December, 09 2019, 11:00pm EDT
350 Action Endorses Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), and Deb Haaland(NM-01) for House in 2020
350 Action is endorsing candidates who have demonstrated their commitment to progressive action on climate change, by supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels towards 100% renewable energy that centers a Green New Deal, and advocates to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
This week, 350 Action is endorsing the following candidates:
Brooklyn, N.Y.
350 Action is endorsing candidates who have demonstrated their commitment to progressive action on climate change, by supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels towards 100% renewable energy that centers a Green New Deal, and advocates to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
This week, 350 Action is endorsing the following candidates:
- Ayanna Pressley, African-American freshman Congresswoman and member of the "Squad"; Democrat running for Congress in Massachusetts' 7th District
- Rashida Tlaib, Palestinian-American freshman Congresswoman and member of the "Squad," Democrat running for Congress in Michigan's 13th District
- Deb Haaland, one of the first two women elected to the U.S. Congress and Democrat running for Congress in New Mexico's 1st District
The following is a statement from 350 Action's North America Director, Tamara Toles O'Laughlin:
"The candidates we are endorsing represent the climate leadership we demand in Congress. Pressley, Tlaib, and Haaland have, in just a year, shown a relentless commitment to climate action and their constituencies. As women of color leading transformative progressive change in the United States, they are modeling the work of the future. We endorse them with a firm belief in their vision and ability to make the Green New Deal possible during the climate decade."
350 Action endorses Ayanna Pressley, Democrat running for Congress in Massachusetts' 7th District on a platform of criminal justice reform, economic justice, as well as the Green New Deal. A member of the "Squad," Pressley has provided leadership on the climate crisis, including as a co-sponsor of the GND. Here is her response to our candidate questionnaire, on holding fossil fuel companies accountable:
"Yes, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform I have led strong lines of questioning that aim to put the industry on the record and hold them accountable. I also strongly support the work of Attorneys General like my friend and colleague Maura Healey in Massachusetts, who are working tirelessly to hold major corporations accountable for knowingly contributing to climate change and exacerbating the public health impacts, especially in marginalized communities. I support continued investigation at the local, state, and federal level to hold these corporations accountable, and I believe it's such an important example of why I have elected to reject any contributions from corporate PACs."
350 Action endorses Rashida Tlaib, Democrat running for Congress in Michigan's 13th District, running on policies including Debt-Free College, Medicare-for-All, as well as the Green New Deal. A member of the "Squad" in Congress now, Tlaib notably fought the Marathon refinery to ban petroleum coke as a member of Michigan's House of Representatives. Here is her statement on the Green New Deal, made at climate justice rally in April 2019:
"We don't think this is bold or radical. This is our life every single day as we walk out the door," Tlaib said to a crowd at the Bonstelle Theatre in Detroit. "If there's anyone that deserves a seat at the table, it is us. We are on the frontlines every single day in Wayne County and Metro Detroit."
350 Action endorses Deb Haaland, Democrat running for Congress in New Mexico's 1st District, on a platform of economic justice and ending environmental racism, as well as the Green New Deal. Haaland is a member of the member of the Laguna Pueblo and one of the original co-sponsors of the GND resolution, with a strong record of climate justice advocacy in New Mexico and at the national level. Haaland has pushed for investment in renewable energy and for an end to fracking in her home state. Here is Congresswoman Haaland's climate justice statement on her campaign website:
"We need to act fast to counteract climate change and keep fossil fuels in the ground. I pledge to vote against all new fossil fuel infrastructure, and to fight instead for 100% clean energy -- including tens of thousands of solar energy jobs for New Mexicans. We deserve representatives in Congress who will stand up to the fossil fuel industry, and I will.
Indigenous rights and the fight for climate justice cannot be separated, and I will fight for tribal nations across the country who are battling the fossil fuel industry in their backyards."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
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Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas on Tuesday again blocked the passage of House-approved bipartisan legislation meant to shield journalists and telecommunications companies from being compelled to disclose sources and other information to federal authorities.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) brought the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act—which would prohibit the federal government from forcing journalists and telecom companies to disclose certain information, with exceptions for terroristic or violent threats—for a unanimous consent vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued Tuesday that passing the PRESS Act is "more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another," a reference to Republican President-elect Donald Trump's threats to jail journalists who refuse to reveal the sources of leaks. Trump, who has referred to the press as the "enemy of the people," repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to "kill this bill."
Cotton, who blocked a vote on the legislation in December 2022, again objected to the bill, a move that thwarted its speedy passage. The Republican called the legislation a "threat to national security" and "the biggest giveaway to the liberal press in American history."
The advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent lamented that "Congress has abdicated their responsibility to take substantive steps to protect the constitutional right to a free press."
However, Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, noted ways in which Senate Democrats can still pass the PRESS Act before Republicans gain control of the upper chamber next month:
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Advocacy groups applauding the decisions also pointed to the high cost of groceries and the anticipated impact of Kroger buying Albertsons—a $24.6 billion deal first announced in October 2022.
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Some advocates specifically praised Khan—a progressive FTC chair whom President-elect Donald Trumpplans to replace with Andrew Ferguson, a current commissioner who previously worked as chief counsel to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and as Republican counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Today's decision is a major win for shoppers and grocery workers. Families have been paying the price of unchecked corporate power in the food and grocery sector, and further consolidation would only worsen this crisis," declared Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens in a statement.
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Trump has picked Harmeet Dhillon as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. She has stated that it must be "made unsafe" for hospitals to provide trans care, and frequently shares Libs of TikTok posts. She intends to target trans people in blue states. Subscribe to support my journalism.
[image or embed]
— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM
Reed continued:
Dhillon's most prominent work includes founding the Center for American Liberty, a legal organization that focuses heavily on anti-transgender cases in blue states. The organization's "featured cases" section highlights several lawsuits, such as Chloe Cole's case against Kaiser Permanente; a lawsuit challenging a Colorado school's use of a transgender student's preferred name; a case against a California school district seeking to implement policies that would forcibly out transgender students; and a lawsuit against Vermont for denying a foster care license to a family unwilling to comply with nondiscrimination policies regarding transgender youth.
Reed also highlighted Dhillon's attacks on state laws protecting transgender people, as well as her expression of "extreme anti-trans views" on social media—including calling gender-affirming healthcare for trans children "child abuse."
Last year, The Guardian's Jason Wilson reported that the Center for American Liberty made a six-figure payment to a public relations firm that represented Dhillion in both "her capacity as head of her own for-profit law firm and Republican activist."
Writing for the voting rights platform Democracy Docket, Matt Cohen on Tuesday accused Dhillon of being "one of the leading legal figures working to roll back voting rights across the country."
"In the past few years, Dhillon—or an attorney from her law firm—has been involved in more than a dozen different lawsuits in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. challenging voting rights laws, redistricting, election processes, or Trump's efforts to appear on the ballot in the 2024 election," Cohen noted.
As Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday, "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has the critical responsibility of enforcing our nation's federal civil rights laws and ensuring equal justice under the law on behalf of all of our communities."
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