November, 16 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Public Citizen Delivers Robust Transition Agenda Demands to President-Elect Joe Bidenp
These documents offer a blueprint for building a political system that serves the people, rather than corporations and the super-rich starting on day one.
WASHINGTON
Public Citizen and its partners developed a series of transition memos to guide the next administration through the country's most pressing challenges, critical needs, and key opportunities. These documents offer a blueprint for building a political system that serves the people, rather than corporations and the super-rich. They include recommendations for key executive actions that President-elect Biden can take on day one and the first 100 days of his administration. The memos were sent to the Biden campaign staff and members of the transition team.
**All memos can be found here.
To restore public faith in our democratic institutions, we must make comprehensive reforms to our democracy a top priority, including the For the People Act (H.R. 1.) The Declaration for American Democracy has six core demands for our democracy:
1. Our democracy must include the freedom to vote and have that vote counted
2. Our democracy must be honest
3. Our democracy must have meaningful participation
4. Our democracy must provide transparency into our government and our elections
5. Our democracy must be responsive
6. Our democracy must uphold checks and balances
Unwinding the Deregulatory State and Restoring Public Protections:
In a July 2020 memo for a post-Trump administration, Public Citizen discusses two important aspects of unwinding the deregulatory state and restoring the role of the federal government in protecting public health, safety, financial security, and the environment including:
Executive Actions to Restore Public Protections Repeal of executive orders
1. New executive orders
2. Congressional Review Act
3. Rethinking the role of cost-benefit analysis
4. Rethinking the role of OIRA
5. Regulatory Integrity and Improvement Task Force
6. Appointment
7. Guidance documents
Legal Considerations in Rulemaking
1. Delaying effective dates of final regulations
2. Reversing agency policies
3. Pending and forthcoming APA lawsuits
4. Exceptions to notice-and-comment rulemaking
5. Exercising enforcement discretion
Privacy And Digital Rights For All:
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a comprehensive baseline U.S. privacy law. Technology companies, remote-learning providers, and employers are taking advantage of the pandemic to collect troves of personal data. We need presidential leadership to address these challenges. Public Citizen, along with a broad group of leading privacy, consumer, and civil rights organizations produced the following ten action items:
1. Recognize privacy and surveillance as racial justice issues and enact meaningful changes to protect Black and Brown communities
2. Establish algorithmic governance and accountability to advance fair and just data practices
3. Promote privacy protections and encourage the enactment of a baseline comprehensive federal privacy law
4. Establish a data protection agency
5. Ensure robust enforcement from the FTC and FCC
6. Bring consumer, privacy, and civil rights experts into key government positions
7. Limit government surveillance and access to personal data
8. Protect children and teens from corporate surveillance and exploitative marketing practices
9. Ensure antitrust authorities take privacy, digital rights, and civil rights into account in the merger review process
10. Protect Americans' health data
Actions the Next Administration Can Take to Address Financialization:
The Increasing Transparency and Accountability and Reducing Waste at the Pentagon memo was prepared by Public Citizen, the Center for International Progress, and the Project on Government Oversight and co-signed by over 30 groups. It includes key policy recommendations for day one and the first 100 days of a Biden presidency, including:
1. Address corruption, conflicts of interest, and the revolving door
2. Reduce waste and inefficiencies, increase accountability and oversight
3. Make investments in the future, not the past
Financial Reform: First Day/100 Days:
To ensure that the next administration can hit the ground running on financial reform Public Citizen outlined the specific reforms that it can act on both immediately during its first day, and in the short-term, during its first 100 days, to realize Biden's commitment to average Americans:
1. Complete Wall Street systemic risk reform
2. Reform corporate misconduct prosecution
3. Reversal of Trump investor protection deregulation
4. Address runaway executive compensation
5. Improve conditions on CARES Act
6. Establish sensible climate-responsive financial regulation
7. Limit speculative trading by taxing financial transactions
Securing The Public Interest At FERC:
The independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a key to addressing the climate crisis. Less discussed are the myriad of other public interest protections that can be improved under a newly constituted FERC--without the need for Congress to act. Public Citizen's five-point Securing The Public Interest At FERC follows:
1. Launch a rulemaking to establish an office of public participation
2. Enforce full market access for renewable energy and demand response, preserve state decarbonization goals and conduct lifecycle greenhouse gas emission impacts for natural gas public interest determinations
3. Strengthen market oversight and enforcement
4. Overhaul governance and transparency of RTOs/ISOs
5. Improve market transparency
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
Joe Lieberman, Iraq War Cheerleader and Killer of Public Option, Dead at 82
"Joe Lieberman's legacy will live on as your medical debt."
Mar 27, 2024
While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others.
Lieberman's family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the Connecticut Senate, as the state's attorney general, and in the U.S. Senate—initially as a Democrat and eventually as an Independent. He was also Democratic former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
"Up until the very end, Joe Lieberman enjoyed the high-quality, government-financed healthcare that he worked diligently to deny the rest of us. That's his legacy," said Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, which advocates for universal, single-payer healthcare.
As Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.),
explained, "Joe Lieberman led the effort to ensure the Affordable Care Act did not include a public option or a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age to 55."
Noting that Lieberman also lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq—which was used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion—Gunnels asked, "How many people unnecessarily died as a result?"
He was far from alone in highlighting the two defining positions.
The Lever's David Sirota declared, "RIP Joe Lieberman, Iraq War cheerleader who led the fight to make sure Medicare was not extended to millions of Americans who desperately needed the kind of healthcare coverage he enjoyed in the Senate."
The Debt Collective said on social media that "Joe Lieberman killed so many people when he killed the public option. Not to mention all the people he killed by cheerleading every war and every lie that led to war. A truly horrible person with a shameful legacy."
Journalist Jon Schwarz pointed out that Lieberman continued to lie about the WMDs long after the claims were debunked.
FormerMSNBC host Mehdi Hasan noted that Lieberman declined an opportunity to apologize for the disastrous war, sharing a clip from his on-camera interview with the ex-senator in 2021.
And please don\u2019t give me this \u2018don\u2019t speak ill of the dead\u2019 stuff - 1) I\u2019m not speaking ill, I\u2019m stating facts, and 2) public figures are public figures, and their obits reflect their legacies and so we should be honest in our accounts of their legacies. Not offensive but honest— (@)
"We lost a giant today. I often disagreed with Joe Lieberman but he was always honorable in the way he called for American troops to murder people abroad so he could get his jollies," said Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project in a series of sarcastic social media posts.
"Joe Lieberman balanced his love of other people fighting in immoral wars with a commitment to preventing Americans from getting healthcare," Stoller added. "Even after his Senate career, he showed his strong democratic values by lobbying for Chinese telecom firms. We will miss this man."
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"What we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale," said one top Irish official.
Mar 27, 2024
Citing Israel's "blatant" human rights violations in Gaza, Ireland's second-highest-ranking official said Wednesday that the country will join the South Africa-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Irish Tánaiste Micheál Martin—the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary nations—said that Ireland decided to intervene in the case after analyzing the "legal and policy issues" pertaining to the case under review by the United Nations' top court.
"It is for the court to determine whether genocide is being committed," Martin—who also serves as Ireland's foreign and defense minister—said in a statement. "But I want to be clear in reiterating what I have said many times in the last few months; what we saw on October 7 in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale."
Martin continued:
The taking of hostages. The purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure. The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of civilian objects for military purposes. The collective punishment of an entire population.
The list goes on. It has to stop. The view of the international community is clear. Enough is enough. The U.N. Security Council has demanded an immediate cease-fire, the unconditional release of hostages, and the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale. The European Council has echoed this call.
South Africa's case—which is supported by over 30 countries, the Arab League, African Union, and others—incisively details Israel's conduct in the war, including the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children; the wounding of tens of thousands more; the forcible displacement of 90% of the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people; and the inflicting of conditions leading to widespread starvation and disease. The filing also cited numerous genocidal statements by Israeli officials.
