SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
November, 10 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,press@sunrisemovement.org
Progressives Urge Biden to Seize Climate Mandate Through Cabinet Appointments and Executive Action
Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats call for new White House Office Of Climate Mobilization to coordinate inter-agency efforts to address climate change
WASHINGTON
Following President-elect Biden's resounding victory against Donald Trump, Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats on Tuesday morning called on the President-elect to seize the climate mandate delivered by voters across the political spectrum in this year's elections by creating a new White House Office of Climate Mobilization to coordinate the federal government's response to climate change.
The groups also urged the incoming Biden administration to appoint progressive leaders to key leadership posts, including Rep. Deb Haaland for Secretary of Interior, Sen. Elizabeth Warren for Secretary of Treasury, Keith Ellison for Attorney General, Rep. Barbara Lee for Secretary of State, and Darrick Hamilton for Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. The groups launched a video and website outlining key criteria President-elect Biden must meet in selecting top leaders of his administration, and laying out recommendations for 13 cabinet positions alongside delineated areas of policy focus.
"Democrats have a once-in-a-generation moment to deliver policies at the scale of the crises our generation is facing," said Varshini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise Movement and advisor in the Biden-Sanders task force on climate policy. "Young people helped deliver this historic majority to Joe Biden. The Senate can't be an excuse; whether or not Mitch McConnell remains the Majority Leader, we need an Office of Climate Mobilization and visionary personnel in the Biden administration who are ready to use every tool in their disposal to create millions of good-paying green jobs."
"Communities just like mine--and especially the Black community--helped deliver Joe Biden his majority," said Congressman-elect Jamaal Bowman of New York's 16th Congressional District. "Now we need diverse, progressive representation in the next administration committed to a Climate Mandate to deliver for working-class people all across this country."
The progressive push comes after Biden's campaign built good good-will with progressives through the Biden-Sanders task forces. Those task forces developed a climate plan that included: 100% carbon-pollution free electricity by no later than 2035, creating at minimum 10 million good jobs, creating an Office of Climate Mobilization to report directly to the President, spending at minimum $2 trillion on decarbonization over his first term, and directing 40% of that investment to frontline communities.
"President-elect Biden must embrace this historic moment by keeping the party united and appointing progressive leaders who will help him usher in the most progressive Democratic administration in generations," said Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats. "Progressives make up close to half the party in Congress and deserve representation in the next administration. We will not allow Mitch McConnell and the GOP to rob Democrats of our ability to govern on behalf of the majority that elected Joe Biden."
Progressives have warned that pursuing compromises with Mitch McConnell could depress Democratic turnout in 2022. McConnell and Republicans in Congress have spent the past week amplifying President Trump's efforts to delegitimize the election results and the next four years of the Biden presidency. The groups plan to continue their campaign for personnel and policy commitments alongside other progressive allies in the coming weeks.
The full list of recommendations by Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats for top Biden administration posts is below:
Secretary of the Interior
Top Choice: Representative Deb Haaland
Representative Raul Grijalva
Representative Jared Huffman
Secretary of the Treasury
Top Choice: Senator Elizabeth Warren
Assistant to the President for Climate Mobilization
Governor Jay Inslee
John Podesta
Chair, Council of Economic Advisors
Top Choice: Darrick Hamilton
Stephanie Kelton
Secretary of State
Top Choice: Representative Barbara Lee
Representative Ro Khanna
Senator Chris Murphy
Attorney General
Top Choice: Attorney General Keith Ellison
District Attorney Larry Krasner
Attorney General Dana Nessel
EPA Administrator
Top Choice: Mustafa Ali
Kevin DeLeon
NEC Director
Top Choice: Joseph Stiglitz
Secretary of Transportation
Top Choice: Representative Chuy Garcia
Representative Ayanna Pressley
Secretary of Labor
Top Choice: Senator Bernie Sanders
Representative Andy Levin
Secretary of Agriculture
Top Choice: Representative Chellie Pingree
Representative Marcia Fudge
Senator Cory Booker
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Top Choice: Representative Rashida Tlaib
Representative Karen Bass
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Top Choice: Representative Pramila Jayapal
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LATEST NEWS
As US Blockades Strait of Hormuz, Iran Military Warns of Weapons 'Enemy Has No Idea About'
"We will unveil warfare methods that the enemy will have little ability to counter," said the IRGC spokesperson.
