July, 14 2020, 12:00am EDT
Statement from Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash on Vice President Biden's new plans for Environmental Justice, Sustainable Infrastructure, and an Equitable Clean Energy Future:
Throughout this election cycle, our generation has relentlessly pressured the Democratic establishment to grasp the existential urgency of the climate crisis. We pushed every single Presidential candidate to show us their plan, and we weren't afraid to say when they fell far from what was needed to provide a livable future for our generation. We've also been clear: the climate crisis is not just an existential threat, but our greatest opportunity -- if we have to transform everything, let's build a better future.
WASHINGTON
Throughout this election cycle, our generation has relentlessly pressured the Democratic establishment to grasp the existential urgency of the climate crisis. We pushed every single Presidential candidate to show us their plan, and we weren't afraid to say when they fell far from what was needed to provide a livable future for our generation. We've also been clear: the climate crisis is not just an existential threat, but our greatest opportunity -- if we have to transform everything, let's build a better future. It's no secret that we've been critical of Vice President's Biden's plans and commitments in the past. Today, he's responded to many of those criticisms: dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he'd achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action -- on day 1, in his first 100 days, in his first term, in the next decade -- not just some far off goals."
"Our movement made this possible, but there's more work to do, and the urgency of the crisis demands that we keep pushing. Vice President Biden must build on these commitments and make these actions an immediate and urgent priority on day 1. Our movement, alongside environmental justice communities and frontline workers, has taught Joe Biden to talk the talk. Now, let's defeat Trump and mobilize in mass after the election to get Biden to walk the walk.
"Two things are clear: Movements matter, and there's more work to do. What we've shown is that when we organize, we can change the terrain of possible, and the common sense of society. But millions are without jobs. Storms are battering our coasts as we speak. The summer is getting hot. Babies are being born into an increasingly uncertain world. Folks can't breathe. So roll up your sleeves, and let's keep pushing."
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LATEST NEWS
House GOP to Hold Hearing on Social Security 'Death Panel'
"MAGA Mike Johnson and his fellow Republicans desperately want this commission to give bipartisan cover to benefit cuts," said Social Security Works. "Democrats must stand united against it."
Nov 28, 2023
The Republican-controlled House Budget Committee is set to convene a hearing Wednesday to examine legislation that would establish a so-called fiscal commission for the U.S. debt, a proposal that critics have called a Trojan horse for Social Security and Medicare cuts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), a longtime proponent of Social Security cuts, described such a commission as one of his top priorities after winning the gavel last month, and right-wing organizations such as the Koch-connected group FreedomWorks have endorsed the idea.
A fiscal commission of the kind backed by congressional Republicans and some conservative Democrats—including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)—would be tasked with analyzing Social Security, Medicare, and other U.S. trust fund programs and developing policy recommendations ostensibly aimed at improving the programs' finances. The policy proposals would then be put on a fast track in both the House and Senate.
Social Security Works and other progressive organizations have stressed that Social Security does not add to the federal debt and warned against the growing push for a fiscal commission.
"That's code for a death panel designed to cut Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors," Social Security Works wrote in a social media post on Monday in response to the impending hearing.
"MAGA Mike Johnson and his fellow Republicans desperately want this commission to give bipartisan cover to benefit cuts," the group added. "Democrats must stand united against it."
The House Budget Committee's Wednesday hearing will feature testimony from Manchin and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who earlier this month teamed up to introduce legislation that would establish a 16-member bipartisan, bicameral fiscal commission comprised of 12 elected officials and four outside experts.
Manchin and Romney have both said they're not running for reelection next year.
Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, called Manchin and Romney "cowards" who are "quitting and heading out of town, but want to set up a closed-door commission to cut Social Security and Medicare on the way out the door."
"The only reason to make changes to Social Security via a closed-door commission is to cut already modest earned benefits."
According to a legislative summary released by Manchin's office, the commission would "produce a report and propose a package of legislative solutions to improve the long-term fiscal condition of the federal government, stabilize the ratio of public debt to GDP within a 15-year period, and improve solvency of federal trust funds over a 75-year period."
"If the commission approves proposed legislative language, it would receive expedited consideration in both chambers," the summary continues. "While 60 votes would be required to invoke cloture prior to final passage in the Senate, only a simple majority would be needed for the motion to proceed, which would be privileged."
Manchin and Romney's bill is one of three pieces of legislation that the House Budget Committee will discuss during Wednesday's hearing. The committee is chaired by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), a fiscal commission supporter and member of a Republican panel that called for raising the Social Security retirement age earlier this year.
Progressive lawmakers and organizations have argued that instead of cutting benefits, Congress could ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next seven-plus decades and expand benefits by lifting the payroll tax cap that allows the rich to avoid taxes on annual income over roughly $160,000.
"All of the options for eliminating Social Security's projected shortfall, manageable in size and still a decade away, are fully understood," more than 100 advocacy groups wrote in a letter to members of Congress earlier this month. "The only reason to make changes to Social Security via a closed-door commission is to cut already modest earned benefits—something the American people overwhelmingly oppose—while avoiding political accountability.
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Netanyahu Says He Is 'Only One Who Will Prevent a Palestinian State'
"Look Joe Biden: Netanyahu is spitting in your face," said one critic. "Are you going to keep hugging him in public or are you going to finally end the blank check and hold him accountable for his words and actions?"
