SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
May, 14 2025, 10:16am EDT
Contact:
press@groundworkcollaborative.org
Groundwork’s Owens: House Republicans Voted to Give Corporations like RealPage a Free Pass to Rip Off Working Families
Last night, during the Energy & Commerce Committee markup of the Republican tax plan, House Republicans voted to restrict state laws that crack down on surveillance pricing, automated insurance denials, automated management systems, and other uses of artificial intelligence that allow corporations to gouge consumers and exploit workers.
The provision benefits companies like RealPage, a software data company sued by the Justice Department for alleged collusion on prices in the rental housing market; platforms that use artificial intelligence to drive down wages and benefits for nurses; and retailers that use artificial intelligence and personalized data to set discriminatory prices. Groundwork Collaborative’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted to the vote:
“Not only are House Republicans giving their billionaire donors and large corporations a massive tax handout, they are giving RealPage and bad actors like them a free pass to rip off working families. They are paving the way for more predatory landlords to jack up rent, more apps to drive down gig worker wages, and more retailers to hike prices on consumers. The GOP tax bill tells you everything you need to know about the Republican party’s priorities and how unserious they are about lowering costs for working families.”
The Groundwork Collaborative is dedicated to advancing a coherent and persuasive progressive economic worldview and narrative capable of delivering meaningful opportunity and prosperity for everyone. Our work is driven by a core guiding principle: We are the economy. Groundwork Collaborative envisions an economic system that produces strong, broadly shared prosperity and power for all people, not just a wealthy few.
LATEST NEWS
GOP Advances 'Nonprofit Killer' Provision in Budget Bill to 'Crush Dissent'
"This measure would undoubtedly be weaponized by a White House with a track record of attacks against any speech that displeases our authoritarian president," warned one critic.
May 14, 2025
Free press, civil liberties, and community groups on Wednesday sounded the alarm after House Republicans added a provision in their budget reconciliation package that would empower U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit the executive branch deems supportive of a terrorist organization.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines to advance Republicans' reconciliation bill, which contains an amendment based on the language of the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or H.R. 9495.
The ACLU warned Tuesday that the provision—dubbed the "nonprofit killer" by critics—would grant the executive branch the power to "effectively shut down" entities including independent media like Common Dreams, universities, religious institutions, political organizations, advocacy groups, and charities under the guise of combating terrorism. The contentious language was buried on page 380 of the reconciliation bill prior to its markup.
"No president should have the right to destroy nonprofits for no reason."
More than 200 groups collectively condemned the proposal in a Wednesday statement, warning, "Charities that feed the hungry, churches and faith communities that comfort the grieving, veterans' groups that care for our heroes, and countless other service providing organizations are at risk today because of this legislation."
"Nonprofits are on the frontlines of meeting every community need," the coalition continued. "Whether it's an organization providing healthcare in a disaster, a small rural church, or a local food bank, no organization is safe if this becomes law."
H.R. 9495 was first introduced in the previous Congress but failed to receive a Senate vote before the legislative term expired last year. It allows the treasury secretary "to accuse any nonprofit of supporting terrorism—and to terminate its tax-exempt status without due process," the advocacy group Free Press Action explained in statement, warning the ostensibly anti-terror provision would be used to "crush dissent."
Civil liberties groups say its lack of clarity regarding the determination of whether or how a nonprofit supports terrorism would enable Trump to follow through on his threats to cancel the tax-exempt status for organizations he does not like.
"Today, the legislation formerly known as H.R. 9495 has returned to wreak havoc against dissenting voices across the country's nonprofit sector," Free Press Action advocacy director Jenna Ruddock said Wednesday.
"Like too many other overbroad and easily abused powers, this measure would undoubtedly be weaponized by a White House with a track record of attacks against any speech that displeases our authoritarian president," Ruddock continued.
"The bill would have a widespread chilling effect not only on nonprofit groups but on the millions of people across the United States who rely on these organizations to help them access crucial services and engage in the political process," she added.
"We've already seen the Trump administration falsely conflate students protesting in support of Palestinian rights with Hamas, deport immigrants to a [Salvadoran] prison without due process, and detain students thousands of miles away from their loved ones for criticizing U.S. foreign policy," ACLU senior policy counsel Kia Hamadanchysaid Tuesday.
"It is not a stretch to imagine how this bill could be used to pressure universities to shut down student groups, scare human rights organizations away from working with vulnerable communities, and further stifle dissent in this country," Hamadanchy added.
Ruddock of Free Press Action said that "it's not hard to imagine how the Trump administration would use [the bill] to exact revenge on groups that have raised questions about or simply angered the president and other officials in his orbit."
Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at the digital rights group Fight for the Future, called the proposal "a five-alarm fire for nonprofits nationwide."
"This is a First Amendment issue—no president should have the right to destroy nonprofits for no reason," Holland added.
While the provision's proponents argue it is necessary to crack down on nonprofits that raise money to fund terrorism, Holland said that is "a bald-faced lie, as there are already laws that prohibit and punish such activities without taking away our civil liberties."
Ruddock warned: "Chilling free speech doesn't keep Americans safe. Instead, it gives an authoritarian regime another tool to violate the rights that form the foundation of a healthy democracy."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Israel Kills 22 Children in Gaza Bombing as Trump Visits Region
Strikes by the Israel Defense Forces hit European Hospital in Khan Younis and a refugee camp in Jabalia.
May 14, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East this week had sparked hope that a new cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas could be imminent, but the Israel Defense Forces' bombardment of northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday—with targets including a hospital and a refugee camp—was seen as a signal from Israel that it has no intention of reversing its plan to escalate the attacks that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
At least 22 children were among those killed in airstrikes, and Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 70 people in total had been killed since dawn.
At least 50 of those people were victims of strikes near Jabalia in the northern part of the enclave, where rescue workers were using hand tools Wednesday to smash through concrete slabs to recover the bodies of children.
The latest round of attacks come as Israel's total blockade on humanitarian aid into Gaza is in its third month, having pushed nearly half a million Palestinians toward possible starvation according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Eyewitnesses said the strikes in Jabalia came without any warning and that one explosion "felt like a huge earthquake" and obliterated numerous residential buildings.
"All the houses are gone, including ours. We made it out from under the rubble and thank God we're alive," one man told Al Jazeera.
Wednesday morning also marked the third Israeli bombing of a hospital in Gaza in three days, with the IDF striking European Hospital in Khan Younis.
CCTV footage showed patients heading to the hospital when the facility was struck. One bombing hit a bulldozer that had been deployed to clear the area of rubble from previous attacks in order to allow ambulances to enter the area.
Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director general of field hospitals at Gaza's Health Ministry, told the Associated Press that the bombings had also damaged the hospital's water and sewage systems and represented Israel's latest attack on Palestinian healthcare workers' ability to provide care to thousands of injured and sick people.
"Until these damages are fixed, we will have to shut down most departments of the hospital," he told the AP.
Israeli media reported that Mohammed Sinwar, brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the IDF last year, was a target of the European Hospital attack. The IDF said a Hamas "command and control center" was located under the facility.
"Surely the images immediately contradict this?" said filmmaker and journalist Richard Sanders. "There's no bunker there."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that there was "no way" a cease-fire would be reached until Israel destroys Hamas.
"There will be no situation where we stop the war," said Netanyahu ahead of Trump's visit to the Middle East.
Israel and the U.S., its top international provider of military aid, have recently discussed setting up a potential U.S.-led government in Gaza after the war and a plan to deliver aid to the enclave via a private foundation and U.S. military contractors—a plan that has been rejected by United Nations aid officials.
In addition to displacing the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, Israel's 19-month military campaign has left people in the enclave without the ability to produce their own food, and markets are largely empty, with prices for food that is available skyrocketing.
The United Nations warned this week that charity kitchens, which provided more than 1 million meals per day in late April, now are able to serve just 260,000 per day, and kitchens are rapidly shutting down due to a lack of supplies.
Thousands of children have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition since Israel's latest total blockade began in March.
Clemence Lagourdat, a program coordinator for Oxfam International, toldSky News Wednesday that the blockade combined with the latest bombings have pushed the humanitarian situation in Gaza to "an all-time low since the beginning of the war."
"It's been now more than 70 days that nothing has entered the Gaza strip, not a drop of fuel, of food, no medicine," said Lagourdat. "As humanitarian workers we cannot solve the situation. If there is not a political push for a permanent cease-fire and for the border to open... we are working with scraps, and if the situation doesn't change there is not much more that we will be able to do."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Wildfire Survivors 'Deserve Better,' Advocates Say as California Approves State Farm Rate Hike
Regulators like California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara "need to hold insurance giants like State Farm accountable to paying out what they owe, not reward them with rate hikes," said one watchdog.
May 14, 2025
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Tuesday adopted a judge's ruling allowing State Farm General, the state's largest home insurer, the ability to temporarily hike insurance rates following devastating fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area in January. The decision drew rebuke from watchdog groups, with one organization calling the hike "unjustified."
In February, State Farm sought a rate increase of 22% for homeowners and 15% for renters after the Los Angeles-area fires, citing the need to protect the "fragile California insurance market."
After conducting a hearing in April, an administrative law judge issued a proposed order on Monday, approving an emergency rate increase of 17% for homeowners line, down from the 22% the company had requested, and a 15% increase for renters. The emergency rate increase will go into effect June 1, according to the commissioner's office.
Carmen Balber, executive director of the group Consumer Watchdog, which has been active in opposing the State Farm rate hikes, said Tuesday that the decision "is a great disappointment" that forces "consumers to pay now" but allows "State Farm to wait months before having to show its math."
Consumer Watchdog argued before the administrative law judge that State Farm had failed to put forward adequate justification for the rate increases, and that the issue should go before a full rate hearing.
Lara said on Tuesday that State Farm will still need to justify its financial condition at a full hearing. According to Consumer Watchdog, that hearing is tentatively scheduled for October.
"State Farm policyholders, many of whom are struggling to get their claims paid by the company after the Los Angeles fires, are now facing double-digit rate hikes," Balber also said.
Lara gave sign off on the rate hikes despite calls for his office to probe complaints around the insurance giant's handling of claims made by survivors of the Los Angeles area fires, according to CalMatters. Fire victims have accused State Farm of denying or delaying claims, and had advocated for Lara to reject the rate hike request.
"The survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires deserve better. Their stories of financial and emotional devastation after fighting with State Farm are heartbreaking and are an indictment of the state of the insurance industry," said Rick Morris, insurance campaigner with the watchdog group Public Citizen's climate program, on Tuesday.
"Regulators like Commissioner Lara need to hold insurance giants like State Farm accountable to paying out what they owe, not reward them with rate hikes," he added.
Public Citizen also highlighted accusations leveled by Consumer Watchdog in October of 2024 that State Farm had boosted profits for its parent company, State Farm Mutual, at the expense of policyholders.
As part of the ruling, according to the commissioner's office, State Farm will obtain $400 million from its parent company to boost its solvency and will also refrain from implementing some nonrenewals through the end of 2025.
State Farm stopped writing any new policies in May 2023, and last spring the company announced it would not renew plans for tens of thousands of homeowners—though it paused nonrenewals in Los Angeles County following the January wildfires.
Approval for the interim hike comes after State Farm General last summer asked for a 30% rate increase for its homeowners, a 52% rate increase for renters, and a 36% rate increase for condominium owners. Separately, in December 2023 it was approved for a 20% increase for homeowners and condominium owners.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular