January, 20 2020, 11:00pm EDT
A Date to Rue
In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, People For the American Way Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Marge Baker released the following statement:
WASHINGTON
In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, People For the American Way Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Marge Baker released the following statement:
"The ten years since the 5-4 Citizens United ruling have seen tremendous damage to our representative system of government, as deep-pocketed special interests have pumped billions of dollars into our elections under the deeply flawed premise that corporations are people and money is speech. But it's not too late to fix this mess. The House has passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which explicitly calls for a constitutional amendment to undo the effects of Citizens United. Due to the work of motivated democracy activists around the country, numerous states have already passed resolutions expressing their support for an amendment. So while we rue this anniversary of a terrible error by the Court, we are more determined than ever to take back our democracy."
People For the American Way works to build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. We fight against right-wing extremism and the injustice it fosters.
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'Unconscionable': Trump Ready to Garnish Wages for Indebted Student Loan Borrowers
"They're just cruel and want to take as much as possible from the folks who have very little," said one student borrower advocacy group.
May 05, 2025
With the Trump administration restarting collection efforts on defaulted student loans after a five-year reprieve on Monday, Mike Pierce of the Student Borrower Protection Center said the move "will further fan the flames of economic chaos for working families across this country"—particularly as the White House threatens to garnish the wages of people who struggle to make higher monthly payments.
The SBPC joined nearly 200 other organizations in sending a letter to the acting undersecretary of education, James Bergeron, condemning the administration's efforts to gut income-driven repayment options and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which has delivered student debt relief to 1 million public service workers since it was implemented in 2007.
"The administration should move to enact policies that better protect student borrowers, rather than pursue misguided policies that will drive up costs and weaken protections," wrote the groups.
More than 42 million Americans have student debt, with more than $1.6 trillion owed in total. More than 5 million borrowers are currently in default, and that number could grow to about 10 million as the Trump administration ends programs that have been aimed at helping people pay off their loans in manageable amounts each month.
Collections are beginning months after Republican-led lawsuits succeeded in blocking former President Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, and days after the GOP members of the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced more than $350 billion in proposed funding cuts for education programs—cuts that government watchdog Accountable.US said are "paving the way for tax cuts for themselves, billionaire donors, and corporations."
The Republicans approved:
- Slashing federal student aid by capping unsubsidized and Parent PLUS loans and eliminating subsidized loans for undergraduates and Grad PLUS loans entirely, which would disproportionately impact low-income families, especially those with students at HBCUs;
- Repealing a set of Biden-era protections—including rules establishing forgiveness for students of schools that closed or failed to lead to gainful employment—that have canceled at least $17.2 billion in federal student loans for nearly 1 million borrowers misled by predatory institutions;
- Repealing the Biden administration's SAVE plan and replacing it with just two fixed or income-based repayment plans, a change that could raise costs for millions of borrowers, including those making modest incomes; and
- Changing Pell Grant eligibility by altering the definition of full-time college attendance to 30 credit hours per year and requiring at least half-time attendance to qualify for any grant at all.
"To pay for tax cuts for the richest in this country, congressional Republicans are willing to gut the programs tens of millions of Americans rely on," said Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US. "Their education markup makes it abundantly clear that they're not just going to gut Medicaid, they're proposing hundreds of billions of dollars of cuts to programs that provide more opportunities for everyday Americans to access higher education. These cuts are a betrayal of congressional Republicans' promise to make government work for Americans and to lower their costs; in fact, it will do quite the opposite."
The Debt Collective, a union of student loan borrowers, pointed out that the Trump administration isn't required by law to begin collecting student debt on Monday.
"They're just cruel and want to take as much as possible from the folks who have very little," said the group.
Aside from garnishing borrowers' wages, the administration could further devastate millions of people as credit scores could tank when the Education Department begins collection activity.
The Federal Reserve projected in March that people with delinquencies could see their credit scores plummet by as many as 171 points, leading to higher costs for borrowers who later take out mortgages, car loans, and sign up for credit cards.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called President Donald Trump's threat to garnish wages in order to collect student debt "unconscionable."
The president and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, said Pressley, "should NOT be seizing people's hard-earned wages, tax refunds, and Social Security checks."
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20 AGs Sue Trump Admin Over Dismantling of Health Agencies
"This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
May 05, 2025
A coalition of 20 attorneys general on Monday sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other Trump administration officials in federal court over cuts to the agency, arguing that "dismantling" and "paralyzing" it through terminations and reorganizations is an "unlawful effort" to undercut Congress.
The lawsuit focuses on a March 27 directive that unveiled sweeping changes to HHS, and the plaintiffs are requesting that the court declare the directive unlawful, arguing that it is unconstitutional and violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
"This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us," said New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the attorneys general leading the lawsuit, in a statement on Monday. "When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant patients, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive, you are not making America healthy—you are putting countless lives at risk."
The lawsuit argues that prior to March 27 the administration had sought to "systematically deprive" HHS of necessary resources, but the March directive was an escalation of this effort, announcing the agency's intention to terminate thousands HHS employees, restructure 28 divisions down to 15, and reduce regional offices from 10 to 5.
