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Nation’s Leading Youth Organizations Join Members of Congress to Unveil 'Youth Agenda' – Calling on Biden to “Finish the Job”
If you commit to prioritizing these actions, young people will turn out and make 'finishing the job' a reality,” the letter reads. “To invest in America, invest in us.”
Today, ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address, a coalition of the nation’s leading youth organizations—March For Our Lives, Sunrise Movement, Gen-Z for Change, and United We Dream Action—led a press conference in Washington D.C to unveil their Youth Agenda alongside Senator Bernie Sanders and Reps. Summer Lee, Jamaal Bowman, Ro Khanna, and Greg Casar. The “Finish the Job” Youth Agenda—a response to the President’s campaign slogan— outlines key issue areas that Biden must deliver on if he is serious about earning young people’s support in November. From combating climate change, protecting democracy, and ending gun violence to securing permanent protections for immigrant communities, and calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza – young people are once again demanding that President Biden fight for our lives and protect our futures.
The coalition of youth-led organizations also sent a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris, calling on them to adopt the new youth-focused agenda not only for their campaign, but right now for their current administration.
Young people fought hard to push the Biden Administration to back key priorities, including the American Climate Corps, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and the pause of LNG exports, and we’re not letting up now. There is far more the President can and must do to pursue a progressive agenda that truly invests in the lives and future of our generation. From record-breaking heat, the continued ravage of the gun violence epidemic, attacks on our immigrant communities in states led by MAGA Republicans, to the fueling of the global war machine, including in Gaza, young people are fighting for a future where we can all live and thrive. The Youth Agenda is not only a policy roadmap and a call to action for the President, but for any candidate who wants to win the youth vote.
Young people across the country have spoken. If the President and his administration want to earn our support, they must follow the roadmap to success outlined in our agenda and make genuine progress on the issues that matter to our lives. Since 2018, the youth vote has soared to record heights, bringing the President to the White House in 2020 and beating back a right-wing wave in 2022. Biden received stronger support from voters ages 18-29, especially from young people of color, compared to any other age group. In the 2024 election, Gen Z and young millennials will make up well over a fifth of the American electorate, and we are a core part of the President’s winning coalition. Our needs and aspirations must be taken into account.
Michelle Ming, Political Director of United We Dream Action, said:
“Young people across the country, including immigrant youth, have been unapologetically clear about the vision for our futures that we’re fighting for: a future that invests in our lives, our safety, and our well-being. Our Finish the Job Youth Agenda is a clear reiteration of the issues that matter most to young constituents and a roadmap for President Biden and his administration to follow if they want to earn our support. Immigrant youth have experienced firsthand the harmful policies being proposed and enacted in states ranging from my former home state of Texas, to my current home state in New York. We will not let our communities be used as political scapegoats. We’re fired up to change the conditions for our communities, from permanent protections for our loved ones, a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to gun violence, to urgent action to address climate change now. With the Youth Agenda, we’re giving Biden our winning playbook.”
Michele Weindling, Sunrise Movement Political Director, said:
“In 2020, young people sent Biden to the White House. In 2024, how many young people turn out for Biden will determine if we stave off a second Trump presidency. Right now, young people are shouting for what we need from Biden to mobilize our generation this November. President Biden must do everything in his power to fight the climate crisis, to end gun violence, to not cater to the right at the cost of immigrants' lives, and he must call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza."
Natalie Fall, Executive Director of March For Our Lives, said:
“However you square it, young people are inheriting a broken and imperfect world. But as young people step into their political power, we are not accepting things as they are. Young people have organized and stood up for ourselves and our future. It’s time for our leaders to do the same for us. So we are saying to any candidate who wants our vote: listen to us, govern with our needs and our future in mind, and we will deliver you our votes. We know that our vote is a precious and powerful thing. In 2024, you cannot win higher office without the youth vote, and you cannot win the youth vote without the youth agenda. If President Biden really wants to “finish the job,” this is the roadmap he must follow.”
Elise Joshi, Executive Director of Gen-Z for Change, said:
“Gen-Z for Change launched a tool last week that enabled people across the country to send over 4 million emails to members of congress urging for a ceasefire. On top of that, millions are marching, divesting, donating, learning, and amplifying. So to the Biden Administration and our representatives, youth are awake and unwavering. We know the interconnected was between the climate crisis, occupation, tenant protections, reproductive justice, policing, militarism. And we reject that this is how it ought to be…President Biden must embrace this to earn our trust.”
