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For Immediate Release
January, 19 2021, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Stefanie Spear:,sspear@asyousow.org
Biden's First Day: This Changes Everything
A giant step forward on long overdue climate action.
WASHINGTON
For nearly two years, Joe Biden has been clear with the American people about the first steps he would take if elected as the nation's 46th president. Today, shortly after taking office, President Biden plans to take the following climate actions:
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.
- Sign an executive order to develop a plan to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Revoke permits for the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Enact an executive order to conserve 30% of America's lands and waters by 2030.
Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, made the following statement:
"President Biden understands that a stable climate and a functioning environment are fundamental to a healthy and functioning economy. In the 1970's, we put some of the world's strongest environmental laws in place and have thrived economically since then, with decades of growth. You can only cheat the system for so long before the bill comes due, and we are seeing that in spades in what has become an increasingly erratic and deadly climate marked by raging fires, historic hurricanes, state-wide droughts, and broken global supply chains. Effective climate laws, as President Biden understands, will drive a host of benefits, from technology development to creating lower cost energy across the nation, fostering national economic competitiveness, and protecting human and environmental health."
Lila Holzman, senior energy program manager of As You Sow, made the following statement:
"As the political winds finally begin to align with other drivers that have long pushed for action on climate, companies are out of excuses to drag their heels on climate. Investors look forward to seeing the bar raised on what our economy can accomplish as we ramp up climate ambition to the levels needed to meet Paris goals."
For more information on As You Sow's work on climate change, click here.
As You Sow is the nation's non-profit leader in shareholder advocacy. Founded in 1992, we harness shareholder power to create lasting change that benefits people, planet, and profit. Our mission is to promote environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies.
LATEST NEWS
Endorsing Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, Sanders Expands Push for 'Fighters' for Working Class in Senate
"We don’t need more corporate Democrats in the Senate. We need Peggy Flanagan, who’ll fight for working people."
Nov 10, 2025
Calling for more Democratic lawmakers who have “the guts to stand up for working people," Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in on another US Senate primary on Monday, hours after a handful of Democrats agreed to reopen the federal government without Republican concessions on healthcare.
Sanders (I-Vt.), who earlier this year announced his support for Democratic Senate candidates Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, has now formally endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan's candidacy for the US Senate.
In his endorsement, Sanders said that the Senate needs lawmakers who will stand up "against the billionaires and the corporate interests," and argued that Flanagan understands the needs of working-class people personally due in part to her own blue-collar background.
"Peggy knows what it is to struggle," he said. "She was raised by a hard-working single mother who needed [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] to help put food on the table and Medicaid for healthcare. And she’s dedicated her career to fighting for working families."
Sanders also hailed Flanagan's accomplishments as both lieutenant governor and Minnesota state legislator, and he said she would work to fight for progressive priorities on a national level.
"Peggy fought to raise the minimum wage and she got it done," he said. "She fought for paid family leave and she got it done. We need fighters who are from the working class and for the working class here in the Senate. Peggy will fight for Medicare for All, to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, and to address the crises we face in childcare, education, and housing."
Sanders concluded his endorsement by arguing that "we don’t need more corporate Democrats in the Senate. We need Peggy Flanagan, who’ll fight for working people."
Progressive political consultant Rebecca Katz hailed Sanders' endorsements of Flanagan, Platner, and El-Sayed, whom she described on X as "three good candidates who understand the stakes and know how to fight back."
Flanagan is running to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who has been serving in the Senate ever since former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) resigned in 2018. Flanagan will be facing off against Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn), a centrist Democrat who has several endorsements from the Democratic establishment, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
According to Minnesota Reformer, Flanagan has also scored endorsements from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who both stumped for her at the Minnesota State Fair this past summer.
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After 'Bonkers' 5th Circuit Ruling, Supreme Court to Hear Mail-In Ballot Case
While experts hope the justices will reverse an "objectively insane" appellate decision, a ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee could reduce the rights of Americans who vote by mail.
