May, 02 2019, 12:00am EDT
Senate Must Act on Democracy Reform, Say Gupta, Rep. Sarbanes in The Hill
WASHINGTON
In an opinion piece in The Hill, Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Congressman John Sarbanes (MD-3), called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a floor vote on the democracy reform package, the For the People Act. Sarbanes, chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force, helped lead efforts to pass the bill in the House of Representatives.
"The For the People Act offers a transformative vision for democracy that puts the American people and our shared values first. Importantly, it also commits to restoring the heart of the Voting Rights Act," Gupta and Sarbanes say in the piece. But, McConnell "appears determined to derail efforts to fix our democracy and expand the franchise," and he "fears any threat to the kind of system he has built--one dependent on a diminished electorate where everyday people are disenfranchised while powerful, freewheeling special interests pull too many of the strings."
The piece outlines the countless hurdles voters face to make their voices heard in addition to the public's overwhelming support for democracy reform. "Democracy is foundational to America's highest values," Gupta and Sarbanes write. "From its base grow equity and justice, and freedom and opportunity. But when people's voices are blocked from civic participation--as they increasingly are today--our hard-won progress becomes vulnerable."
The full piece can be read here.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society - an America as good as its ideals.
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🔴 OUT NOW📢 69 NGOs call on the EU to deliver a Climate Law that rejects international carbon offsetting & Carbon Dioxide Removals (#CDR), commits to a full fossil fuel phase-out, and reflects Europe’s fair share of climate responsibility!Read the statement👇www.realzeroeurope.org/resources/st...
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— Real Zero Europe (@realzeroeurope.bsky.social) June 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
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This heatwave is brutal. Temperatures above 40°C in June across France, Spain, Italy...We still hear from right-wing politicians that “it’s just summer.” It’s not. This is the climate crisis courtesy of the fossil fuels industry. It’s not normal.
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— European Greens (@europeangreens.eu) June 30, 2025 at 7:01 AM
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- People are substantially deprived of their means of subsistence because of the severe deterioration of entire ecosystems due to climate change due to flooding, drought, and extreme heat; and
- The cultural survival of the populations of small island developing states, Indigenous peoples, people of African descent, peasants and small-scale fishers is impaired by loss of territories, protracted unsafe climatic conditions and/or severe ecosystem degradation.
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Morgera said that fossil fuel industry's impact on the human rights of people across the Global South—who have contributed little to the worsening of the climate emergency—"compels urgent defossilization of our whole economies, as part of a just, effective, and transformative transition."Keep ReadingShow Less
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