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Stephen O’Hanlon, Sunrise Movement, stephen@sunrisemovement.org
Waleed Shahid, Justice Democrats, waleedshahid@justicedemocrats.com
Following Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer's comments on Wednesday evening in The Hil
Following Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer's comments on Wednesday evening in The Hill, stating that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Select Committee on the Green New Deal would not have subpoena power, Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats released the following statement:
"If true, this decision is an insult to the thousands of young people across the country who have been calling on the Democratic Party leadership to have the courage to stand up to fossil fuel billionaires and make sure our generation has a livable future. Whip Hoyer is standing in the way of a plan that huge majorities of Americans support." said Varshini Prakash, spokesperson at Sunrise Movement.
"The Democratic Party establishment never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. They have failed to propose solutions that match the scale of the climate crisis and they have failed to fully hold fossil fuel billionaires accountable. Instead of seizing the opportunity right in front of them, they have decided to violate the norms of most select committees by stripping away its power to bring the barons of the industry to account," said Waleed Shahid, spokesperson at Justice Democrats.
The Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launched their call for a Green New Deal at a sit-in at Leader Nancy Pelosi's office in Washington on November 13, 2018. The Sunrise Movement led another round of sit-ins on December 10th where 143 young leaders were arrested for a moral act of civil disobedience at Pelosi and Hoyer's offices in Washington.
A total of 43 Democrats in the House of Representatives now back Ocasio-Cortez's proposal for a Select Committee on the Green New Deal. The Select Committee proposal also states that no one member can be appointed who receives donations from the fossil fuel industry.
"Our ultimate end goal isn't a Select Committee. Our goal is to treat Climate Change like the serious, existential threat it is by drafting an ambitious solution on the scale necessary -- a Green New Deal - to get it done. A weak committee misses the point and endangers people," Ocasio-Cortez said over Twitter.
"Subpoena power is granted to committees in the standard house rules. The phrasing of the article makes it sound like we are asking for extra power. In fact we are simply asking for what is the usual power granted to all committees," said Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, over Twitter.
The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that existed from 2007 to 2011 had the power to issue subpoenas and used that power to compel the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush "to disclose its progress on formulating climate change rules for automobiles."
Polls show the Green New Deal has strong bipartisan support. A Yale and George Mason poll found 92 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans back the Green New Deal plan. The Select Committee would mandate that Congress create a plan for a rapid economic mobilization to stop climate change over the coming decade, in line with the UN's recommendations in the IPCC report.
The United Nation's climate research body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released a monumental report in October declaring that the world has only 12 years to enact massive changes to global energy infrastructure to limit irreversible warming of the planet. The IPCC report also noted that while the scale of the mobilization required to tackle climate change is unprecedented, the speed is similar to government-led efforts in the United States to mobilize for World War II.
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
"The work we've done over the last five months will make a generational impact on our state—it will lower costs, improve lives, and cut child poverty," said Gov. Tim Walz.
Progressives are applauding what Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman called the state's "transformational" legislative session, which ended on Tuesday after the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party passed nearly every item on its agenda, securing economic justice, reproductive rights, and labor protections for Minnesotans.
With the DFL holding only a narrow majority in the state House and Senate—a six-vote and one-vote margin, respectively—policy researcher Will Stancil said on social media that "the scale of their achievement cannot be overstated."
"The Minnesota Legislature just completed what is probably the most productive session anywhere in the country since probably the New Deal," he said. "Sweeping bills and reforms across every area of life."
Stancil was among a number of progressives who highlighted nearly two dozen bills passed by the DFL and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who posted an image of a whiteboard with party's legislative agenda on it along with the word, "Done."
\u201cDone \u2705\u201d— Governor Tim Walz (@Governor Tim Walz) 1684814396
The party's achievements over the past five months include a statewide paid family and medical leave program, which provides 20 weeks of leave; the legalization of recreational marijuana use; and a law providing free school meals to all public and charter school students—part of Walz's plan to "make Minnesota the best state in the country to raise a child."
\u201cAt Webster Elementary in Minneapolis, Gov. Walz signs School Meals bill, providing free breakfasts and lunches to all Minnesota public school students\u201d— John Croman (@John Croman) 1679079655
"The work we've done over the last five months will make a generational impact on our state—it will lower costs, improve lives, and cut child poverty," said Walz on Tuesday.
The party also passed a bill codifying Roe v. Wadeamid a nationwide assault on abortion rights, legal protections for transgender youths who receive gender-affirming healthcare in the state, and a bill setting a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers, leading a crowd of drivers to give the legislation's sponsor, state Sen. Omar Fateh (D-62), a "hero's welcome" after it passed on Sunday.
