September, 17 2018, 12:00am EDT
Repeal of Initiative 77 "A Betrayal of DC Voters"
This morning, as the DC Council hears testimony on a bill that would overturn Initiative 77, a ballot measure passed in June by DC voters that would eliminate the tipped minimum wage in the District, the Patriotic Millionaires of DC issued the following statement:
WASHINGTON
This morning, as the DC Council hears testimony on a bill that would overturn Initiative 77, a ballot measure passed in June by DC voters that would eliminate the tipped minimum wage in the District, the Patriotic Millionaires of DC issued the following statement:
"If they follow through on their threat to overturn Initiative 77, the DC Council will prove themselves to be worse than Congressional Republicans. The people of DC deserve a government that responds to the will of the people, not the will of wealthy special interest groups. The Council has a responsibility to uphold their constituents' votes, and the voters of DC have overwhelmingly chosen to support Initiative 77. This bill is a betrayal of DC voters, particularly those of color, who overwhelmingly voted for this ballot measure.
For the Council to side with a white, wealthy minority against a diverse majority isn't just wrong, it's incredibly hypocritical coming from a governing body that constantly complains about their citizens' lack of political power. The seven members of the Council who have publicly backed this bill, Phil Mendelson, Jack Evans, Brandon T. Todd, Kenyan R. McDuffie, Anita Bonds, Vincent C. Gray, and Trayon White Sr., need to decide whether they want to honor their constituents' choices, or else they should find a new line of work."
The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.
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Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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Khanna—a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, led in the House of Representatives by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—made the case that you can recognize those stories without accepting the assassination.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
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