"Secretary Kennedy refused to undertake this restructuring legally or carefully," according to the suit, which also highlights that the steep reductions in staff were not slated to yield significant savings.
"The March 27 directive came after scores of probationary employees were laid off and many employees took a buyout offer. None of these layoffs were necessary to accommodate a funding shortfall—Congress's appropriations have remained steady, or in many cases, grown in recent years. All told, 20,000 full-time employees—almost 25% of HHS headcount—would be terminated in a few months to save, by defendants' own estimate, less than 1% of HHS expenditures," according to the suit.
The attorneys general argue that cuts to HHS and its subagencies have prevented them from carrying out their "statutorily required functions." The lawsuit ticks through changes to various agencies within HHS and explains how the March 27 directive has made them unable to do their work.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, some 2,400 employees were dismissed on April 1, according to the complaint.
Per the suit, all workers that handled Freedom of Information Act requests have been fired, as have members of the communication team. The cuts have reduced the Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis's staff by roughly a quarter and also meant that infectious disease laboratories have either been shuttered or reduced their capacity.
"The closure and cuts to infectious diseases laboratories within CDC are perhaps the most egregious example of how the March 27 directive is destroying CDC's ability to meet its statutory mandates to investigate, detect, and identify diseases," according to the suit.
"Since day one, this president and his administration have attempted to illegally decimate agencies across the federal government upon which the American people rely," said Rhode Island Attorney General Neronha, who is also co-leading the suit, in a statement on Monday. "In a world where the next pandemic could be right around the corner, and cases of measles are on the rise, taking an axe to the agency responsible for the health and safety of Americans is wildly irresponsible."
In addition to attorneys general from Rhode Island and New York, the plaintiffs includes state attorneys general from Washington; Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Washington, D.C.; Hawaii; Illinois; Maine; Maryland; Michigan; Minnesota; New Jersey; New Mexico; Oregon; Vermont; and Wisconsin.
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UN Chief 'Alarmed' by Israel's Gaza Conquest Plan—But Minister Says No Concerns From Trump
"I don't feel that there is pressure on us from Trump and his administration," said Ze'ev Eklin. "They understand exactly what is happening here."
May 05, 2025
The office of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday condemned Israeli Cabinet ministers' vote to capture the entire Gaza Strip amid Israel's ongoing genocidal assault, while a prominent Knesset lawmaker claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump would not object to his far-right government's plans to indefinitely occupy the Palestinian enclave.
Fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet unanimously approved Operation Gideon's Chariots, an expansion of the 577-day onslaught that has left more than 185,000 Gazans dead, wounded, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened. The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that it was calling up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of the planned offensive.
An unnamed Israeli official toldThe Times of Israel that the plan involves the "conquering of Gaza," indefinitely occupying the Palestinian territory, and forcibly expelling its inhabitants to the southern part of the strip in order to defeat Hamas and secure the release of all remaining hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023.
The official said the plan won't be implemented until after Trump's scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates later this month.
"We are occupying Gaza to stay—no more going in and out."
Discussing the plan, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that "we are occupying Gaza to stay—no more going in and out."
"This is a war for victory, and it's time we stop fearing the word occupation," he added. "We will settle the battle with Hamas—we will not surrender; they will."
The conquest, ethnic cleansing, and recolonization of Gaza is a top objective of many far-right Israelis. Last July, the International Court of Justice—which is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel—found that the country's 58-year occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible.
Guterres' office warned Monday that the planned Israeli offensive would have catastrophic consequences for Gaza's embattled population.
"I can tell you that the secretary-general is alarmed by these reports of Israeli plans to expand ground operations and prolong its military presence in Gaza," Guterres spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a press briefing, adding that the operation "will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza."
"What's imperative now is an end to the violence, not more civilian deaths and destruction," Haq stressed. "Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state."
European Union spokesperson Anouar El Anouni also expressed deep concern over Operation Gideon's Chariots, which he said "will result in further casualties and suffering for the Palestinian population."
"We urge Israel to exercise the utmost restraint," El Anouni added.
Asked about the Israeli plan, Trump declined to comment on its military aspects and said the U.S.—which provides Israel with diplomatic support and billions of dollars in armed aid—would help deliver food to Palestinians, who humanitarian groups say are facing imminent famine amid Israel's tightened blockade of Gaza. The Washington Postreported Monday that "American contractors" would be hired to distribute aid in the strip.
"We're going to help the people of Gaza get some food," Trump told reporters on Monday. "People are starving, and we're going to help them get some food."
Israeli Cabinet Minister Ze'ev Elkin claimed Monday that Trump—who in February proposed a U.S. takeover of Gaza—would not object to Operation Gideon's Chariots.
"I don't feel that there is pressure on us from Trump and his administration—they understand exactly what is happening here," Elkin said.
Some critics of Israel's planned conquest of Gaza accused Netanyahu of impeding the hostages' release by unilaterally breaking a January cease-fire agreement with Hamas.
"The Israeli hostages would now have been free, along with hundreds of innocent Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons, had indicted war criminal Netanyahu not chosen to violate the cease-fire deal he had signed," former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakissaid on social media Monday. "Lest we forget..."
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