is instead zero dollars by using a 'current policy' baseline rather than the 'current law' baseline that is defined in statute. This approach is unprecedented in the 50 years since the CBO was formed and Congress acted within the current budget framework."
"Whether one believes the United States should be cutting taxes or increasing spending, there should be no question that forcing the CBO and JCT to pretend that policies have no fiscal impact would allow Congress to make major tax and spending decisions with no arithmetic recognition of the cost," they argued. "This would be the epitome of fiscal irresponsibility. Congress needs to responsibly bring down deficits. Establishing principles that make it possible to incur huge costs without recognizing them would be an egregious and dangerous error."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—who has faced calls to resign from his leadership post after caving to congressional Republicans during last month's shutdown fight—spoke out against the plan on Tuesday, as NBC Newsreported.
"That would be going nuclear," Schumer said. "And it shows that Republicans are so hell-bent on giving these tax breaks to the billionaires that they're willing to break any rules, norms, and things they promised they wouldn't do."
While Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was in the midst of holding the chamber's floor in remarks that began Monday night and were ongoing as of press time, to protest Trump's sweeping attacks on government, Schumer also informed him of the GOP plan.
Booker read in full a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report from February titled, House Republican Budget's $4.5 Trillion Tax Cut Doubles Down on Costly Failures of 2017 Tax Law, as well as recent reporting in The New York Times about what the newspaper called "a maneuver so wonky that it might be best explained with sports cars and anime streaming."
"They found a way around the parliamentarian. They found a way around the rules of the Senate. They found a way around the ideals of reconciliation," Booker said of congressional Republicans. "They are deciding that the way we're gonna do this is break the Senate and make up our own rules. This is how they're gonna get a bill through that gives trillions [of] dollars of tax cuts to the wealthiest in our country who are doing very well."
While refusing to "hate on" wealthy Americans, Booker also had a message for them: "You don't need tax cuts, especially not that are gonna be given to you on the backs of the poor, on the backs of our elders, on the backs of our children, on the backs of expectant mothers, on the backs of my mom's, your mom's Social Security."
Booker's historic stunt—which set a new record for the longest Senate floor speech in history—came as polls show Democratic voters are frustrated with the party's failure to effectively stand up to Trump and fight for working people.