On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government and military to prevent genocidal acts. Palestinian and international human rights defenders say Israel has ignored the order, pointing to more than 30,000 men, women, and children killed or wounded in Gaza since January 26.
A draft report
released this week by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council found "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a move that came on the same day as the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the ongoing war.
"The situation could not be more stark; half the population of Gaza face imminent famine and 100% of the population face acute food insecurity," said Martin. "As the U.N. secretary-general said as he inspected long lines of blocked relief trucks waiting to enter Gaza during his visit to Rafah at the weekend: 'It is time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid. The choice is clear: surge or starvation.' I echo his words today."
In a St. Partick's Day White House meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden—a staunch supporter of Israel—Irish Toaiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar, who announced earlier this month that he would soon step down, said that "the Irish people are deeply troubled about the catastrophe that's unfolding before our eyes in Gaza."
"And when I travel the world, leaders often ask me why the Irish have such empathy for the Palestinian people," he added. "And the answer is simple: We see our history in their eyes—a story of displacement, of dispossession and national identity questioned and denied, forced emigration, discrimination, and now hunger."
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House Democrat Calls GOP Budget a 'Blueprint for a Dystopian Hellscape'
Rep. Don Beyer warns the plan "would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
Mar 27, 2024
As Republicans on Wednesday set their sights on a key seat opening up in the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber's senior Democrat on the congressional Joint Economic Committee put out a blistering takedown of a top GOP budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) took aim at the 180-page "Fiscal Sanity to Save America" plan released last week by the Republican Study Committee (RSC)—which includes about 80% of GOP House members—following proposals from Democratic President Joe Biden and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
"The Republican Study Committee budget is a blueprint for a dystopian hellscape," he warned. "The vision offered by this group, which counts 4 in 5 House Republicans as members, would see unbridled benefits flowing to a wealthy and well-connected few while tens of millions of Americans lose healthcare, housing, retirement security, and food security."
RSC proposals to "dramatically weaken healthcare," Beyer noted, include turning Medicare into a voucher plan and rolling back Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provisions that cut costs for seniors; repealing tax subsidies for the Affordable Care Act and the law's protections for people with preexisting conditions; and transforming Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program into block grants to states.
As Common Dreams has reported, in addition to seeking cuts to Medicare and Social Security—while claiming to do nothing of the sort—the RSC has also launched a full-fledged assault on reproductive healthcare and rights, promoting 42 bills that would ban abortions after 15 weeks or even earlier, require unnecessary ultrasounds and 24-hour waiting periods, prohibit the use of fetal stem cells for research, and threaten access to in vitro fertilization, among other restrictions.
In addition to attacking reproductive freedom and key programs for seniors and low-income families, Beyer highlighted, the RSC wants to "weaken public health, public safety, and environmental protections," while "cutting taxes for the wealthy, by a lot."
The RSC advocates ending green tax credits from the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as well as slashing money for Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The committee also calls for permanently lowering taxes for the ultrarich, indexing capital gains taxes to inflation, repealing the estate tax, rolling back the IRA's corporate alternative minimum tax, and eliminating funding intended to help the Internal Revenue Service catch wealthy tax cheats.
"Democrats believe there is a better way to get our fiscal house in order without betraying our values," said Beyer. "That starts with making smart investments in our people and our future while demanding that the rich and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes. The contrast between the Democratic approach and this Republican budget could not possibly be clearer."
Biden's budget blueprint—released as he prepares for an electoral rematch against former Republican President Donald Trump, who infamously cut taxes for rich people and corporations—proposes a 25% minimum tax for individuals with wealth of more than $100 million, along with ending capital income tax breaks and closing other loopholes.
Polling results released Tuesday by Morning Consult show that a majority of voters across party lines in key swing states support raising taxes on people who make more than $400,000 per year.
Biden and the divided Congress this past weekend narrowly avoided a government shutdown by passing a long-delayed spending package. Fiscal year 2025 is set to begin in October, setting up another election-year fight over funding.
In what's been
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