Nov 28, 2023
With his approval ratings in the tank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly been lobbying members of his Likud party in a bid to keep their support, claiming he is "the only one who will prevent a Palestinian state" in Gaza and the West Bank.
Netanyahu's remarks, first reported by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, fly in the face of the Biden administration's continued push for a two-state solution as the "only way to guarantee the long-term security of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people."
"To make sure Israelis and Palestinians alike live in equal measure of freedom and dignity, we will not give up on working towards that goal," U.S. President Joe Biden, who has offered unconditional political and military support to Israel during its latest assault on Gaza, wrote in a social media post late Monday.
Analysts have long argued that one democratic state, not two states, is the only viable alternative to the apartheid status quo, given factors such as ever-expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Throughout his career, Netanyahu has vociferously opposed a peaceful resolution and worked to divide Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by propping up Hamas.
"Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas," Netanyahu told his colleagues in 2019. "This is part of our strategy—to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank."
In his latest comments to Likud backbenchers, Netanyahu reportedly said he's "the only one who can withstand U.S. pressure" and that he knows "how to manage American public opinion," even as American public support for Israel's assault on Gaza falls.
The Times of Israelreported Monday that Netanyahu "boasted about having gone against" U.S. wishes by launching a ground invasion of Gaza and raiding the Palestinian territory's largest hospital on the pretense that Hamas was hiding a command center on the facility's grounds—a claim that has not been substantiated.
Netanyahu, facing mounting domestic pressure to resign, has also indicated that Israel plans to occupy the Gaza Strip for an "indefinite period" after the current war, defying Biden's warning against a prolonged occupation.
"Look Joe Biden: Netanyahu is spitting in your face," Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of the Jewish-American advocacy group IfNotNow, wrote on social media Monday. "He doesn't take you seriously. Are you going to keep hugging him in public or are you going to finally end the blank check and hold him accountable for his words and actions?"
News of the Israeli prime minister's meetings with Likud lawmakers came as the attack on Gaza is under a tenuous pause to allow for the release of hostages. Netanyahu has opposed a lasting cease-fire and pledged to continue waging war on the strip once the pause is over.
The Financial Timesreported Tuesday that Biden and other top U.S. officials have implored Israel not to trigger mass internal displacement in its planned offensive in southern Gaza, where many people have fled to escape Israeli bombing in the north. Israel's assault has displaced around 70% of Gaza's population so far.
Israeli officials have not provided any public indication that their bombing campaign will be less destructive following the end of the pause.
"The enemy will meet first the bombs of the Air Force, and after that the shells of the tanks and the artillery and the scoops of the D9 [bulldozers], and finally gunfire of the infantry troops," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday. "We will fight in the entire strip."
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Senators Sound Alarm on Push to 'Undermine the Goals of Dodd-Frank'
"We urge the commission to continue to focus on its vital work preserving market integrity and protecting the public, uphold the letter and spirit of the Dodd-Frank Act, and withdraw the proposed rule."
Nov 27, 2023
A trio of Democratic U.S. senators on Monday wrote to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam expressing their "serious reservations" with the agency's proposed rule on seeded funds and money market funds, a policy the lawmakers warned would "undermine the goals of Dodd-Frank" by rolling back the already weakened financial oversight law.
Passed in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—which was partially rolled back during the Trump administration—overhauled federal financial regulation. In a letter to Behnam, Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Tina Smith (Minn.) assert that the CFTC's proposed rule is a "step in the wrong direction" that would increase market instability by decreasing collateral requirements for certain transactions.
The Global Markets Advisory Committee, largely made up of finance industry insiders, recommended the proposed rule in 2020 during the Trump administration.
As the letter explains:
The proposed rule would reduce or eliminate initial margin requirements for up to three years for a subset of swap market participants. "Initial margin" is the collateral that participants must set aside when entering swap agreements. Initial margin requirements, along with "variation margin" and other capital requirements, protect counterparties to a swap in the event of a default. Dodd-Frank set up comprehensive rules for swap agreements after they significantly contributed to the 2008 financial crisis and the federal government was forced to bail out Wall Street.
"The 2008 financial crisis showed the dangers that swaps can pose to economic stability, and Dodd-Frank directed regulators, including the CFTC, to require initial margin for uncleared swaps specifically to reduce those risks," the senators wrote. "It is vital for the CFTC to continue upholding its Dodd-Frank mandate and to maintain high standards and safeguards for this important market."
"We urge the commission to continue to focus on its vital work preserving market integrity and protecting the public, uphold the letter and spirit of the Dodd-Frank Act, and withdraw the proposed rule," the lawmakers added.
The collapse earlier this year of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank—both of which benefited from regulatory relief thanks to the 2018 rollback—brought renewed scrutiny on Dodd-Frank's Republican-engineered shortcomings. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who wrote the 2018 banking deregulation law, insisted in March that "there is no need for regulatory reform" in the wake of the banks' failures.
Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, responded to Crapo's assertion by writing that "you have to be hard-core committed to mindless free-market fundamentalism—or truly in thrall to your donors—to insist there's no need for new regulations after Silicon Valley Bank."
Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also wrote a letter to Behman sharing her concerns about the proposed rule. Noting the policy's 2020 introduction, Warren said in her October 10 letter that "it is unclear why the commission is choosing to propose these rules now, three years later, without conducting its own additional analyses of whether the changes are necessary or will strengthen the stability of the domestic financial system."
"I strongly urge the commission not to loosen the existing rules and not to roll back important Dodd-Frank Act reforms," Warren added.
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