May, 12 2020, 12:00am EDT
Key Democracy Issues Must Be Prioritized in Next COVID-19 Supplemental Funding Bill Common Cause Tells Congress
Today, Common Cause called on Congress to prioritize funding for key elements of our democracy in the next COVID-19 emergency supplemental appropriations bill ("CARES 2.0").
WASHINGTON
Today, Common Cause called on Congress to prioritize funding for key elements of our democracy in the next COVID-19 emergency supplemental appropriations bill ("CARES 2.0"). The letter urges every Member of Congress to designate sufficient funding in the stimulus package to secure essential pillars of our democracy threatened by the pandemic and to ensure proper safeguards are put into place to oversee government disbursement of trillions of dollars in stimulus funds. The elements highlighted in the letter include critical efforts to safeguard our elections, the Census, the U.S. Postal Service, access to broadband internet service, as well as local journalism and to fully staff and prioritize the CARES Act Congressional Oversight Commission.
"As Congress addresses the public health emergency and the economic crisis, it is vitally important that the House and Senate also take steps to buttress key pillars of our democracy that are threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn. "Americans are facing great challenges and being asked to make great sacrifices during the current crisis and we expect our elected leaders to take action to ensure that we the people are kept safe, informed, connected, and represented. Our democracy can never be an afterthought regardless of the crises we face as a nation, and that is why it is critical that Congress move to safeguard our elections, the Census, the Postal Service, access to broadband, independent local journalism, and government oversight, especially during times of crisis."
The letter calls on Congress to take the following actions to safeguard our democracy during the current crisis:
- Invest at least $4 billion in our elections to ensure no Americans have to decide between their health and their right to vote and ensure that the 20% state match requirement is removed;
- Guarantee at least $2-3 billion a month for the duration of the pandemic for broadband to ensure communities have access to robust and affordable connectivity;
- Provide at least $5 billion to support local journalism so all Americans can continue to receive reliable news throughout this pandemic;
- Provide: 1) increased funding for the Census to ensure all residents are counted; and require the Census Bureau to spend the $1 billion it currently has in reserve; 2) paid sick leave for temporary census workers; and 3) income exclusions for census workers receiving SNAP, Medicaid/CHIP, and TANF benefits;
- Ensure sufficient funding for the United States Postal Service so all Americans can continue to be connected; and
- Appoint a chair for the CARES Act Congressional Oversight Commission to ensure that taxpayers' hard-earned money is appropriately allocated and used to promote permissible purposes, as well as protect inspectors general by ensuring that they can only be fired for cause.
The letter emphasizes that the COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to our democracy, and stresses that Congress must act decisively to buttress key pillars of our democracy or face potentially catastrophic consequences.
To read the full letter, click here.
To view this release online, click here.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
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Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
Khanna—a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, led in the House of Representatives by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—made the case that you can recognize those stories without accepting the assassination.
"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
"Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she continued. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the healthcare to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, in the introduction to the report. Since October 2023, 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, "including at least 35 who were very likely targeted or killed while working."
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Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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