Apr 13, 2026
As the US military on Monday began a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after the Trump administration's failed talks with the Iranian government, a spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a warning to the United States.
"If the war continues, we will unveil capacities that the enemy has no idea about," said Sardar Mohibi, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency. "We will unveil warfare methods that the enemy will have little ability to counter."
As Iran's Press TV reported, Iranian Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari also commented on the blockade, which began at 10:00 am Eastern time, stressing that "enemy-affiliated vessels do not and will not have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz."
"Other vessels will be allowed to transit the strait in compliance with the regulations of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Zolfaqari said. "If the security of ports of the Islamic Republic of Iran is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman will remain safe,
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to many ships after the US and Iran launched an illegal war six weeks ago. The waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman is a crucial trade route, including for fossil fuels from the region, and has become a key negotiating point as the death toll across the Middle East has mounted.
After talks led by Vice President JD Vance broke down, Trump wrote Sunday on his Truth Social platform that "the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz. At some point, we will reach an 'ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT' basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, 'There may be a mine out there somewhere,' that nobody knows about but them."
"THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted," Trump continued. "I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!"
The president on Monday again threatened any Iranian vessels that "come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE," and also said that "34 Ships went through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, which is by far the highest number since this foolish closure began."
As North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries on Monday made clear they did not plan to join Trump's blockade, China's defense minister, Dong Jun, said: "Our ships are moving in and out of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honor them and expect others not to meddle in our affairs. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and it is open for us."
Summarizing an interview with Salvatore Mercogliano, maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, Al Jazeera reported Monday that "he expected the US Navy to turn around ships that come out of the strait while keeping at a distance from the range of Iran's missiles and drones."
It's possible the US action could result in "two competing blockades," Mercogliano said. "This has the potential to freeze shipping in and out the Strait of Hormuz entirely."
Keep ReadingShow Less
These Proposals Would Make Life Better for Millions of People—And Most Americans Support Them
"That the US Congress is not debating or introducing bills to address the issues presented here represents a breakdown of democracy," said an economic justice think tank.
Apr 13, 2026
A new report by an economic think tank takes aim at the broadly accepted idea that Americans are divided on the major issues affecting millions of people every day—the question of how to ensure everyone can get the healthcare they need without going bankrupt, how the government can ensure working people make enough money to live, and whether the US should take more aggressive climate action.
As it turns out, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) suggested Monday, there's far more agreement on those and more issues across the political spectrum than the corporate media and establishment politicians from both sides of the aisle would have the public believe.
Lawmakers who push for good, fair-paying jobs for all workers; raising the chronically stagnant federal minimum wage; guaranteeing healthcare for all Americans; clean energy investments; and ending the influence of corporations and billionaires on US elections would not be advocating for policies that are just popular on the left, the report says, but would actually be promoting a "Majority Agenda."
"It may feel like Americans agree on nothing right now, but recent polling tells a different story," said CEPR on social media. "From raising the minimum wage and strengthening Social Security to affordable housing and healthcare reform, these progressive policies are broadly popular despite the political establishment continuing to ignore them."
The group pointed to one 2024 poll by the American Communities Project that showed more than 60% of Americans agreed that the economy "is rigged to advantage the rich and the powerful," while 62% disagreed with the idea of cutting social programs to lower taxes.
Another 2024 poll by The Associated Press found that 91% of Americans supported equal protection under the law and 88% supported the right to privacy, while a 2020 poll by the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School revealed that 89% of Americans expressed strong support for affordable healthcare, 85% felt people have the right to a job, and 93% thought the right to clean air and water is essential.
