December, 02 2017, 08:15am EDT
Trump's Senate Lapdogs Advance Tax Scam, Prioritizing A Legislative Victory over American Lives
Handing over major gift to corporations and the super-rich with a kiss of death to working Americans
WASHINGTON
CREDO released the following statement in response to Senate Republicans voting to pass the Trump Tax Scam:
"Senate Republicans just put a legislative victory over the well-being of the American people," Murshed Zaheed, CREDO Political Director, said of the vote. He added, "Republicans' desperation to secure a 'win' has pushed forward a piece of legislation that fails to take into account - or, more likely, blatantly ignores - the needs of so many Americans, and continues to give breaks to the super-rich and corporations."
Zaheed continued, "The American people deserve better," concluding, "the cruel and heartless tax scam that Trump's lapdogs jammed through the Senate will gut healthcare for millions of Americans and ultimately kill people."
So far, CREDO members have already made over 59,000 phone calls to Congress, and have generated hundreds of thousands of petition signatures in opposition to the Trump tax scam.
Additionally, CREDO's viral videos featuring members of Congress speaking out against the Trump Tax Scam have reached over 55 million people, have accrued over 30 million views, and have been shared over 600,000 times on Facebook.
Below, please find a short compilation of the steps CREDO Action is taking to fight back:
VIRAL VIDEOS EXPOSING TRUMP TAX SCAM REACH OVER 55 MILLION PEOPLE: CREDO'S videos featuring members of Congress speaking out against the Trump Tax Scam have reached over 55 million people, accumulated more than 30 million views and been shared more than 600,000 times on Facebook. Highlights include:
Rep. Suzan DelBene breaking down the House bill's preferential treatment of corporations over American citizens.
Rep. John Larson's epic remarks opposing the House bill's assault on his constituents and Republicans' efforts to jam the bill through Congress without meaningful debate.
Four Democratic congresswomen speaking out about the harm the House bill would cause to their constituents.
Rep. Judy Chu exposing the House bill's sneak attack on abortion rights.
Sen. Jeff Merkley shredding the Senate version of tax bill as "art of the steal."
59,000+ CALLS TO CONGRESS AGAINST THE TRUMP TAX SCAM: CREDO Members have already made more than 59,000 calls to Congress in opposition to the Trump tax scam, including more than 40,000 calls in recent days to key Senate Republicans, 5,800 calls to Senate Democrats who have met recently with Trump administration officials and more than 11,000 calls to vulnerable House Republicans in California.
FUNDING THE RESISTANCE TO THE TRUMP TAX SCAM: So far in 2017, CREDO has given more than $344,000 to organizations fully committed to resisting the Trump Tax Scam, including American For Tax Fairness, Social Security Works and DEMOS, through its monthly donations program. The Economic Policy Institute has been selected as one of three organizations to receive funding in November. Since 1985, CREDO has given more than $13 million to organizations fighting for economic justice.
200,000+ PETITION CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS: NO TAX HANDOUTS FOR SUPER RICH AND BIG CORPORATIONS: More than 200,000 people have signed CREDO's petition demanding that congressional Republicans oppose legislation to give more tax handouts to millionaires, billionaires, Wall Street and big corporations.
175,000+ SIGN PETITION TO CONGRESS: NO TAX LEGISLATION WITHOUT PARADISE PAPERS INVESTIGATION: The petition, which was launched on Nov. 7, reads: "Do not pass any tax-related legislation without first completing a full and public investigation into the offshore tax-dodging schemes revealed by the Paradise Papers, including financial ties between Trump Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and a Russian energy company linked to Vladimir Putin."
210,000+ PETITION CONGRESS: NO TAX LEGISLATION UNTIL TRUMP RELEASES ALL TAX RETURNS: The petition argues that Congress should not "consider changing the tax code while Trump hides potential conflicts of interest from legislators and the public."
CREDO Action, part of CREDO Mobile, is a social change network of over five million activists, sending tens of millions of petition signatures and hundreds of thousands of phone calls to decision-makers each year. CREDO Action members also participate in meetings, protests and other direct action for progressive change.
LATEST NEWS
Majority of Democratic Voters Believe Israel's US-Backed Gaza Assault Is 'Genocide': Poll
"The Democratic establishment is dysfunctionally out of touch with its voters on this issue," said one strategist.
May 08, 2024
A day after U.S. President Joe Biden commemorated the Holocaust, speaking about Americans' "obligation to learn the lessons of history" to ensure another mass slaughter of a religious or ethnic group never takes place, new polling showed the majority of U.S. voters whose support Biden is counting on in November believe Israel—with U.S. backing—is now committing genocide.
Journalist Mehdi Hasan's new media organization, Zeteo, partnered with progressive think tank Data for Progress to poll 1,265 U.S. voters from April 26-29, as Israel's ground invasion of Rafah loomed, threatening more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced since October.
The poll released Wednesday found that 56% of Democratic voters believe Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in the enclave, where in addition to constant bombings and ground attacks, residents have faced Israel's blockade on nearly all humanitarian aid. The blockade has pushed northern Gaza into famine and is causing acute food insecurity among the entire population.
Nearly 40% of all voters believe Israel is committing a genocide, and 7 in 10 support a permanent cease-fire.
More than 50% of voters said Israel's full-scale assault on Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians live, has been ineffective at bringing the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 to safety.
Fifty-four percent said they support suspending all U.S. arms sales to Israel until it stops blocking American humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. Such a suspension would be in accordance with Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Israel and the U.S. have repeatedly claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is taking steps to protect the lives of civilians—even as the world has learned of mass graves found with the bodies of Palestinian women and children, some with their hands tied behind their backs. In April, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham of +972 Magazine reported that military officials have permitted up to 100 civilian deaths for every Hamas member killed, and that the IDF has targeted Hamas fighters in their homes instead of at military outposts.
The Zeteo/Data for Progress poll was released more than four months after the International Court of Justice announced an interim ruling that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide, which came after South Africa brought its case to the United Nations court.
South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi gave a 22-minute speech during the hearing, cataloging the numerous genocidal statements made by top Israeli officials since October, up to that point. Last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the "total annihilation" of Gaza cities including Rafah.
The poll was also released as mass protests continued on college campuses across the U.S., with police aggressively cracking down at many schools as they ignore attacks on students by pro-Israel mobs, as in the case of University of California, Los Angeles last week.
A separate poll released Wednesday by USA Today and Suffolk University found that Democratic voters are split in their views of the movement. Thirty percent supported the protests, while 39% agreed with their demands but questioned some of their tactics. Two-thirds of respondents said they feared more violent confrontations would arise from the protests.
The Data for Progress survey is the latest sign that Biden, who signed a foreign aid package including $17 billion in additional military aid for Israel last month, faces widespread discontent among the coalition of voters that supported him in 2020. In January, The Economist and YouGov found that a full 50% of people who voted for him believed Israel was committing genocide.
More than 100,000 Democratic primary voters in Michigan—which Biden won by just 150,000 votes in 2020—voted for "uncommitted" on their ballots in February, hoping to send the message to the president that U.S. support for Israel must end. Similar results were seen in primaries in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Washington state.
Strategist Nadia Rahman said the poll shows the Democratic establishment is "dysfunctionally out of touch with its voters on this issue."
"This is some of the clearest data yet that there's a massive disconnect between the media and what's happening on the ground," said journalist Ed Oswald. "And why yes, Biden's re-election is in big trouble."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Not Just Gaza': IDF Killings in West Bank Surge to Unprecedented Levels
"These killings are taking place at a level without recent precedent in an environment in which Israeli forces have no need to fear that their government will hold them accountable," said a Human Rights Watch researcher.
May 08, 2024
The Israeli military is unlawfully killing civilians in the occupied West Bank at an unprecedented rate, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday as Israel moved forward with its ground assault on the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah.
"It's not just Gaza," Omar Shakir, HRW's Israel and Palestine director, wrote on social media, pointing to the new report's finding that Israeli forces killed more than twice the number of Palestinians in the West Bank in 2023 than in any year since 2005, when the United Nations began its data collection.
Figures cited by HRW show that the rate of killings in the West Bank was even higher during the first quarter of 2024. In 2023, Israeli forces killed 492 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 120 children. During just the first three months of 2024, the Israeli military killed 131 Palestinians in the occupied territory.
HRW noted that in numerous cases since 2022, "Israeli security forces have unlawfully used lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat."
In one incident examined by HRW, Israeli forces fatally shot 15-year-old Taha Mahamid and his father, Ibrahim, at the entrance of a West Bank refugee camp. Israel's military then impeded ambulances as they tried to reach Taha and Ibrahim.
The Israeli military did not acknowledge its killing of Taha and his father.
"Residents said that Israeli forces had a practice of taking positions in and atop buildings in the camp to provide cover for troops to enter," HRW said. "There was no apparent basis for shooting Taha and Ibrahim Mahamid, Human Rights Watch found. They posed no imminent threat to life or serious injury, making their killings unlawful."
Richard Weir, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Wednesday that "Israeli security forces are not just unlawfully killing Palestinians in Gaza, but have been killing Palestinians without a legal basis in the West Bank, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent threat."
"These killings are taking place at a level without recent precedent in an environment in which Israeli forces have no need to fear that their government will hold them accountable," said Weir. "The Israeli government's permissive and discriminatory practices on the use of force and endemic impunity are one facet of the apartheid and structural violence Palestinians face every day. The unlawful killings in the West Bank will continue so long as the Israeli authorities' systemic repression of Palestinians continues."
"Repeated unlawful killings and endemic impunity are among the inhumane acts that make up the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution."
Since Israel launched its latest assault on Gaza following a deadly Hamas-led attack in October, violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has surged, with both settlers and soldiers targeting civilians and effectively wiping entire communities "off the map."
HRW's new report observes that in recent years, Israeli officials—including some who are now key members of the far-right Netanyahu government—"have encouraged soldiers and police to kill Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis, even when they are no longer a threat."
"In October 2022, Itamar Ben-Gvir, now the national security minister, said while running for election that it should be legal to use lethal force against anyone throwing stones," the group noted.
The U.S., Israel's top ally and arms supplier, has done little in response to deadly violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. In March, the Biden administration sanctioned a handful of extremist settlers.
The Biden State Department recently concluded that at least five Israeli military units are responsible for gross human rights violations but has thus far declined to sanction them, allowing the units to continue receiving U.S. aid.
"Repeated unlawful killings and endemic impunity are among the inhumane acts that make up the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution that Israeli authorities commit against Palestinians," HRW said Wednesday. "Governments should suspend arms and other military support to Israel because of the risk of complicity in grave abuses in Palestine, take action to ensure accountability including supporting the International Criminal Court's probe into serious crimes committed in Palestine, and impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for grave abuses."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Bernie Sanders Condemns Israel's Destruction of Gaza Universities
"There are no protests on the college campuses in Gaza," said the Vermont senator. "You know why? Because every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed and destroyed."
May 08, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday denounced the Israeli military's total decimation of Gaza's universities during floor remarks on protests that have broken out on American college campuses over the past several weeks.
"There are no protests on the college campuses in Gaza," said Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "You know why? Because every one of the 12 universities in Gaza has been bombed and destroyed."
Sanders' remarks came during a floor debate over a Republican resolution ostensibly aimed at condemning antisemitism on college campuses. GOP lawmakers and President Joe Biden have repeatedly smeared campus protests against Israel's assault on Gaza as antisemitic and ignored the prominent role Jewish students have played in the nationwide demonstrations.
After Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) attempted to pass the GOP antisemitism resolution via unanimous consent, Sanders—who is Jewish—rose to block the measure, criticizing it as insufficient and proposing an alternative that condemns antisemitism as well as all other "forms of bigotry in this country, whether on college campuses or elsewhere, including Islamophobia, homophobia, racism, and the growing attacks against the Asian American community."
Sanders' proposed resolution also expresses support for "the right of students and all Americans to peacefully protest," whereas Scott's measure attacks recent campus protests as "hotbed[s] of blatantly antisemitic rhetoric and action."
"The fact of the matter is that 67% of Americans, according to recent polls, support the United States calling for a cease-fire, and 60% oppose sending more weapons to Israel," Sanders said. "And that's what the protesters are talking about: They are asking why it is we are complicit in the humanitarian disaster taking place in Gaza."
Watch Sanders' remarks:
LIVE: Today I offer a simple resolution:
NO to antisemitism.
NO to Islamophobia.
NO to racism and bigotry in all its forms.
YES to free speech and protest under the 1st Amendment, whether on a college campus or across our nation. https://t.co/czTwnQnz6b
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 7, 2024
According to the United Nations, more than 80% of the Gaza Strip's schools have been damaged or reduced to ruins by Israeli forces since October, including all of the enclave's universities.
Last month, a group of U.N. experts said that "it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide.'"
"The persistent, callous attacks on educational infrastructure in Gaza have a devastating long-term impact on the fundamental rights of people to learn and freely express themselves, depriving yet another generation of Palestinians of their future," the experts added. "Students with international scholarships are being prevented from attending university abroad."
American campus protests against Israel's assault on Gaza have offered some measure of hope to Palestinian students whose lives have been thrown into chaos by the U.S.-backed war.
Hala Sharaf, a second-year medical student who moved to Cairo to resume her studies amid Israel's assault, toldAl Jazeera that the U.S. student campus demonstrations "have made us feel so hopeful for rejecting what America and Israel are doing to us."
"The student protests in America make me feel like I'm not alone," said Sharaf. "My message to them is to keep the focus on Gaza. Don't forget about Gaza."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular