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Over 340,000 Signatures Delivered to Congress Rejecting Discrimination in Defense Bill
 Petition Urges Sens. McCain, Reed, and Reps. Thornberry, Smith to Remove Russell Amendment from the NDAA
WASHINGTON
More than a dozen national organizations delivered over 342,000 petition signatures to Congress today in opposition to an amendment in the annual defense bill that would fund discrimination. The petitions were delivered to the Washington offices of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.).
Known as the Russell Amendment, the measure in the National Defense Authorization Act would allow taxpayer-funded discrimination towards women, single mothers, LGBT people, and religious minorities in religiously-affiliated organizations including hospitals and universities. The petitions are part of a coordinated advocacy effort from CREDO Action, the American Civil Liberties Union, American Military Partner Association, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Human Rights Campaign, In Our Own Voice, Lambda Legal, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity.
The organizations issued the following joint statement on today's petition delivery:
"The hundreds of thousands who signed the petition to #RejectRussell are sending a clear message: We won't stand for taxpayer-funded discrimination. The Russell Amendment is one of the most significant threats to LGBT people, women, religious minorities, and others we have seen in Congress in years. Congress needs to act now to ensure that all of us are protected from discrimination. Freedom, equality and fairness are at stake."
The Russell Amendment could allow for an individual:
- To be fired for marrying a same-sex partner -- or denied benefits afforded to other married couples
- To be fired for being transgender
- To be fired for being a woman taking birth control
- To be fired for being a single mother or
- To be refused a job interview if they don't practice the "right" religion
The Russell Amendment was adopted in the dead of night -- over bipartisan opposition -- without a hearing and with almost no debate. The House Rules Committee then prevented the full chamber from being able to vote on a bipartisan amendment to remove the discriminatory provision from the defense bill.
This release can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/news/over-340000-signatures-delivered-congress-rejecting-discrimination-defense-bill
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Gabriela Melendez, 202-715-0826, gmelendez@aclu.org
Josh Nelson, 202-550-6175, jnelson@credoaction.com
Tom Caiazza, 202-481-7141, tcaiazza@americanprogress.org
Rob Boston, 202-466-3234, boston@au.org
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, 212-261-4433, media.office@ppfa.org
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
Texas Gov. Spent $221 Million on Migrant Busing 'Political Stunt'
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Sep 05, 2024
Since April 2022, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has spent over $221 million in taxpayer money transporting nearly 120,000 migrants to six Democrat-led cities outside of the state, the Washington Examinerrevealed Thursday.
"That's roughly $1,841 per person," noted Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council who has previously criticized Abbott's "dehumanizing" bus scheme and other elements of the governor's Operation Lone Star.
"By comparison, a bus ticket to New York costs about $215, while a flight costs about $350," he highlighted. "It would have WAY cheaper to just give migrants money for tickets. Abbott's effort not only made it a political stunt, it lined a contractor's pocket."
As the conservative Examiner reported:
A public information request filed to the Texas Division of Emergency Management showed that the state made more than 750 payments totaling $221,705,637 to transportation companies since the start of operations in April 2022 and August 2024.
Nearly all of the costs were picked up by the state's 30 million residents, with a small portion, $460,196, donated from outside parties. Less than 1% of the $221 million was picked up by nontaxpayers.
The Examiner noted that the almost 120,000 migrants bused north are a "small number" of the more than 5.3 million people who crossed the southern border illegally but have been allowed to remain in the United States since January 2021, according to a U.S. House Judiciary Committee draft report the outlet exclusively obtained earlier this year.
While the busing reportedly stopped earlier this summer due to lack of demand, Abbott's office said last month that since 2022, his taxpayer-funded scheme had transported over 45,900 migrants to New York City, 36,900 to Chicago, 19,200 to Denver, 12,500 to Washington, D.C., 3,400 to Philadelphia, and 1,500 to Los Angeles.
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In addition to the busing stunt, Abbott has come under fire in recent years for installing razor wire and buoys—which critics called "death traps"—in the Rio Grande as well as signing a pair of anti-migrant bills that Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, described as "deeply harmful and unconstitutional."
According to a New York Times investigation published in July, over half of the migrants bused out Texas were initially from Venezuela—a South American nation enduring not only ongoing political turmoil but also U.S. economic sanctions that, as hundreds of legal experts and groups wrote last month, "extensively harm civilian populations" and "often drive mass migration."
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A Republican-appointed U.S. federal judge in Georgia raised eyebrows and objections Thursday after taking what observers called the "unprecedented" step of blocking a rule that hasn't even been finalized in order to stop the Biden administration from implementing a plan to deliver promised debt relief to millions of student borrowers.
U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Georgia James Randal Hall issued an order blocking the Biden administration's proposed federal student debt relief rule. Hall—an appointee of former President George W. Bush—granted a motion by a coalition of right-wing state attorneys general to preempt the rule's eventual implementation.
"The court is substituting its judgment for those elected to serve the public," American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said in response to the ruling. "It subverts the democratic process and denies relief to student loan borrowers, many of whom rely on debt relief programs already advanced by the Biden-Harris administration."
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Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center—which called the ruling "dangerous and unprecedented"—denounced Hall for preventing the Biden administration from delivering student debt relief "even though no plan has been finalized."
"This is an extraordinary break with precedent and a brazen move by the conservative movement to shift even more power to unelected, unaccountable red-state judges," he said. "Opponents of democracy are terrified that they will lose again at the ballot box in November and are rushing to right-wing judges to hamstring democratic governance."
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Biden's proposal would forgive some or all student debt for around 30 million borrowers who have been repaying undergraduate loans for at least 20 years, or graduate loans for 25 years.
Hall's order is based on what he said was the plaintiffs' "substantial likelihood of success on the merits given the rule's lack of statutory authority" and U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's "attempt to implement a rule contrary to normal procedures."
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The U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority last year struck down Biden's initial plan to relieve up to $20,000 in federal scholastic debt for around 40 million borrowers, and last month the justices kept in place a sweeping suspension of the administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program, which aims to lower monthly repayments and hasten loan forgiveness.
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At the 32nd protest held by Stop the Money Pipeline, New York Communities for Change, and other groups since June 10, organizers said 50 people were arrested, including climate scientists and an advocate dressed as an orca—a reference to numerous cases of whales ramming and sinking luxury yachts in recent years.
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More than 5,000 people have joined Summer of Heat protests since June, and there have been more than 600 arrests. Citibank's response to the demonstrators has escalated to violence at times, with a security guard punching one protester in the building's lobby last month.
One woman told police arresting her on Thursday that her grandson suffers from asthma resulting from wildfire smoke, which climate scientists have linked to fossil fuel extraction and planetary heating.
"We're here for you and your children," she told an officer. "We're here for our world."
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