Analyzing those surveys and other data, CEPR advised policymakers to consider the Majority Agenda as a "roadmap" to passing policies that large majorities of Americans view as major priorities to improve their quality of life.
The report is divided into three sections: Good Jobs, Strong Infrastructure, and Fair Play.
To push for fair, well-paying employment, said CEPR, lawmakers should support policies including:
- Increasing unionization‚ supported by 68% of Americans in one recent poll, through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, cracking down on retaliation against union members, and repealing or reforming the Taft-Hartley Act;
- Raising the $7.25 federal minimum wage, supported by 86% of Americans; and
- Setting a floor for paid time off from work by strengthening the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The section on strengthening US "infrastructure" looks beyond the traditional definition of the term regarding physical infrastructure projects, pushing for stronger policies that can help working people thrive by ensuring their healthcare, housing, and other basic needs are met.
A stronger infrastructure, said CEPR, would include:
- Guaranteed healthcare for everyone in the US through the passage of the Medicare for All Act, which has been introduced in the US House and Senate numerous times, and a corporate practice of medicine law to stop the corporatization of healthcare;
- A reversal of the trend of federal housing policy directing "too much funding to the wealthy and too little for everyone else," by ending federal restrictions on the creation of new federal public housing instead of investing in mortgage interest deductions for wealthy homeowners and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, whose benefits are greater for wealthy investors than for low-income renters; and
- An investment in clean energy by reinstating Biden-era regulations and strengthening the Clean Air Act and other environmental protection laws in order to meet the demands of 59% of Americans who view the climate crisis as "very or extremely dangerous," according to a 2021 poll by the University of Chicago.
CEPR pointed to three areas in which lawmakers could increase "fair play" for Americans:
- Strengthening and supporting Social Security, which Republicans frequently attack as rife with fraud and on the verge of going broke, by diverting some among of general revenue to the program and increasing monthly benefits modestly;
- Passing a constitutional amendment to allow the government to regulate campaign fundraising and spending both by campaigns and outside individuals and artificial entities; and
- Raising taxes on large businesses and the wealthy, as large majorities of Americans believe government should, and restoring funding to the Internal Revenue Service to ensure proper collection of taxes.
"That the US Congress is not debating or introducing bills to address the issues presented here represents a breakdown of democracy, one that comes at a considerable cost to the betterment of life for large swaths of Americans. At the same time, the access to and influence over our democratic processes by the monied class has upended our system of government, and all too often the tyranny of the wealthy minority has reigned," reads the CEPR report.
"We hope this report stands as a reminder that even in a fraught political moment," said CEPR, "there is a range of straightforward, broadly popular policy choices that could improve the lives of millions of people."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Strait of Hormuz ‘Is Open For Us,’ Says China’s Defense Minister as US Blockade Begins
"We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honor them and expect others not to meddle in our affairs."
Apr 13, 2026
Although President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to enforce a blockade around the Strait of Hormuz, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun warned on Monday against any effort to obstruct Chinese vessels.
As reported by Business Today, the Chinese defense minister emphasized that his country and Iran have reached an arrangement allowing the safe transportation of Chinese ships through the strait, and he said the US should not subject them to its blockade.
"Our ships are moving in and out of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz," the defense minister said. "We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honor them and expect others not to meddle in our affairs. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and it is open for us."
Chinese Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun:
"We have trade and energy agreements with Iran; we expect others not to interfere in our affairs. The Strait of Hormuz is open to us."
China is issuing a warning to the US. pic.twitter.com/oIQK9845Ty
— Daily Iran News (@DailyIranNews) April 13, 2026
Trump announced a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, saying the US would not allow any ships that had cut deals with Iran for safe passage to be let through.
The blockade announcement came after US negotiators, led by Vice President JD Vance, failed to reach a peace agreement with their Iranian counterparts to bring an end to the conflict, which Trump launched illegally without any congressional approval six weeks ago.
The failure to reach a peace deal sent the price of oil upward yet again, as the price of Brent crude oil futures and WTI crude oil futures approached $100 per barrel.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular