September, 16 2021, 02:45pm EDT
WASHINGTON
Reports today indicate that Senate Democrats are considering including a carbon tax, or some type of carbon pricing plan, as part of their $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. In response, Food & Water Watch Policy Director Mitch Jones issued the following statement:
"Carbon taxes and pricing plans are foolish schemes that do little more than distract attention from the real climate solutions we desperately need. Carbon taxes are supported by the fossil fuel industry because these plans support the status quo: continued oil and gas extraction and burning, with new costs simply passed on to consumers. When it comes to quitting fossil fuels, there's only one legitimate approach: halting drilling and fracking, and keeping fossil fuels in the ground."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
'Aggressive Step' Toward Privatization as Trump Picks FedEx Board Member to Lead USPS
"It is a blatant conflict of interest and an attempt by President Trump to install a handpicked loyalist who he believes will put his interests over what may be best for the Postal Service and the American people."
May 07, 2025
President Donald Trump and the U.S. Postal Service's leadership have reportedly agreed to appoint a FedEx board member to succeed Louis DeJoy as postmaster general, heightening concerns that the administration is pushing the independent mail agency toward privatization.
The Washington Postreported late Tuesday that Trump and the USPS Board of Governors are expected to name former Waste Management CEO David Steiner to lead the Postal Service. Steiner is currently the lead independent director at FedEx, a Postal Service competitor.
Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers—a union representing nearly 300,000 active and retired letter carriers—called the decision to place Steiner at the head of the USPS "an aggressive step toward handing America's mail system over to corporate interests."
"Private shippers have been waiting to get USPS out of parcel delivery for years," said Renfroe. "Steiner's selection is an open invitation to do just that. This isn't just bad policy—it's a direct assault on the workers who keep the mail moving and the public connected. The damage will hit rural communities hardest, where the Postal Service isn't just a convenience—it's a lifeline. And make no mistake: If this appointment stands, it threatens 7.9 million jobs tied to the postal industry and service to over 300 million Americans."
"The board has the responsibility to do what is best for USPS," he added. "This decision is not only a failure in that responsibility but shows open contempt for the work of America's letter carriers and the public good."
"The Trump administration has been relentless in its attempts to privatize America's most trusted institution, both outwardly and behind the scenes."
The USPS Board of Governors—which is currently comprised of two Democrats, two Republicans, and an independent—is ultimately responsible for appointing the head of the mail service, who cannot be directly fired by the president.
The Post reported Tuesday that postal governors, who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, submitted three postmaster general finalists to the White House in recent days, including Steiner.
"Trump has the power to immediately reshape the [postal board] with five appointments: The board has four vacancies, plus a seat that is occupied temporarily," the Post noted. "Trump announced plans to nominate Anthony Lomangino, a GOP financier, to one of those roles."
Earlier this year, Trump considered but soon dropped a plan to fire every member of the postal board and bring the USPS under the direct control of his administration. The president has also spoken openly about privatizing the mail service, saying in the wake of his 2024 election win that "it's an idea that a lot of people have liked for a long time."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that "the Trump administration has been relentless in its attempts to privatize America's most trusted institution, both outwardly and behind the scenes."
"If these reports are true, it is a blatant conflict of interest and an attempt by President Trump to install a handpicked loyalist who he believes will put his interests over what may be best for the Postal Service and the American people," Connolly said of Steiner's selection. "The American people deserve a postmaster general who will stand up for an independent, fair, and accessible Postal Service and who will work with Congress to ensure Americans in all communities nationwide can continue to rely on this public service to deliver mail, medications, ballots, and more without prejudice."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Gaza Mourns Beloved Child Singer Hassan Ayyad, Killed in Israeli Airstrike
The 14-year-old boy was one of numerous children slain by Israeli bombing since Monday in what UNICEF has called "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child."
May 06, 2025
A famed 14-year-old singer was among scores of Palestinians killed by Israel Defense Forces airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Monday as bombing and starvation fueled by Israel's ongoing siege continued to ravage the coastal enclave.
Hassan Ayyad—who was known for his songs about life and death in Gaza during Israel's genocidal assault and siege—was killed in an IDF airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Video shared widely on social media showed Ayyad singing in a haunting voice, sometimes accompanied by his father, Alaa Ayyad.
"The child who sang of death has now joined those he mourned."
"Gaza is dying, blind in the eyes of America," Ayyad intones in one clip. "With the warplanes, we tasted the flavor of death, an airstrike from land and sea. They blocked the crossings—people are dying from hunger. Bear witness, world, to what they've done."
Reacting to the boy's killing, Alaa Ayyad told Palestinian journalist Essa Syam that "Hassan was my heat, my soul, my son... my only son."
"What can I tell you about Hassan? Hassan is everything," Ayyad continued. "I ask everyone to pray for mercy for his soul."
Responding to Ayyad's killing, Gaza journalist Mahmoud Bassam wrote Monday on the social media site X that "Hassan was martyred moments ago in an Israeli airstrike, raising the death toll to over 60 since dawn."
"The child who sang of death has now joined those he mourned—his farewell was as noble as his words," Bassam added.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday that at least 22 people including numerous children were killed and more than 50 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes targeted a school-turned-shelter, this one in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.n
"The Bureij massacre is a heinous war crime that requires the prosecution of the occupation's leaders in international courts as war criminals," Hamas, which rules Gaza and led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, said in a statement.
More than 185,000 Palestinians have been killed, wounded, or left missing by Israel's 578-day assault and siege on Gaza. Most of the territory's more than 2 million inhabitants have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, while mass starvation is rampant due to Israel's tightened blockade.
Israeli officials said Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump does not object to Operation Gideon's Chariots, a full-scale invasion, conquest, and ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip that Israel is expected to launch after Trump visits the Middle East later this month.
On Tuesday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he envisions Gaza "entirely destroyed" and ethnically cleansed of its more than 2 million inhabitants.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli forces have killed at least 16,278 children in Gaza since October 2023—a rate of one child killed every 40 minutes. The ministry said it has recorded 57 children who have died from malnutrition amid Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza, which has fueled mass starvation and illness and is part of an International Court of Justice genocide case against Israel led by South Africa.
Last year, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres added Israel to his so-called "List of Shame" of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts. This, after the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) called Gaza the "world's most dangerous place to be a child."
A 2024 survey of more than 500 Gazan children conducted by the Gaza-based Community Training Center for Crisis Management and supported by the War Child Alliance
found that nearly all children in the embattled Palestinian enclave believed their death was imminent—and nearly half said they wanted to die.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sanders Raises Alarm Over GOP Crypto Bill Designed to 'Enrich Trump and His Billionaire Backers'
"Congress is moving quickly to pass the GENIUS Act, which may make a bad situation much worse," said Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
May 06, 2025
As the Republican Senate majority leader plows ahead with a plan to hold a vote on a cryptocurrency bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders is planning a Wednesday conversation with industry experts regarding the proposed legislation, which his office warns would "enrich Trump and his billionaire backers."
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act would create a regulatory framework for a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins. Sanders' (I-Vt.) office said in a Tuesday statement that the bill "threatens the stability of our financial system" and "makes it easier for President [Donald] Trump and his family to continue to engage in corrupt dealmaking enabled through their cryptocurrency, to the great benefit of themselves and their tech oligarch backers."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another critic of the GENIUS Act, has argued it could facilitate illicit activity and provide little protection for consumer funds.
In February, the advocacy group Consumer Reports warned that the bill lacked consumer protections and could inadvertently allow large tech companies to enter the banking space, as in create currencies, without being subject to the same scrutiny that is applied to traditional banks.
"Under the Trump administration, we have seen a coordinated effort to boost the cryptocurrency industry to directly benefit President Trump and his oligarch allies," said Sanders on Tuesday. He also highlighted that Trump this week promoted a scheduled private dinner for the top holders of the $TRUMP meme coin, effectively soliciting purchases of the crypto token that now accounts for a substantial portion of his net worth.
Also, a stablecoin launched by Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture is going to be used by an investment firm backed by the government of Abu Dhabi to complete a $2 billion business deal, according to The New York Times.
"If that's not a troubling form of corruption, I don't know what is," said Sanders of the two cases.
The latest revelations regarding Trump and cryptocurrency appear to have diminished the GENIUS Act's chances of passage, according to The American Prospect.
The GENIUS Act had enjoyed support from a handful of Democratic senators, but a number of them backed off from supporting the bill in its current form over the weekend, writing in a statement that they wanted to see stronger provisions on anti-money laundering, national security, and other issues. "But reading between the lines, it was clearly the Trump corruption that soured them," the Prospect reported.
Sanders said that "in the face of this corruption, you might hope that Congress would step in to clamp down on corruption. Instead, Congress is moving quickly to pass the GENIUS Act, which may make a bad situation much worse."
Axiosreported Tuesday afternoon that Warren and another GENIUS Act critic, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), will introduce the End Crypto Corruption Act on Tuesday. The proposal would bar the president, vice president, members of Congress, and their immediate families from issuing digital assets, like stablecoins, perAxios.
Sanders' conversation will be with Sacha Haworth, the executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, a group aimed at reining in Big Tech, and Corey Frayer, the director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer research and advocacy organization.
The conversation will be livestreamed on his Facebook, X, and YouTube, and through Act.tv.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular