April, 22 2020, 12:00am EDT
MoveOn: Congress Is Failing to Meet the Moment; It Should Stay in Session and Pass Legislation that Will Do Enough to Help People
Statement of Rahna Epting, Executive Director of MoveOn:
"The bill Congress is set to pass this week is woefully insufficient. It is a band-aid over a gaping wound that gets bigger every day. We are facing an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression yet Congress has skipped town while passing half-measures that prioritize corporations and the wealthy at the behest of Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate.
WASHINGTON
Statement of Rahna Epting, Executive Director of MoveOn:
"The bill Congress is set to pass this week is woefully insufficient. It is a band-aid over a gaping wound that gets bigger every day. We are facing an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression yet Congress has skipped town while passing half-measures that prioritize corporations and the wealthy at the behest of Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate.
"However well-intentioned the PPP program is, it has resulted in the Ruth's Chris' of the world receiving money while far too many actual small businesses get nothing. Meanwhile, the program empowers the big banks to play favorites without sufficient oversight. The money to hospitals and testing is critical but it is pennies on the dollar of what medical professionals say is needed. Trump and congressional Republicans have bailed out corporations for potentially the duration of the crisis but most people have received support that will last less than a month. And with rent and mortgages due in just over a week, this bill does nothing for the vast majority of Americans.
"We are in a national health and economic emergency and we need Congress to start acting like it. With remote voting, Congress should stay in session this week, next week, and every week until this crisis ends. It should pass legislation that will provide direct economic relief to people, not corporations. Pass legislation to protect essential workers. Pass legislation to save the Post Office. Pass legislation to save our elections. And ensure all Americans have access to health care and relief. Testing must be included not as a concession to Democrats but as an essential program to reopen our economy, which will be further devastated if we need additional shutdowns after businesses have reopened.
"Time is running out. And to date, the solutions have been far too small. Congress needs to get to work, and now."
MoveOn is where millions mobilize for a better society--one where everyone can thrive. Whether it's supporting a candidate, passing legislation, or changing our culture, MoveOn members are committed to an inclusive and progressive future. We envision a world marked by equality, sustainability, justice, and love. And we mobilize together to achieve it.
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The paper's author found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
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The center of the U.S. military-industrial complex has been shifting over the past decade from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to Northern California—a shift that is accelerating with the rise of artificial intelligence-based systems, according to a report published Wednesday.
The report—entitledHow Big Tech and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex—was authored by Roberto J. González, a professor of cultural anthropology at San José State University, for the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs.
The new paper comes amid the contentious rise of AI-powered lethal autonomous weapons systems, or killer robots; increasing reliance upon AI on battlefields from Gaza to Ukraine; and growing backlash from tech workers opposed to their companies' products and services being used to commit or enable war crimes.
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The report highlights the rise of a new class of billion-dollar military contractors, "a combination of gargantuan tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and hundreds of smaller, pre-IPO startup companies supported by VC firms."
"The use of drones and AI-enabled weapons systems in Ukraine and Gaza, and a feared AI arms race with China, have fueled the
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A lack of transparency is obscuring the true value of some of the largest military contracts to tech companies.
"One estimate indicates that U.S. military and intelligence agencies awarded at least $28 billion to Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) between 2018 and 2022," the report states. "The actual value of these contracts is likely much higher, because many of the largest known contracts with U.S. tech companies are classified and withheld from public procurement databases."
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About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
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CI-128 would amend the Montana Constitution to expressly provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one's own pregnancy, including the right to abortion. It would prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability. It would also prohibit the government from denying or burdening access to an abortion when a treating healthcare professional determines it is medically indicated to protect the pregnant patient's life or health. CI-128 prevents the government from penalizing patients, healthcare providers, or anyone who assists someone in exercising their right to make and carry out voluntary decisions about their pregnancy.
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