Nov 10, 2025
As President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned leaders who tried to overturn his 2020 loss, the US Supreme Court took up the national Republican Party's argument that counting mailed ballots shortly after Election Day violates federal law.
Voting by mail has long been a target of the GOP president, who has falsely claimed that the practice fuels voter fraud. This case concerns a Mississippi law that allows mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted as long as they arrive within five business days, which three Trump appointees on the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit struck down last year.
That lawsuit was brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Mississippi Libertarian Party. Another Republican, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch‚ is asking the nation's top court to reject the 5th Circuit's decision, arguing that it "defies statutory text, conflicts with this court's precedent, and—if left to stand—will have destabilizing nationwide ramifications."
The Supreme Court—which has a conservative supermajority that includes three Trump appointees—agreed to hear Watson v. RNC and decide "whether the federal Election Day statutes preempt a state law that allows ballots that are cast by federal Election Day to be received by election officials after that day."
The Supreme Court will review an objectively insane 5th Circuit decision that prohibited states from counting ballots that were mailed before Election Day but arrive shortly after. (More than half the states have such laws.) www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
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— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
The Associated Press pointed out Monday that "Mississippi is among 18 states and the District of Columbia that accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on or before that date," and "an additional 14 states allow the counting of late-arriving ballots from some eligible voters, including overseas US service members and their families."
Legal experts have condemned the appellate decision as "awful" and "bonkers." The justices are expected to hear arguments early next year and issue a ruling by the end of June, months before the crucial midterm elections.
National Vote At Home Institute executive director Barbara Smith Warner welcomed their decision to take the case and potentially reverse the 5th Circuit's "upside-down" opinion, telling Democracy Docket: "The idea that a ballot that is postmarked on or by Election Day and received afterwards... is like voting after Election Day? That is ridiculous."
Unfortunately I am here to tell you: it's time to worry about what the Supreme Court is going to do to mail ballots postmarked by election day that arrive after election day, in states across the country. This could be enormous.www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
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— jen rice (@jenrice.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Alexia Kemerling, director of accessible democracy at the American Association of People with Disabilities, was also hopeful.
"We really hope that the Supreme Court takes the responsibility seriously to make sure that every voter can use their power," she said. "'The millions of voters with disabilities who cannot vote in person or voters who are overseas who cannot vote in person—this is their only way to participate in the system. They should not be disenfranchised for the ways that our system moves slowly."
The New York Times noted that Watson v. RNC "is a potential blockbuster and adds to the court's other elections and voting cases for the term, which include a case about who can sue to challenge Illinois' mail-in ballot rules and a challenge to the Louisiana congressional district map that could gut a remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act."
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'Next Step Is Primaries': Calls for Schumer Ouster After Leading Shutdown Surrender
"Until we elect Democrats that understand that fighting is what we need to do," US Senate primary candidate Graham Platner said, "we're going to find ourselves in this position over and over and over again."
Nov 10, 2025
One public opinion researcher said Sunday that there may be one positive aspect of the capitulation of eight Senate Democratic Caucus members—none of whom will face voters in a reelection campaign next year—who joined Republicans in voting to end the government shutdown without securing concessions on the central issue of healthcare.
"The only silver lining about this completely pointless, cowardly, and tone-deaf cave is that it’ll accelerate the complete overhaul of the leadership—and god willing, direction—of the Democratic Party," said Adam Carlson of Zenith Research.
To that end, progressive organizers and lawmakers on Monday morning said that with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) having reportedly coordinated the "yes" vote from the eight senators, voters must remove the lawmakers from office at their earliest opportunity.
"We want to celebrate a Democratic Party that fights back," said the grassroots group Indivisible. "But after this latest surrender, the next step is primaries and new leadership. We get the party we demand, and we intend to demand one that fights."
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— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) November 10, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Ezra Levin, co-founder of the organization, emphasized that anger should be directed not just at the eight Democrats who voted with Republicans on a cloture vote that paved the way to reopening the government without concessions from the GOP.
The eight senators were Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Angus King of Maine, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, but Levin said many more centrist lawmakers were likely "in on the play."
On MSNBC Monday, Shaheen acknowledged that Schumer was "kept informed" of the eight senators' negotiations with the GOP regarding reopening the government.
"It's the same reason why they scheduled the surrender for after the election this week," Levin said. "They didn't want people pissed at Democrats right before an election."
This isn’t just about the eight Senate Democrats who surrendered. 👇
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— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) November 10, 2025 at 8:35 AM
The elections last week, along with recent polls, revealed that the Republican Party and the White House are the target of ire from US voters, with President Donald Trump himself saying the Democratic victories showed the GOP would have to take action to end the shutdown.
New Republic writer Greg Sargent said that Schumer had given up crucial leverage by caving to the GOP's demand that the shutdown end and pushing senators to support a deal that contains no restoration of Medicaid funding gutted by the Republicans earlier this year, end to Trump's recissions that cut billions of dollars in public funding, or extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
"You've changed the story from 'GOP hurting millions of Americans to please unpopular, failing, delusional despot who's destroying his party' to 'Dems are too weak and divided in the face of Trump's strength to take a stand and protect Americans,'" said Sargent, addressing Schumer on social media.
Attorney Max Kennerly suggested that the Sunday night vote revealed more than just the party's views on the current shutdown, and said Democrats who voted "no" should receive "zero credit until they demand a change in leadership."
"The coordinated nature of this—none [of the lawmakers who voted yes] are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate [minority] leader to stop it," said Kennerly.
Schumer, who is up for reelection in 2028, has topped the list of Democratic lawmakers who should face a primary challenge in recent months, following his refusal to endorse New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's campaign and his earlier capitulation to Republicans in March, when he supported a continuing resolution to keep the government funded even though to expanded Trump's control over congressional spending.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is reportedly considering either a 2028 presidential run or a primary challenge to Schumer, suggested the Democratic leader had abandoned the fight to ensure already-high healthcare costs don't rise for people who buy insurance through the ACA marketplace.
"People want us to hold the line for a reason," she said. "This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives. Working people want leaders whose word means something."
“Chuck Schumer should step down as Senate minority leader immediately," said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. "If he secretly backed this surrender and voted ‘no’ to save face, he’s a liar. If he couldn’t keep his caucus in line, he’s inept. Either way, he’s proven incapable of leading the fight to prevent healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans. The country can’t afford his failed leadership any longer.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said the cave provided the latest evidence that "Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced," and that "it's time for those in the back to make it to the front and for the old guard to make way."
“You’ve had Schumer cheerleading the Iraq War, cheerleading a blank check to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, betraying us on the first shutdown," Khanna told "Breaking Points" host Krystal Ball Monday. "This is the culmination of someone who just doesn't get it, who doesn't get how much people are hurting, doesn't get where the base of this party is."
Congressman @RoKhanna goes off on Chuck Schumer. “You’ve had Schumer cheerleading the Iraq War, cheerleading a blank check to Netanyahu, betraying us on the first shutdown…and now he’s not even willing to fight!” pic.twitter.com/TQxu3gcXBr
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) November 10, 2025
In Maine, US Senate candidate Graham Platner—who is facing Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) after Schumer pushed Mills to join the race—said millions of families had woken up to a "bleak morning" on Monday after the Democratic leader orchestrated the capitulation.
"Now, up the 20 million Americans are going to watch their healthcare premiums double, triple, and in some cases quadruple," said Platner. "Now we are on a path to watch 15 million Americans possibly lose access to healthcare insurance in the first place. This happened because Chuck Schumer failed in his job yet again, because they do not understand that when we fight, we win."
"We need to elect leaders that want to fight," he added, urging voters to call their senators and "tell them that Chuck Schumer can no longer be leader."
Chuck Schumer should step down. pic.twitter.com/6OhX2cCo9u
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) November 10, 2025
"Until we elect Democrats that understand that fighting is what we need to do," Platner said, "we're going to find ourselves in this position over and over and over again."
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