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For Immediate Release
June, 07 2021, 03:42pm EDT
Monday June, 07 2021, 03:42pm EDT
Contact:
David Vance, dvance@commoncause.org
Fight for Voting Rights Does Not End with Senator Manchin's Op-Ed
Statement of Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - The fight for voting rights does not end with an op-ed. The For the People Act (S. 1) has overwhelming bipartisan support nationwide and in West Virginia 79% of Senator Manchin's constituents support the bill - including 76% of registered Republicans. Leader Schumer should advance the bill to a full Floor debate. If Senate Republicans try to filibuster such a motion to proceed to a full Floor debate, Senator Manchin should not join such a filibuster. He should vote to allow the debate to take place on the Floor and not just in the op-ed pages. The bill has already passed the House, had a Senate markup that adopted 5 Republican amendments, and is poised for Floor action.
Less than a week ago, President Biden announced that he would "fight like heck with every tool at my disposal" for the passage of the For the People Act, and he announced that Vice President Harris would help with these efforts. Now is the time to deploy those tools.
In states across the country GOP-controlled legislatures have rushed to pass the most sweeping restrictions on the freedom to vote since the end of Reconstruction. And by design, those restrictions disproportionately impact the freedom of Black and brown Americans to cast their ballots. It has become apparent that this is the Republican strategy for the 2022 elections - not to find a platform that attracts more voters but to pick and choose who votes and who doesn't.
The For the People Act can and will stop this rush to deny the vote to millions of Americans. That is precisely why there are not 10 Republicans currently who will support the legislation. There were not even 10 Republican votes to establish a 9/11-style independent commission to investigate the insurrection January 6th at the United States Capitol that left 5 people dead and hundreds injured when a violent mob attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The overwhelming majority of Republicans in the Senate have chosen to put their party before their country and history will not look kindly on them.
Senator Manchin does not want to find himself on the wrong side of history because he put too much faith in his colleagues across the aisle. When he comes to the realization that Republicans in the Senate are not acting in good faith, he is going to have to make a decision about whether he is more committed to an unattainable quest for 10 Republican votes; or to the millions of Americans--particularly Black and brown Americans--who will be disenfranchised if he doesn't support the For the People Act.
The 14th and 15th Amendments - granting citizenship and the right to vote to formerly enslaved people after the Civil War - were passed by Congress on party-line votes. We ask Senator Manchin--should Congress not have passed those?
Republican intransigence on voting rights is not an excuse for inaction and Senator Manchin must wake up to this fact. When it comes to voting rights, he said himself that "inaction is not an option."
To view this statement online, click here.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
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Press Freedom Coalition to FCC: Don't Ditch Checks on Corporate Media Consolidation
The 16 groups urge the agency "to uphold its obligation to promote competition, localism, and diversity in the U.S. media."
Aug 05, 2025
A coalition of 16 civil liberties, press freedom, and labor groups this week urged U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to abandon any plans to loosen media ownership restrictions and warned against opening the floodgates to further corporate consolidation.
Public comments on the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule were due to the Federal Communications Commission by Monday—which is when the coalition wrote to the FCC about the 39% national audience reach cap for U.S. broadcast media conglomerates, and how more mergers could negatively impact "the independence of the nation's press and the vitality of its local journalism."
"In our experience, the past 30 years of media consolidation have not fostered a better environment for local news and information. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 radically changed the radio and television broadcasting marketplace, causing rapid consolidation of radio station ownership," the coalition detailed. "Since the 1996 act, lawmakers and regulators have further relaxed television ownership limits, spurring further waves of station consolidation, the full harms of which are being felt by local newsrooms and the communities they serve."
The coalition highlighted how this consolidation has spread "across the entire news media ecosystem, including newspapers, online news outlets, and even online platforms," and led to "newsroom layoffs and closures, and the related spread of 'news deserts' across the country."
"Over a similar period, the economic model for news production has been undercut by technology platforms owned by the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, which have offered an advertising model for better targeting readers, listeners, and viewers, and attracted much of the advertising revenue that once funded local journalism," the coalition noted.
While "lobbyists working for large news media companies argue that further consolidation is the economic answer, giving them the size necessary to compete with Big Tech," the letter argues, "in fact, the opposite appears to be true."
We object."Handing even more control of the public airwaves to a handful of capitulating broadcast conglomerates undermines press freedom." - S. Derek TurnerOur statement: https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-slams-trump-fccs-broadcast-ownership-proceeding-wildly-dangerous-democracy
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— Free Press (@freepress.bsky.social) August 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
The letter points out that a recent analysis from Free Press—one of the groups that signed the letter—found a "pervasive pattern of editorial compromise and capitulation" at 35 of the largest media and tech companies in the United States, "as owners of massive media conglomerates seek to curry favor with political leadership."
That analysis—released last week alongside a Media Capitulation Index—makes clear that "the interests of wealthy media owners have become so inextricably entangled with government officials that they've limited their news operations' ability to act as checks against abuses of political power," according to the coalition.
In addition to warning about further consolidation and urging the FCC "to uphold its obligation to promote competition, localism, and diversity in the U.S. media," the coalition argued that the agency actually "lacks the authority to change the national audience reach cap," citing congressional action in 2004.
Along with Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron, the letter is signed by leaders at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians - Communications Workers of America, National Coalition Against Censorship, Local Independent Online News Publishers, Media Freedom Foundation, NewsGuild-CWA, Open Markets Institute, Park Center for Independent Media, Project Censored, Reporters Without Borders USA, Society of Professional Journalists, Tully Center for Free Speech, Whistleblower and Source Protection Program at ExposeFacts, and Writers Guild of America East and West.
Free Press also filed its own comments. In a related Tuesday statement, senior economic and policy adviser S. Derek Turner, who co-authored the filing, accused FCC Chair Brendan Carr of "placing a for-sale sign on the public airwaves and inviting media companies to monopolize the local news markets as long as they agree to display political fealty to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement."
"The price broadcast companies have to pay for consolidating further is bending the knee, and the line starts outside of the FCC chairman's office," said Turner. "Trump's autocratic demands seemingly have no bounds, and Carr apparently has no qualms about satisfying them. Carr's grossly partisan and deeply hypocritical water-carrying for Trump has already stained the agency, making it clear that this FCC is no longer independent, impartial, or fair."
Norway Orders $2 Trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund to Review Investments in Israeli Firms
"The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering," said Norway's finance minister.
Aug 05, 2025
The Norwegian government may seek to divest its state investment fund from Israeli companies participating in the illegal occupation of the West Bank or the genocide in Gaza.
Norway's Government Pension Fund Global is worth $2 trillion and is considered the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.
On Tuesday, following the latest reports on the "worsened situation" in Gaza—which includes mass starvation as a result of Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid—Norway's finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, ordered the fund's ethics council to review the fund's investments in Israeli companies.
The fund came under renewed scrutiny from activists and trade unions this week after the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported on the fund's investments in the Israeli company Bet Shemesh Engines Holdings, which maintains the engines of fighter jets and attack helicopters that have been used to carry out devastating attacks on Gaza.
Although Norway's center-left government had determined in November 2023 that Israel's warfare in the Gaza Strip was violating international law, it only continued to increase its shares in Bet Shemesh throughout 2024, resulting in more than $15 million invested—a 2.1% stake—in the company.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said he was "very concerned" by the report and ordered Stoltenberg to contact the country's central bank to investigate.
"The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund's investments in Bet Shemesh Engines," Stoltenberg said.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has been described by Amnesty International as "an international leader in the environmental, social, and governance investment field."
Its ethics policy has strict guidelines against investing in companies that cause "serious violations of fundamental ethical norms," including "systematic human rights violations" and "violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict."
Following these guidelines, it has divested from some companies involved in the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In 2009, it dropped Israel's largest arms company, Elbit Systems, due to its supplying of surveillance technology used to patrol the separation wall—commonly called the "apartheid wall"—fencing off the West Bank from Israel-proper.
And in 2024, following the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion that Israel was committing the crime of apartheid, it also cut off Bezeq, Israel's largest telecommunications company, which supplies telecommunications equipment to illegal West Bank settlements. It later did the same for the Israeli energy company Paz Retail and Energy Ltd.
However, as Amnesty described in May, the fund remains "invested in several companies listed in the U.N. database of businesses involved in the unlawful occupation of Palestine."
Last month, a report by Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, revealed that Norway's sovereign wealth fund had increased its investments in Israeli companies by 32% since October 2023.
Albanese found that 6.9% of its pension fund's total value was directed towards companies "involved in supporting or enabling egregious violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory."
In a letter to the Norwegian government sent in April, she listed dozens of investments: including Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been used to destroy houses in the West Bank and attack Palestinians in Gaza; several Israeli banks that fund illegal settlements; and other military and technology firms like Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, whose technologies have been used for the purposes of surveillance and torture.
"I found Norwegian politicians, trade unions, media, and civil society to be generally more educated, aware, and principled about Palestine-Israel than many of their peers in Europe," Albanese wrote on X earlier this year. "That is why I can't believe the Norwegian Oil Fund and Pension Fund is still so involved in Israel's unlawful occupation. This must end, totally and unconditionally, like Israel's occupation itself—no more excuses."
US Colleges Could Lose Up to 150K International Students This Year Amid Trump Crackdown
"The immediate economic losses projected here are just the tip of the iceberg," explained the CEO of the NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Aug 05, 2025
The number of international students enrolling at U.S. colleges looks set to plummet this fall, according scenario modeling by an organization that advocates on behalf of academic exchange worldwide.
Insider Higher Ed reported on Tuesday that new data from the group, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, has found that American colleges could lose up to 150,000 international students in the coming academic year, which would represent a decline of up to 40% in foreign enrollment. In fact, the projected drop in international students is so large that it could lead to a drop in overall enrollment of 15%.
NAFSA cited multiple factors leading to the projected decline in international students: a three-week period between late May and the middle of June where student visa interviews were suspended all together; limited appointments available for students in countries such as India, China, Nigeria, and Japan; and new visa restrictions on 19 different countries stemming from an executive order U.S. President Donald Trump signed in early June.
NAFSA projected that the consequences of losing 150,000 international students this fall would be grim not just for universities but also the American economy as a whole. In all, the association found that a drop in students of that magnitude "would deprive local economies of $7 billion in spending and more than 60,000 jobs."
Fanta Aw, the executive director of NAFSA, emphasized that the United States would suffer even greater long-term damage from its policies discouraging the enrollment of international students.
"The immediate economic losses projected here are just the tip of the iceberg," Aw explained. "International students drive innovation, advance America's global competitiveness, and create research and academic opportunities in our local colleges that will benefit our country for generations. For the United States to succeed in the global economy, we must keep our doors open to students from around the world."
Trump and his administration have been going to war with the American higher education system by withholding federal research funding from universities unless they agree to a list of demands such as eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and reviewing their policies for accepting international students.
The administration has also cracked down on international students who are already in the U.S. and has detained them and threatened them with deportation for a wide range of purported offenses such as writing student newspaper editorials critical of the Israeli government, entering the country with undeclared frog embryos, and having a single decade-old marijuana possession charge.
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