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For Immediate Release
November, 18 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Wednesday November, 18 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Linda Benesch, 240-342-4301, lbenesch@socialsecurityworks.org
Joe Biden Must Keep Anti-Social Security Bruce Reed Far Away From His Administration
The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, on
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, on reports that Bruce Reed is a front-runner to head the Office of Management and Budget in a Joe Biden administration:
"Joe Biden ran for President on a promise to protect and expand Social Security. Seniors listened, and delivered his margin of victory in key states like Arizona and Michigan.
Appointing Bruce Reed to head the Office of Management and Budget would betray that promise. Reed was executive director of the Bowles-Simpson commission, which proposed massive cuts to Social Security, including raising the retirement age. He has a decades-long obsession with austerity, at a time when we need massive government spending to bring us out of the worst national crisis since the Great Depression.
Biden must keep his promises to seniors by keeping Reed far away from the White House."
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
LATEST NEWS
Patriotic Millionaires Unveil Platform to 'Beat the Broligarchs'
"Our economy should be judged on how well it takes care of working people, not on how many billionaires it mints in a calendar day," said the founder of the economic justice group.
Apr 07, 2025
With economists warning that U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war will raise the cost of living for millions of American families and could soon fuel a recession, the economic justice group Patriotic Millionaires on Monday unveiled a "bold, surprisingly simple economic framework" to stop the oligarchy from amassing more power at the expense of working people and "permanently stabilize the economic lives of working people."
Four pieces of legislation would form the basis of America 250: The Money Agenda, which Patriotic Millionaires proposed at an "expert town hall" titled "How to Beat the Broligarchs."
The agenda would include:
- The Cost of Living Tax Cut Act, providing an exemption on federal taxes equal to the median cost of living for a single adult with no children—$41,600 per year—with the responsibility for those revenues shifted from the working class to the millionaire class with a millionaire surtax;
- The Cost of Living Wage Act, raising the minimum wage to $21 per hour to match the cost of living for a single adult with no kids;
- The Equal Tax Act, equalizing tax rates for capital gains and income over $1 million and closing the "stepped-up basis loophole" which minimizes "the tax obligations of the uberwealthy"; and
- The Anti-Oligarch Act, implementing significant taxes on the intergenerational transfer of wealth, on large sums of trust-held wealth, and on the true economic income of America's ultrarich to prevent further wealth concentration at the top, and taxing the wealth of the ultrarich sufficiently—including through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The latter proposal, said Patriotic Millionaires, "is a long overdue response to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' warning from a century ago: 'We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated into the hands of a few, but we can't have both.'"
"The extreme concentration of wealth has always, without fail, translated into an extreme concentration of political power. The stakes for the nation couldn't be more clear," said the group. "We must act immediately."
At the How to Beat the Broligarchs event on Monday, the group assembled experts including economist Stephanie Kelton, Helaine Olen of the American Economic Liberties Project, and historian Rutger Bregman to discuss how unchecked wealth in the U.S. has captured the political and judicial systems—with "broligarchs" like tech CEO Elon Musk and others "working to pull the strings of the government towards their interests at the expense of the American people."
"America's slide into oligarchy necessitates bold actions in order to reclaim democratic capitalism and forge a prosperous, equitable, and just future," said Erica Payne, founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires. "America 250: The Money Agenda is the only plan that will get us there. It will change not just our own lives, but the future and direction of our country. Our economy should be judged on how well it takes care of working people, not on how many billionaires it mints in a calendar day. By that measure, America is flunking its economics class. The only way to get better marks—and stop our country's slide into oligarchy—is by fixing our tax code."
Erica Payne: "This economy should be judged on how well it takes care of people, not on how many billionaires it prints in a calendar day. Every great country starts with a great economy." pic.twitter.com/DXofvmwYNO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2025
Morris Pearl, board chair of the group, said that if Congress enacts the legislative agenda proposed on Monday, "we will build a community dedicated to the common purpose of improving the lives of all working people in our country—not just the ultrawealthy."
"America 250 will bring to account the politicians and their enablers who are sustaining our backwards status quo and demand better leaders to put us on a better, more sustainable path," said Pearl. "The time for economic exploitation is over."
Taxpayers Submit UN Report Charging US Officials With Genocide in Gaza
"The United States government has continued to make possible, with massive arms shipments, Israel's genocide in Gaza," said one advocate. "The U.S. courts have failed to intervene. World bodies absolutely should."
Apr 07, 2025
In a 57-page report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, grassroots groups representing thousands of U.S. taxpayers compiled what they said was "incontrovertible" evidence that U.S. policymakers are "directly participating in genocide in Gaza" and called on international authorities to intervene.
Taxpayers Against Genocide (TAG), a grassroots movement comprising 2,000 taxpayers and endorsed by several national progressive advocacy groups, submitted the report four months after the organization filed a federal class action lawsuit against members of Congress for "illegally using" tax dollars to fund Israel's assault on Gaza, which began in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack.
That case, targeting Democratic U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, both of California, was dismissed in February, with U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria saying it posed a "political question" to the court—a ruling that TAG said "gave a green light to the ongoing unconstitutional allocation of tax dollars to fund genocide."
Tarik Kanaana, a Palestinian activist in California who was the lead contact for the report, suggested that with rulings like Chhabria's, "all three branches" of the U.S. government have ensured the country is "a full partner and bares responsibility for this genocide."
"The American people have no recourse within the U.S. political or judicial systems when it comes to their government's crimes against the people of the world," said Kanaana. "We, Americans who cannot accept our government's actions, are forced to appeal to international bodies to influence our own government to do what its citizens overwhelmingly want."
In TAG's report—endorsed by peace groups including CodePink, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP), and RootsAction—the organization points to "violations of U.S. obligations by the U.S. Congress and executive in committing residents' tax dollars—including those of Palestinian-Americans whose families have been decimated in Gaza" to support "an unfolding genocide in Gaza."
"We, Americans who cannot accept our government's actions, are forced to appeal to international bodies to influence our own government to do what its citizens overwhelmingly want."
International groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Médecins Sans Frontières have recognized Israel's bombardment and near-total humanitarian aid blockade—which have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians—as a genocide, while the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza last year and the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report filed by TAG details how the group believes members of Congress, President Donald Trump—who welcomed Netanyahu to the White House on Monday—former President Joe Biden, and other U.S. officials have broken federal laws and statutes forbidding the government from providing military support to countries that violate human rights, and international laws prohibiting genocide and apartheid.
In April 2024, 366 members of the U.S. House and 79 senators voted to send an additional $26.38 billion in aid to Israel, primarily for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on top of billions of dollars in military support the U.S. had already provided since October 2023.
In addition to ignoring rising public opposition to Israel's U.S.-backed assault on a civilian population, said TAG, citing analyses by Amnesty International and HRW, "the April congressional votes were taken in the face of overwhelming evidence that the Israeli military was carrying out genocide in Gaza with U.S.-provided weapons and munitions."
The group also cited its lawsuit and another dismissed lawsuit filed last year by Defense for Children International-Palestine against Biden and members of his administration as evidence that U.S. taxpayers have been left with little recourse to stop their elected representatives from supporting genocide.
"International law and minimal human decency prohibit genocide," said Norman Solomon, national director of RootsAction. "But the United States government has continued to make possible, with massive arms shipments, Israel's genocide in Gaza. The U.S. courts have failed to intervene. World bodies absolutely should."
Additionally, TAG pointed to the grip that the pro-Israel lobby, empowered by the Citizens UnitedSupreme Court ruling that permitted unlimited corporate spending on U.S. elections, has on the political system—with politicians who speak out against Israel's violent policies in Palestine regularly targeted by anti-Palestinian groups. Powerful politicians like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Biden have also smeared demonstrators demanding a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. funding of the IDF as "antisemitic," while the Trump administration is overseeing the repression of anti-Israel speech and threatening colleges' funding if they don't join in cracking down on Palestinian rights advocacy.
"With insurmountable obstacles to accountability in the U.S. electoral and judicial systems and an increasing disregard of international human rights and humanitarian law by the U.S. government, intervention and oversight by the U.N. Human Rights Council is urgently needed to challenge U.S. repression and the impunity of U.S. legislators and officials for aiding and abetting genocide with U.S. tax dollars," reads the report.
Margaret DeMatteo, an attorney and one of the TAG report's lead authors, said the group's decision "to charge our own government with complicity in genocide is not just an act of accountability, it is an act of mourning."
"I carry the weight of documenting what should never be ignored: the U.S. government's complicity in genocide," said DeMatteo. "While we seek justice through words and international mechanisms, the people of Gaza endure unimaginable suffering—suffering that demands urgent action, not silence."
Saga of Fired NLRB Member, Who Was Just Reinstated Again, Appears Headed to Supreme Court
If he prevails at the Supreme Court, U.S. President Donald Trump "could gain extraordinary powers to investigate and penalize private businesses and individuals, tilt elections," and more, one outlet noted.
Apr 07, 2025
The full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday issued a divided ruling that reinstated two members of labor-focused independent agencies whom the Trump administration had sought to remove. The ruling is likely not the end of the legal saga and the case appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The federal appeals court voted 7-4 to reverse an earlier decision by a three-member panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the Trump administration's dismissal of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris.
Since Trump's return to the White House, Harris and Wilcox have been repeatedly removed and reinstated following contradictory rulings, according to The Guardian.
Monday's ruling was split along partisan lines, with the four dissenting judges all appointed to the court by Republican administrations, perThe Guardian.
Wilcox was first appointed to the NLRB, which safeguards private sector workers' rights to organize, in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden and was re-confirmed for a five-year term by the Senate in 2023. Wilcox's removal meant the body did not have a quorum, because it needs three members to have a quorum. It once again has a quorum and can issue decisions.
As a member and former chair of the MSPB, Harris helped lead an agency that reviews federal employee firings, suspensions, and whistleblower claims.
According to the outlet Democracy Docket, the court ruled Monday that the administration's dismissal of Wilcox and Harris ran afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. U.S., a 1935 case that upheld removal restrictions for government officials on multimember adjudicatory boards.
"Trump's Department of Justice said it believes congressional limitations on the president's removal power are unconstitutional and that it will urge the Supreme Court to overturn Humphrey's Executor," Democracy Docket reported. "If the Supreme Court ultimately grants Trump the ability to fire members of independent bodies, he could gain extraordinary powers to investigate and penalize private businesses and individuals, tilt elections, and use monetary policy for political purposes."
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