December, 19 2017, 01:30pm EDT
![Americans for Tax Fairness](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012609/origin.jpg)
While Republicans Try to Ram Their Unpopular Tax Plan Through Congress, Americans Continue to Voice Their Objection...
Over 930,000 calls have been made to house and senate members in opposition to the #goptaxscam.
WASHINGTON
Concerned constituents opposed to the Republican tax plan have now placed more than 930,000 phone calls to Congress using tools and 1-800 numbers set up by a wide coalition of groups opposed to the plan. Of course, many more voters have called their members of Congress directly, and the 930,000 calls represent only those that we can track. Activists and media outlets from across the country continue to report full voicemail boxes and busy signals at Congressional offices.
Poll after poll shows how unpopular this GOP tax scam is, and it's no wonder that so many voters are urging them to reject giant tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations at the expense of middle-class taxpayers and cuts to Medicare.
The groups whose tools generated the above combined count include:
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
Citizens for Tax Justice
Communication Workers of America
CREDO Action
Climate Hawks Vote
Daily Kos
Economic Policy Institute Policy Center
Healthcare for America Now
Healthcare for American Now Education Fund
Indivisible
League of Conservation Voters
Main Street Alliance
MomsRising
MoveOn.org
National Education Association
New Jersey Citizen Action
Not One Penny
Organizing for Action
Our Revolution
Oxfam America
Patriotic Millionaires
People's Action
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Save My Care
Stand Up America
Service Employees International Union
Tax Action Center
Tax March
32BJ SEIU
5 Calls Civic Action
Below are statements from some of the groups involved in this grassroots effort:
"The wealthiest 1% and big corporations spent millions lobbying for this bill so that they can get billions of dollars in tax cuts. But millions of everyday Americans know what's at stake for them and their family, and they are speaking loudly and purposefully." --Frank Clemente, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
"Thousands of Americans have screamed at the top of their lungs that they don't want a tax bill that raises their taxes to pay for tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations. This bill is an affront to our working families--and we will not stop until every single member hears our voices." --Nicole Gill, Executive Director, Tax March
"This bill rewards the Exxon and Koch brothers with trillions of our dollars for destroying our climate. We'll hold accountable Republicans, especially those in the Climate Solutions Caucus who voted for the bill." --RL Miller, President, Climate Hawks Vote
"This bill is so much more than just tax cuts. It's a radically dangerous exercise in social engineering. It's widely recognized by everyone but congressional Republicans and President Trump as a deeply irresponsible plan that will do everything from preventing states and local government from levying taxes to try to make up for what they're losing from the federal government, to cutting health care and education and public transportation and the safety net. Every Republican who votes for this is hitching their wagon to Trump." --Joan McCarter, Senior Political Writer, Daily Kos
"Senate Republicans just voted to hand tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires and corporations on the backs of working families. They claim that their tax plan will boost wages for American workers. But real-world evidence suggests otherwise. Cutting corporations' taxes is not a recipe for increasing workers' wages. It's a recipe for exacerbating income and wealth inequality." --Josh Bivens, Director of Policy, Economic Policy Institute Policy Center
"People all across this country are outraged by this Tax Scam that delivers huge tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations and would turn the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into an industrial oil field. Congress should reject this awful legislation." --Alex Taurel, Deputy Legislative Director, League of Conservation Voters
"The claim that this tax bill helps small business is an act in the GOP's smoke and mirror show to pass an extremely bad bill. Phones on Capitol Hill have been ringing off the hook with thousands of small business owners calling to say they are seriously concerned about this tax bill. " --Amanda Ballantyne, National Director, Main Street Alliance
"The GOP tax plan would punish the middle class, devastate essential programs that boost our health care, nutrition and education, and undermine our economy. The moms of America see right through this trickery and are calling in by the thousands to tell their members of Congress to vote no!" --Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, MomsRising
"Republicans in Congress are railroading a tax bill that would raise taxes on half of all taxpayers, just to give huge tax breaks to giant corporations and the wealthiest Americans. The public is strongly opposed to this outrageous attempt to rob poor and middle-class families to line the pockets of big corporations and billionaires. MoveOn members have been on fire organizing against this bill--and our members are absolutely clear that we will hold Republicans in Congress accountable if they jam this disaster through." --Anna Galland, Executive Director, MoveOn.org Civic Action