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
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Surging Home Building Costs Caused by Trump Tariffs Could Result in 450,000 Fewer Homes by 2030
"With the average home sales price having already risen by 31%—or over $120,000—since 2020, this tariff-induced change could put homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans," warns a new report.
Dec 16, 2025
After campaigning last year on reducing the cost of living and as he attempts to claim progressive Democrats' push for affordability as his own, President Donald Trump's policies have been directly linked to making life more expensive for people across the US—and along with electricity, healthcare, and groceries, housing costs are set to rise, according to a new analysis out Tuesday, which examines the impact of Trump's tariffs.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) found that the impact on home construction materials by Trump's tariffs could force builders to scale back significantly over the next five years, reducing new home construction by 450,000 homes through 2030.
According to the analysis, the average cost of building a home in the coming years will increase by $17,500 if current home building rates continue.
"With the average home sales price having already risen by 31%—or over $120,000—since 2020, this tariff-induced change could put homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans," said CAP.
Trump's tariffs are as high as 50% for some countries, and some of the highest levies have been imposed on key building materials, including lumber, copper, aluminum, and steel products. Imports of upholstered products and kitchen cabinets are set to face tariffs that could increase by up to 50%.
The tariffs were unveiled amid a growing housing affordability crisis, with the number of available homes falling short by 2 million units or more, according to some estimates.
Following the Great Recession, home construction has not returned to pre-2008 levels and the country requires "sustained, above-average construction rates to correct" the persistent underbuilding, according to CAP.
"Yet the Trump administration’s tariff policies are pushing home building in the opposite direction by raising construction costs, which will slow new construction activity, raise costs, and worsen housing affordability," reads the report by Cory Husak, Natalie Baker, and Mimla Wardak.
The analysis found that while Trump has insisted that the tariffs will target the countries that import goods to the US, but as with groceries—which have gone up in price by up to 40% at some stores—the levies on home building materials are projected to ultimately impact American families who are already struggling to afford healthcare and other essentials.
The tariffs are expected to add $27 billion to the annual cost of constructing new homes by 2027, effectively raising the cost of building a new home by about 3.3%.
🚨Hot off the presses 🚨 New tariffs are going to kill 450,000 homes over the next 5 yearsTariffs on lumber, steel, cabinets, vanities, copper add an average $17,500 to the cost of building a new home. Yearly home losses will soon total 100k per year-www.americanprogress.org/article/trum...
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— Corey Husak (@chusak.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 1:08 PM
From 2030 onward, the number of new homes being built is expected to be down by 100,000 yearly.
"This would be equivalent to eliminating 6 percent of the homes constructed in the five years from 2020 to 2024," said CAP.
If home building falls as CAP projects, the cost of construction will rise to $18,500 per home in 2028, CAP projected.
“Families are already struggling to afford a place to live, and the administration is adding fuel to the housing costs fire,” said Husak, director of tax policy at CAP. “These tariffs are a tax on builders and aspiring homeowners, raising construction costs, slowing the pace of new building, and pushing homeownership even further out of reach for millions of Americans.”
The group urged the federal government to act to stop the tariffs from continuously "driving up construction costs, slowing homebuilding, and worsening the nation’s already severe housing shortage."
"Building new housing supply is crucial to solving the housing shortage," said CAP, "and canceling tariffs on homebuilding materials is a necessary step to bring more housing online and improve housing affordability."
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Rights Groups Demand Stronger Congressional Action Over Trump 'Murder' on High Seas
"This ramping up of the bombing campaign despite increased pressure from Congress signals the administration’s total disregard for the law."
Dec 16, 2025
Human rights groups are demanding that the US Congress intervene to bring an end to President Donald Trump's boat-bombing spree.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday released statements condemning the Trump administration for launching more military strikes on purported drug trafficking boats, and they called on US lawmakers to assert their powers over American foreign policy to restrain the White House.
Daphne Eviatar, director of security and human rights for Amnesty International USA, argued that the administration does not seem at all deterred by potential congressional probes of its policies, and urged lawmakers to take a more aggressive approach.
"This ramping up of the bombing campaign despite increased pressure from Congress signals the administration’s total disregard for the law," said Eviatar. "Congress must do everything in its power to rein in this administration’s lawless behavior. Congress must exercise its oversight power to ask how these decisions are made, what intelligence is being used, and what the legal justification the administration is claiming and push back forcefully on these illegal actions."
Eviatar emphasized that the administration's killings "amount to extrajudicial executions, a form of murder, in clear violation of both domestic and international law," while adding that the administration has legal methods at its disposal to intercept suspected drug boats that don't involve slaughtering everyone onboard.