\u201cSenator @OmarFatehMN gets the hero\u2019s welcome after his Transportation Drivers, aka Uber/Lyft bill, passes Senate\u201d— John Croman (@John Croman) 1684707459
"Rather than looking at the November numbers result and imposing some kind of self-limiting narrative about the scope of their mandate, Minnesota Democrats looked at their priorities and said, 'How much of the list can we get done?'" said Stancil. "Turns out the answer was 'Almost everything.'"
\u201cBut the key here is that the DFL clearly figured, no matter how small their majorities were, it was better, politically and morally, to choose doing good things over doing nothing. And it did, again and again.\u201d— Will Stancil (@Will Stancil) 1684811682
The party's achievements in Minnesota, said pro-workers' rights media organization More Perfect Union, should "set the precedent for state governments across the country."
"On the balance," said the organization, "Minnesota progressives took narrow House and Senate majorities following years of gridlock—and in their first session in power, managed to set the bar for Democratic legislatures."
"No corner of America is safe if the Republicans blow up our economy, and that starts with Social Security," said Rep. Bill Pascrell.
A group of House Democrats on Tuesday began rolling out legislation to strengthen and expand Social Security as their Republican counterparts' debt ceiling brinkmanship threatens to disrupt the program's monthly payments, which keep millions of seniors and children across the U.S. out of poverty each year.
During a press conference, the Social Security 2100 Act's co-sponsors emphasized the potentially devastating impacts that a GOP-induced U.S. debt default would have on the nation's tens of millions of Social Security recipients, many of whom rely on the program for their sole source of income.
"Today, the entire American economy is teetering on the edge of destruction by a manufactured crisis. I don't think that's hyperbole," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said Tuesday. "No corner of America is safe if the Republicans blow up our economy, and that starts with Social Security."
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare has warned that a U.S. default could jeopardize Social Security payments by leaving the Treasury Department without the money to fulfill its obligations.
"While the Social Security trust funds held $2.852 trillion in U.S. government securities at the end of 2021, the Treasury Department must have cash to pay benefits when they are due," the group noted in a memo earlier this year. "Every month, the Treasury Department is required by law to make over $90 billion in payments to the 65 million retirees, disabled workers, widows, widowers, children, and spouses who receive Social Security benefits. The Treasury may not have enough incoming revenue to make those payments without the authority to cash in these securities."
"Absent the legal authority to borrow beyond the current ceiling," the group added, "Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other payments will not be made on time and in full unless Congress approves an increase in the debt limit."
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), the lead author of the latest version of the Social Security 2100 Act, said during Tuesday's press conference that Social Security recipients are not "bargaining chips" and blasted Republican proposals to slash benefits.
"I think you have to give [former President Donald] Trump at least some credit for telling the Republicans, 'Are you crazy holding Social Security and Medicare hostage?'" Larson said, referring to Trump's criticism of the GOP's approach to the debt ceiling standoff earlier this year.
"They've kind of done the Michael Jackson moonwalk backwards trying to explain why all of their legislation, their study committee, that calls for 21% across-the-board cuts still remains out there in print," Larson added.
While it wouldn't directly target Social Security benefits, the debt ceiling bill that House Republicans passed late last month would slash funding for the Social Security Administration.
In contrast to Republican proposals, Larson's bill would increase benefits for all Social Security recipients by 2%—the first benefit enhancement in more than five decades—and adjust the current Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) to better reflect the impacts of inflation, according to a summary provided by the Connecticut Democrat's office.
The bill would fund benefit increases by applying the Social Security payroll tax to earnings above $400,000 and targeting a loophole that allows the rich to avoid the tax.
Watch the House Democrats' press conference:
The new bill comes as the Treasury Department is reportedly scrambling to find ways to keep making payments as the June 1 "X-date" nears and as Republicans continue to oppose a clean debt limit increase.
"Without additional borrowing, a fresh burst of tax revenue, or new ways to slow spending, the federal government expects to miss a payment for the first time in modern history in early June," The Washington Postreported Tuesday. "To put off the so-called 'X-date' when reserves run dry, Treasury officials have asked their counterparts at federal agencies about the flexibility of payments due before early June."
Outside advocacy groups, meanwhile, are increasingly sounding the alarm about the impact that a default could have on vulnerable seniors.
Retired Americans PAC, a political arm of the Alliance for Retired Americans, launched an ad campaign on Tuesday warning that "politicians in Congress are putting our Social Security benefits at risk," showing clips of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and other Republican lawmakers.
"The Social Security payments that we've earned after a lifetime of work could be held up, hurting millions of seniors who depend on Social Security to cover the basics like food, gas, and prescriptions," the ad warns.
Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said Tuesday that "seniors earned their Social Security benefits over a lifetime of work and rely on them to pay for food, prescriptions, and other necessities."
"Older Americans will not support any politician who jeopardizes their benefits for partisan games," he added.
"Today we said enough is enough of the anti-trans rhetoric and laws," said event co-organizer and ACLU attorney Chase Strangio.
Amid relentlessly rising attacks on the rights and even the very existence of transgender people in the United States, a group of trans students and their supporters on Monday held a prom on the National Mall within sight of the U.S. Capitol.
Around 150 youth from 16 states—along with parents, friends, and other allies—attended the first-ever Trans Prom, according toVice.
As Timereports, the event was organized by activists including students Libby Gonzales, age 13; Daniel Trujillo, 15; Grayson McFerrin, 12 ; and Hobbes Chukumba, 16.
"The Trans Prom is meant to emphasize the pride and joy and happiness that is within the trans community that cannot be broken," Chukumba, who's from New Jersey, told Time. "We're trying to show that trans people can and will continue to be brilliant and great. And really, it's meant to be a space that lets trans kids be kids."
\u201cYeah just hanging out at #transprom in a sea of new friends celebrating #transjoy. I love my job!\u201d— Kierra Johnson (@Kierra Johnson) 1684779367
The teens worked with co-organizers including Chase Strangio, the deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, whom some attendees called their "trans-fairy godfather."
"These young people are here with the families and trans adults who love and care for them," Strangio was quoted by Democracy Now! "Today we are choosing to build on the legacies of our transcestors, embracing the possibilities of our futures, and refocusing our collective imagination on the freedom, beauty, and joy that we represent."
"Our joy is ours. You may not see it. You may not think it exists. You may try to take it away. But it is ours," he added. "And today, and every day, we celebrate, cultivate, and embrace it."
\u201cToday we said enough is enough of the anti-trans rhetoric and laws. We showed UP at the Capitol for #TransProm. Our joy is OURS.\u201d— Chase Strangio (@Chase Strangio) 1684795323
Guests on Monday entered the prom through a "tunnel of love" replete with the colors of the trans flag before being treated to live music, a drag performance by MC Stormie Daie, and decor inspired by the trans-led 1969 Stonewall revolt that catalyzed the nascent LGBTQ+ rights struggle in the United States and beyond.
Trujillo—who is from Arizona and says he's been an activist since age 9—toldVice that "Trans Prom is a big statement of what schools and public life would be like if trans people were celebrated and protected."
The organizers enjoyed the support of their parents. Stephen Chukumba, Hobbes' father, told Vice that he's trying to empower his son "to understand what's happening and to not feel defeated or not feel afraid."
"Because at the end of the day, the reality is that there have been marginalized people fighting for equality since the inception of this country," he added. "That's just a fact. And so those communities that have achieved any level of equality have done so by fighting tooth-and-nail."
\u201cThe \u2728\u2728vibes\u2728\u2728 at #TransProm at the U.S. Capitol.\n\nWhile state legislatures attack trans rights, young people celebrate being true to yourself.\u201d— Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a (@Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a) 1684769970
Lizette Trujillo, Daniel's mother, told Vice that "in a moment where they're trying to strip you of all of your rights and access to care and being able to participate in school sports like your peers, or being able to use your pronouns in the classroom, like it's transgressive to say, 'I'm going to be joyous regardless and I'm going to exist whether you want me to or not.'"
The idea for the prom was born when Daniel Trujillo and Gonzales—who met on a camping trip in 2019—were discussing their angst over the nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that Republicans have introduced in state legislatures so far this year.
"Having to sit through testimonies for people who are saying that I'm mentally ill, it's really hurtful and frustrating," Trujillo told Time. "My GPA dropped from going [to the state capitol] consistently, and it threw all of us into a really stressful space because my parents had to keep working [and then] drop what they were doing to drive to Phoenix."
According to a January survey by the Trevor Project, which focuses on preventing LGBTQ+ youth suicides, 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth said their mental health has been harmed by Republicans' anti-trans legislation and rhetoric.
"Even though I'm not directly struggling, I still feel overwhelmed by it every now and again," Hobbes Chukumba told Vice. "I feel the pain and the struggle that the rest have to go through, because that's what it means to be part of a community. It means [having] that connection."