"We saw the power of flooding lawmakers' phone lines during the health care fight - when thousands upon thousands of your constituents are pleading with you not to pass legislation that will harm their families, it makes a difference. Let's hope Congress listens once again." --Jesse Lehrich, Communications Director, Organizing for Action
"Tens of thousands of Oxfam supporters have sent letters and made calls to Congress demanding that they reject this terrible tax bill. This vote is a real test of who our elected officials side with." --Ben Grossman-Cohen, Global Campaign Manager, Oxfam America
"The GOP tax bill is morally bankrupt, intellectually corrupt, and morally indefensible. It will be a disaster for millions of hardworking American families, devastating both their bank accounts and their health, all in the name of tax cuts for the wealthy. The American people have seen this bill for the catastrophe that it is, and are letting their elected officials know that it is unacceptable." --Morris Pearl, Chair of the Board, Patriotic Millionaires
"The public justifications for this horrible bill are transparently false. It will not improve the economy, it will not create jobs, it will not help the middle class. What the bill will do is benefit the donor class, which is the one and only reason Republicans are trying to ram it through. But, the power of We the People can still keep this unconscionable bill from being passed." --Susan Harley, DeputyDirector, Public Citizen's Congress Watch division
"The President of the United States is under federal investigation for conspiring with the Russian government. This is not a moment to let him rewrite our tax code. Congress should be laser-focused on protecting our democracy and our national security." --Sean Eldridge, Founder and President, Stand Up America
"This tax plan is a robbery of America's working families in broad daylight. Far from creating jobs, the bill threatens to destabilize the economy, hurt small businesses and reward corporations for outsourcing and automating American jobs. Our members are mobilizing against this disaster of a tax scam and will continue to hold Congress accountable for this assault on working families everywhere." --Hector Figueroa, President, 32BJ SEIU
"It's clear to Americans that this tax plan is a hand out to the donor class and doesn't serve the interest of most of its citizens in the long term. Regardless of the outcome, lawmakers should know that we're watching how they vote and we have one message: See you in 2018." --Nick O'Neill, Co-Founder, 5 Calls Civic Action
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) is a diverse campaign of more than 420 national, state and local endorsing organizations united in support of a fair tax system that works for all Americans. It has come together based on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. This requires big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, not to live by their own set of rules.
(202) 506-3264LATEST NEWS
Critics Warn Manchin-Barrasso Permitting Bill 'Is Taken Straight From Project 2025'
"You thought Project 2025 was just a threat after the election? It's actually happening *right now,*" said one climate campaigner.
Jul 26, 2024
Climate and environmental defenders on this week implored U.S. senators to block a permitting reform bill introduced this week by Sens. Joe Manchin and John Barrasso that one campaigner linked to Project 2025, a conservative coalition's agenda for a far-right overhaul of the federal government.
Common Dreamsreported Monday that Manchin (I-W.Va.) and Barrasso (R-Wyo.)—respectively the chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee—introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) noted that although the proposal "includes several positive reforms for the accelerated development of transmission projects," it also advocates "limiting opportunities for communities to challenge projects, loosening oversight for drilling and mining projects, extending drilling permits and fast-tracking [liquified natural gas] permits, and several other provisions friendly to fossil fuel giants."
"This dangerous bill doesn't deserve a floor vote."
These are nearly identical policies to what's proposed in Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership. The plan, which was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, calls for "unleashing all of America's energy resources," including by ending federal restrictions on fossil fuel drilling on public lands; limiting investments in renewable energy; and rolling back environmental permitting restrictions for new oil, gas, and coal projects, including power plants.
While Manchin has been trying—and failing—to pass fossil fuel-friendly permitting reform legislation for years, Brett Hartl, director of public affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity, said that his "Frankenstein legislation is taken straight from Project 2025, and it's the biggest giveaway in decades to the fossil fuel industry."
Hartl said the bill "deprives communities of the power to defend themselves and gives that power to Big Oil by making it harder for communities to challenge polluting projects in court," and "prioritizes the profits of coal barons over public health."
"And it mandates oil and gas extraction in our oceans," he continued. "The insignificant crumbs thrown at renewable energy do nothing to address the climate emergency."
"Monday was the hottest day in recorded history," Hartl noted. "It's shocking that as the climate emergency continues to break records around us, the Senate continues to fast-track the fossil fuel expansion that is killing us. This dangerous bill doesn't deserve a floor vote."
Hartl added that "to preserve a livable planet," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "must squash this legislation now."
