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For Immediate Release
October, 28 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Sanders Contact: Keane_Bhatt@sanders.senate.gov
Klobuchar Contact: Jonathan_Beeton@rules.senate.gov
Sanders, Klobuchar Issue Statement Correcting Misinformation from President Trump and Justice Kavanaugh on Voting Processes
U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released the statement below following President Trump's recent false statement that it is inappropriate and illegal to count ballots after Election Day, and the Supreme Court's ruling in Democratic National Committee v. Wisconsin Legislature, where Justice Kavanaugh's concurring opinion contains incorrect information regarding voting:
WASHINGTON
U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released the statement below following President Trump's recent false statement that it is inappropriate and illegal to count ballots after Election Day, and the Supreme Court's ruling in Democratic National Committee v. Wisconsin Legislature, where Justice Kavanaugh's concurring opinion contains incorrect information regarding voting:
"In America, we count the votes to determine who wins an election. Despite the incorrect assertions from President Trump and Justice Kavanaugh, election officials across the country accept ballots well after Election Day every year, and results are not certified until the votes are counted and a canvas to confirm the results is conducted. Absentee ballots counted after election day do not 'flip the results of an election,' as Justice Kavanaugh claimed. They are the results of the election.
"More than twenty states, including states like Mississippi, Kansas, and Utah, require ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted even if they are received after Election Day. This is critical to ensuring that those who may face hardships in voting, including members of our military serving abroad and those affected by COVID-19, are not disenfranchised by things like mail delays. These are not new rules and they do not serve any political party. It is on all of us to reject misinformation and to tell the truth. Our election systems span 50 states, five territories, and thousands of jurisdictions. State and local election officials are working around the clock, and experts have concluded that the integrity of our election system is strong. The best defense against those trying to undermine our democracy is the resolve of the American people, who are voting by the millions as we speak. Keep voting."
On October 18, Sanders and Klobuchar, along with Senators Schumer (D-N.Y.), Heinrich (D-N.M.), Murphy (D-Conn.), and Duckworth (D-Ill.), issued a report titled 2020 General Election: Counting Votes & What to Expect on Election Day, which offers a guide to voting procedures in key states.
The report can be found here.
LATEST NEWS
Democrats' Bill Would Extend Social Security and Medicare Solvency 'As Far as the Eye Can See'
"Working-class seniors pay into Social Security and Medicare their whole careers so they can enjoy a dignified retirement, but they end up paying a much larger share of their income in taxes than billionaires because the tax code is rigged in favor of the rich."
May 09, 2025
Social Security and Medicare protect tens of millions of American senior citizens from poverty and medical bankruptcy each year, but economic justice advocates have long said the programs would be strengthened and remain fully solvent for as long as possible if the richest Americans contributed more to them—and on Thursday two Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation to ensure they do.
The bicameral bill, the Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, was reintroduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), with the aim of requiring people with yearly incomes of more than $400,000 to contribute a fairer share of their wealth to the two programs.
Currently the maximum amount of earnings for which American workers must pay Social Security taxes is just over $176,000.
The bill would lift the Social Security tax cap "to ensure that no matter the source of their income, high-income taxpayers would pay the same tax rate on their income exceeding that threshold," said the lawmakers in a press statement.
It would also increase the Medicare tax rate for income above $400,000 by 1.2% and include a provision ensuring owners of hedge funds and private equity firms can no longer avoid Medicare taxes.
Whitehouse and Boyle introduced the bill as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans work to slash Social Security—confirming Wall Street executive Frank Bisignano, who has backed billionaire Elon Musk's spending cuts at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to run the program this week.
"While Republicans are pushing a $7 trillion tax giveaway to the ultrarich, we're working to protect the benefits that millions of Americans have earned—and we won't let them be stolen to fund another billionaire windfall."
Republicans have also suggested Medicare could be slashed in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and have pushed to expand privatized Medicare Advantage plans.
"Working-class seniors pay into Social Security and Medicare their whole careers so they can enjoy a dignified retirement, but they end up paying a much larger share of their income in taxes than billionaires because the tax code is rigged in favor of the rich," said Whitehouse. "As the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans gear up to deliver budget-busting giveaways for their billionaire donors, I will continue pushing to make our tax code fair and protect these twin pillars of retirement security as far as the eye can see."
Actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Social Security Administration estimated that Whitehouse and Boyle's proposal would extend Social Security and Medicare solvency by at least 75 years.
Without new revenue, the trust funds that finance Medicare and Social Security are projected to be 100% solvent only through 2036 and 2033, respectively.
The legislation is endorsed by groups including Social Security Works, the National Council on Aging, and the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
"From my first day in Congress, I've pledged to protect the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare—two bedrock promises our country made to seniors, workers, and people with disabilities," said Boyle. "Now, with [President] Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE-fueled billionaires openly attacking these programs, that fight is more urgent than ever."
"While Republicans are pushing a $7 trillion tax giveaway to the ultrarich," he said, "we're working to protect the benefits that millions of Americans have earned—and we won't let them be stolen to fund another billionaire windfall."
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Warnings Grow Over US and Israel-Backed Plan for Gaza Aid
The plan "contravenes basic humanitarian principles," said a spokesperson for the United Nation's children's agency.
May 09, 2025
United Nations aid officials have rejected a U.S. and Israel-backed plan for aid delivery in Gaza that reportedly involves the use of a private foundation and U.S. military security contractors to deliver far less humanitarian assistance than the besieged enclave needs.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned Friday that the agency "will not participate."
"There is no reason to put in place a system that is at odds with the DNA of any principled humanitarian organization," Laerke told the BBC.
Since early March, Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza, compounding widespread misery and hunger in the besieged enclave as Israel continues to mount a deadly military campaign there. U.N. officials have decried the fact that aid is close at hand but is not being allowed in.
Speaking in Jerusalem on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the plan involves a private U.S.-backed foundation, which will distribute aid from a set number of distribution sites, according to CNN. Huckabee said the idea is to create a system that prevents Hamas from obtaining the aid.
The private entity, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, would administer those distribution sites using private U.S. military contractors and aid workers, according to CNN.
The plan reportedly entails only allowing 60 aid trucks a day, a sliver of what was allowed to enter the enclave during the two-month cease-fire that Israel ended in March. A document from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation states that there will initially be four distribution sites aimed at providing 1.2 million Palestinians in its first phase, or 60% of Gaza's population.
According to the The New YorkTimes, under the current aid distribution system, the U.N. says there are 400 distribution points.
Huckabee said that Israel would not be involved in delivering aid, but that Israeli forces would handle security around the distribution sites.
The Times of Israel, citing officials familiar with the plan, reported that the Israeli government and military have been involved in putting the plan together, even if the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the entity that is slated to distribute the aid.
Reporting from The Washington Postpublished Monday, which cited unnamed Israeli officials and aid workers, framed the emerging plan as an Israeli initiative to take control of aid distribution in Gaza. The Post's reporting also stated that the distribution centers would be all be located in the south of Gaza.
The Post spoke with officials from a dozen international aid groups working in Gaza, who expressed concerns that restricting aid to a few locations would force more displacement and be discriminatory.
James Elder, spokesperson for the U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF, echoed this, according to the BBC, saying on Friday that the proposed plan would lead to more children suffering and that the decision to locate all the distribution centers in the south appeared designed to weaponize aid as "bait" to force Palestinians to be displaced once again.
The plan "contravenes basic humanitarian principles" and appears designed to "reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic," Elder said, according to U.N. News.
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'This Is Not Normal': Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at Contested ICE Detention Facility
"They are arresting elected officials for peacefully opposing the regime's illegal actions."
May 09, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested Friday afternoon at a newly reopened immigrant detention facility in New Jersey's largest city.
Baraka was accompanying three of the state's congressional Democrats to Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility operated by the private prison company the GEO Group.
The 1,196-bed facility—the first immigrant detention center to open since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in January after campaigning on mass deportations—began housing detainees on May 1, despite an ongoing legal battle over its operation.
Video footage posted online shows a verbal altercation between Baraka—who is running for governor and has been critical of ICE action under Trump—and men in blue jackets labeled "police."
According toPIX11:
Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join a scheduled tour of the facility with three members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, Reps. Robert Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
When federal officials blocked his entry, a heated argument broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.
"There was yelling and pushing," Martinez said. "Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car."
Amanda Lee, a journalist with New Jersey's News 12, posted footage of the crowd near the gate and the mayor being led away in handcuffs.
Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey,
said on social media that Baraka "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW."
Baraka's office told PIX11 that the mayor was taken to an ICE field office at 620 Frelinghuysen Ave. in Newark, adding that "we are actively monitoring and will provide more details as they become available."
The members of Congress explained on social media that they were at the facility to conduct oversight. As Watson Coleman put it: "We're at Delaney Hall, an ICE prison in Newark that opened without permission from the city and in violation of local ordinances. We've heard stories of what it's like in other ICE prisons. We're exercising our oversight authority to see for ourselves."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement that did not address Baraka's arrested but said that "as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center, a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility," naming Menendez and Watson Coleman.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that "members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk. Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation."
The department also claimed that "the allegations made by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting are false. We have valid permits, and inspections for plumbing and electricity, and fire codes have been cleared."
Responding to the news of Baraka's arrest on social media Friday, Kat Abughazaleh, a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois, said in all caps: "They are arresting elected officials for peacefully opposing the regime's illegal actions. Do not allow them to overwhelm you. This is not normal."
I am outraged by the unjust arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka earlier this afternoon outside of Delaney Hall in Newark. I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement.
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— Governor Phil Murphy (@govmurphy.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said in a statement that "Mayor Baraka's arrest during an oversight visit to an ICE facility in Newark is shocking overreach of power, even by Trump standards."
"Trump and his cronies are pulling straight from the authoritarian playbook. They want to silence anyone who seeks to hold them accountable," he added. "Mayor Baraka must be released immediately, and New Jersey elected officials must be allowed inside the Delaney Hall ICE facility."
ACLU of New Jersey executive director Amol Sinha similarly condemned Baraka's arrest as "a shameful escalation of the Trump administration's intimidation campaign against officials who refuse to do their bidding."
"Mayor Baraka—and lawmakers across New Jersey and the country—are being targeted by the Trump administration for refusing to be complicit with its ongoing violations of due process," said Sinha. "Mayor Baraka must be immediately released from custody, and the Trump administration must end its assault on the fundamental rights at the core of our democracy."
The group Indivisible declared his arrest "a warning sign of just how far Trump and his allies are willing to go to silence dissent," and "authoritarian behavior, plain and simple."
"For months, Trump has been using ICE as a political weapon, targeting immigrants, communities of color, and students exercising their right to free speech," Indivisible noted. "Now, it's being used to intimidate elected officials who dare to speak out. That should alarm everyone."
"Mayor Baraka was peacefully demanding answers on dangerous policies that hurt his community. He was being a leader. We demand the immediate release of Mayor Baraka, and an end to these unlawful and unconstitutional detainments. We won't be intimidated or silenced," the group added. "We stand with Mayor Baraka and every brave leader who refuses to back down, and call on every other elected leader to follow his courageous example."
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