HRW, meanwhile, released a lengthy analysis breaking down the illegality of the Trump boat strikes, while also demanding Congress use its oversight powers to hold administration officials accountable for lawbreaking.
"Congress should intervene urgently," the group declared. "The administration’s lethal boat strikes, conducted without a clear legal basis and outside any armed conflict, demand immediate congressional scrutiny."
HRW also outlined actions that Congress should take, including forcing the White House to release its full legal justification for the bombing campaign, holding public hearings and demanding testimony from top officials, establishing a select committee with subpoena power to investigate the attacks, and setting aside funds to pay out as compensation to the families of the people killed by the strikes.
With Monday's attacks, the death toll from the administration's boat-bombing campaign, which began in September, now stands at at least 95 people.
The human rights groups' calls for great congressional intervention come as the Congressional Progressive Caucus is urging their colleagues to support resolutions aimed at blocking Trump from launching a war with Venezuela without congressional approval.
The first resolution would require Trump to "remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere, unless authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorization for use of military force."
A second resolution supported by the caucus "directs the president to remove the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization for use of military force."
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'Gambling With Lives of Their Constituents,' House GOP Leaders Refuse Vote on ACA Tax Credits
"They are actively choosing to go into the holiday break, knowing healthcare premiums are doubling and tripling for millions of Americans in 2026, and doing nothing about it."
Dec 16, 2025
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that he will not allow a vote to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the month, solidifying his party's decision to let tens of millions of Americans face massive premium increases in the new year.
Speaking to reporters, Johnson acknowledged that some swing-district Republicans pushed him for a vote on the ACA subsidies as people across the country face sticker shock, with premiums more than doubling on average.
"We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be," Johnson said of the ACA tax credit vote. "We worked on it all the way through the weekend, in fact. And in the end there was not an agreement."
Johnson's comments, which sparked angry backlash from some of his GOP colleagues, came less than a week after Senate Republicans voted down a Democratic measure that would have extended the enhanced ACA subsidies for three years.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called Johnson's obstruction of a subsidy vote "bullshit" and "political malpractice."
Around 22 million Americans received the subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. A survey released earlier this month by the health policy group KFF found that 25% of ACA marketplace enrollees would "very likely" go without insurance if their monthly insurance premiums doubled.
The ACA open enrollment period ended Monday for those with coverage starting start January 1, 2026.
"With no extension of enhanced tax credits, ACA enrollees are going to start the year with premium payments increasing by an average of 114%, or over $1,000 a year per person," Larry Levitt, KFF's executive vice president for health policy, noted Tuesday. "Some will find a way to pay it, some have switched to higher deductibles, and some have dropped coverage."
"Johnson is choosing chaos, higher costs, and uncertainty for working families."
Ahead of next week's holiday recess, House Republicans are expected to vote on legislation that cobbles together various GOP healthcare ideas that experts say wouldn't do much to lower healthcare costs. Even if the bill—which would not extend the ACA tax credits—passes the House, it stands no chance of getting the necessary 60 votes in the Senate.
"They are actively choosing to go into the holiday break, knowing healthcare premiums are doubling and tripling for millions of Americans in 2026, and doing nothing about it," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said of Republican lawmakers.
Last-ditch, bipartisan efforts to force Johnson to allow a vote using a discharge petition also appear unlikely to garner enough support. NBC News noted that "even if a discharge petition secured the votes to pass, which is far from certain, it would take time to reach the House floor," effectively guaranteeing "it’ll be pushed into next year, with Republicans hoping to adjourn after this week."
Brad Woodhouse, president of the advocacy group Protect Our Care, said in a statement Tuesday that "Mike Johnson is running out the clock while millions of families face higher premiums and the loss of affordable coverage in just a couple of weeks."
"Across the country, working Americans are preparing for unimaginable sacrifices," said Woodhouse. "They are getting ready to shut down the small businesses they spent blood, sweat, and tears building because the GOP healthcare hikes are simply unbearable. Many are preparing for what life looks like without insurance. Others are considering leaving their jobs or making the impossible choice between paying for medications, rent, or groceries."
“The solution is simple and already on the table: a clean, three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits," he added. "Johnson is choosing chaos, higher costs, and uncertainty for working families. The choice for House Republicans is clear. If not, the out-of-touch Republican Party will be in for another electoral reckoning in 2026 for raising costs, ripping away coverage, and gambling with the lives of their constituents."
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