Manchin—who has said this will be his last term in office—has been a steadfast supporter of the fossil fuel industry, partly because his family owns a coal company. The senator says his permitting reform bill "will advance American energy once again to bring down prices, create domestic jobs, and allow us to continue in our role as a global energy leader."
However, Allie Rosenbluth, Oil Change International's U.S. manager, warned Thursday that "this bill is yet another dangerous attempt by Sen. Manchin to line the pockets of his fossil fuel donors, sacrificing communities and our climate along the way."
"Don't be fooled: The Energy Permitting Reform Act is another dirty deal to fast-track fossil fuels above all else," she continued. "It would unleash more drilling on federal lands and waters, unnecessarily rush the review of proposed oil and gas export projects, and lift the Biden administration's pause on new LNG exports."
"We urge Congress to reject this proposal and commit to action that protects frontline communities from the impacts of fossil fuel development and the climate crisis," Rosenbluth added.
"Don't be fooled: The Energy Permitting Reform Act is another dirty deal to fast-track fossil fuels above all else."
NRDC managing director of government affairs Alexandra Adams said Wednesday that "this bill is a giveaway for the oil and gas industry that will ramp up drilling and environmental destruction at a time when we need to be putting a hard stop to fossil fuels."
"We cannot afford to roll back so many of our bedrock environmental and community legal protections and offer a blank check to the oil and gas industry," she stressed. "We need new solutions for permitting if we are going to meet our clean energy potential and address the climate challenge. But this is not it."
"This bill would altogether be a leap backward on climate, health, and justice if passed into law," Adams added. "The Senate should reject it and look toward alternative solutions already being considered."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Nothing To Eat': War-Torn Sudan Faces Mass Famine as Military Delays Aid
Both parties in Sudan's civil war are to blame for a looming mass famine, experts say, and the military's blocking of U.N. aid at a border crossing with Chad exacerbates the problem.
Jul 26, 2024
Sudan's military is blocking United Nations aid trucks from entering at a key border crossing, causing severe disruptions in aid in a country that experts fear may be on the brink of one of the worst famines the world has seen in decades, The New York Timesreported Friday.
The border city of Adré in eastern Chad is the main international crossing into the Darfur region of Sudan, but the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the state's official military, which is engaged in a civil war with a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has refused to issue permits for U.N. trucks to enter there, as it's an RSF-controlled area.
U.S. and international officials have issued increasingly alarmed calls for steady aid access to help feed the millions of severely malnourished people in Darfur and other areas of Sudan.
Last week, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the U.N., said that the SAF's obstruction of the border was "completely unacceptable."
Both warring parties in Sudan continue to perpetrate brazen atrocities, including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. This piece focuses on the SAF's ongoing obstruction of essential aid. The situation is catastrophic. The policy is criminal. https://t.co/FKhqQh3EI9.
— Tom Dannenbaum (@tomdannenbaum) July 26, 2024
The Sudanese who've made it out of the country and into Adré reported dire and unsafe conditions in their home country.
"We had nothing to eat," Bahja Muhakar, a Sudenese mother of three, told the Times after she crossed into Chad, following a harrowing six-day journey from Al-Fashir, a major city in Darfur. She said the family often had to live off of one shared pancake per day.
Another mother, Dahabaya Ibet, said that her 20-month-old boy had to bear witness to his grandfather being shot and killed in front of his eyes when the family home in Darfur was attacked by gunmen late last year.
Now the mothers and their families are refugees in Adré, where 200,000 Sudanese are living in an overcrowded, under-resourced transit camp.
In addition to those that have made it out of the country, there are 11 million people internally displaced within Sudan, most of whom have become displaced since the civil war began in April 2023.
An unnamed senior American official told the Times that the looming famine in Sudan could be as bad as the 2011 famine in Somalia or even the great Ethiopian famine of the 1980s.
In April, Reutersreported that people in Sudan were eating soil and leaves to survive, and The Washington Postcalled it a nation in "chaos," reporting that World Food Program trucks had been "blocked, hijacked, attacked, looted, and detained."
In late June, a coalition of U.N. agencies, aid groups, and governments warned that 755,000 people in Sudan faced famine in the coming months.
The U.S. last week announced $203 million in additional aid to Sudan—part of a $2.1 billion pledge that world leaders made in April, which some countries have not yet delivered on.
Some officials including Thomas-Greenfield, who has dubbed the situation in Sudan "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world," have called for the U.N. Security Council to allow aid delivery into the country even in the absence of SAF approval; it's believed that Russia would veto such a measure.
Sudan's civil war has seen a great deal of international interference. Amnesty International on Thursday published an investigatory briefing showing that weapons from Russia, China, Serbia, Turkey, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been identified in the country. And The Guardian on Friday reported that the passports of Emirati citizens had been found among wreckage in Sudan, indicating the UAE may have troops or intelligence officers on the ground, though the UAE denied the accusation.
The International Service for Human Rights on Friday warned that both the SAF and RSF were engaged in wrongful killings and arrests, especially targeted at lawyers, doctors, and activists. The group called for an immediate cease-fire.
The SAF and Sudanese government figures have cast doubt on international experts' claims about famine in the country.
Keep ReadingShow Less
JD Vance Doubles Down on Attack on 'Childless Cat Ladies'
Vance "meant no disrespect to cats, but he did mean to demean women and still holds the view in 2024 that they should be punished for not having children."
Jul 26, 2024
After days of condemnation from critics including actress Jennifer Aniston and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Sen. JD Vance was given the opportunity on Thursday to clarify his remarks from 2021 in which he said the Democratic Party was run by "childless cat ladies."
Instead, the Ohio Republican and running mate of former President Donald Trump assured SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly on "The Megyn Kelly Show" that while he has "nothing against cats," he meant what he said in terms of "the substance" of his argument.
Vance made it clear, said Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), "that he meant no disrespect to cats, but he did mean to demean women and still holds the view in 2024 that they should be punished for not having children."
The comments in question were made by Vance to then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson when Vance was running for the Senate.
Calling out Buttigieg—who, the secretary disclosed this week, was struggling at the time to adopt a child with his husband—and Vice President Kamala Harris, a stepmother of two and the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Vance said people without biological children "don't really have a direct stake in" the future of the country and therefore shouldn't hold higher office.
In separate remarks that same year, Vance said parents should "have more power" at the voting booth and that "if you don't have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn't get nearly the same voice."
He also specifically categorized people who don't have children as "bad" in an interview in 2021, saying the government should "reward the things that we think are good" and "punish the things that we think are bad," with people taxed at a lower rate if they have children.
While a spokesperson for Vance told ABC News that the senator's taxation proposal was "basically no different" than the child tax credit supported by the Democratic Party, Democrats who have pushed for the credit have heralded its proven ability to slash child poverty rates and help families afford groceries, childcare, and other essentials, rather than viewing the tax savings as a way to reward people for procreating.
In his interview with Kelly on Thursday, Vance attempted to pivot away from his own comments, saying his point was to criticize "the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child" and claiming without evidence that the Harris campaign had "come out against the child tax credit"—a signature policy of the Biden-Harris administration.
"I'm proud to stand for parents and I hope that parents out there recognize that I'm a guy who wants to fight for you," said Vance. "The Democrats, in the past five, 10 years, Megyn, they have become anti-family. It's built into their policy, it's built into the way they talk about parents and children. I don't think we should back down from it, I think we should be honest about the problem."
Vance and Kelly went on to lament the anxiety "hardcore environmentalists" and progressive lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have expressed about the damage fossil fuel extraction is doing the planet, accusing them of pushing people to forgo having families—but said nothing about Republican policies that have made child-rearing less accessible.
In recent years, the entire Republican caucus in Congress was joined by conservative then-Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia in blocking the extension of the enhanced child tax credit, which had been credited with cutting the national child poverty rate in half. Republicans also allowed a pandemic-era universal school meal program to expire, while several Democratic-led states have passed state-level programs to ensure all children can have meals at school, regardless of their family's income.
Under Republican abortion bans, numerous stories have cropped up of pregnant people who have been forced to carry pregnancies to term despite finding out that their fetuses had fatal abnormalities and would die soon after birth—as have stories of children who were forced to give birth or had to cross state lines in order to get abortion care.
As with his position that nonparents should be "punished" for not having children, "who else does 'pro-child/family' Vance think should 'face consequences and reality' by way of curtailing choices, rights, and freedoms?" asked writer Alheli Picazo. "Women and girls who become pregnant through rape/incest."
University of North Carolina law professor Carissa Byrne Hessick said that one could test "empirically" Vance's claim that Democratic policies are anti-family.
"But I haven't heard the GOP talk much about things that would help my family and my kids," she said, "like reducing childcare and tuition costs."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular