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“Vance Profits, We Pay the Price:” 150 young people occupy JD Vance’s office
8 arrested as Vance staff close the door on working class young people sharing their stories
This morning, 150 young people occupied the hallway outside J.D. Vance’s Washington D.C. office to share their stories about how the broken economy and climate change are impacting them and their families. The protest highlighted Vance's change of tune on climate following donation of nearly $300,000 from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors during his 2022 campaign, suddenly calling it a hoax.
They held banners saying, “Vance Profits, We Pay The Price,” “Billionaires Own JD Vance” and “Vance Stop Killing Green Jobs”. Young people denounced JD Vance’s plans to kill green jobs by dismantling policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided $500 million to upgrade a steel plant in Vance’s hometown. That grant created jobs and helped keep the plant open. This was the first protest at J.D. Vance’s office since he became the Vice Presidential nominee.
“I was willing to get arrested today because my future and our country shouldn’t be for sale,” said Takeira Bell, 21. “JD Vance is willing to sell our futures to the highest bidder. He will kill green jobs, give tax breaks to billionaires, and deny that there is a climate crisis just to keep the campaign contributions flowing. Today, we showed up to tell him, ‘We won’t let you sell out our families to the highest bidder.”
As recently as 2020, Vance spoke about climate change as a serious threat, even saying natural gas “isn’t exactly the sort of thing that’s gonna take us to a clean energy future.” Since running for Senate and receiving nearly $300,000 during his 2022 campaign from oil and gas-linked PACs and donors, he’s made a 180 on his climate positions.
“JD Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he’s a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check.” said Sunrise Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay. “He used to talk about how we were facing a climate crisis. Then oil and gas donors and Donald Trump offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars and a chance to be Vice President, and he totally changed his tune. Who knows what JD Vance will support the next time a billionaire comes knocking.”
“As a young person who grew up in Montana, I am deeply passionate about pursuing a career in wildland firefighting so I can actively serve my community and ecosystems. To hear that JD Vance wants to cut green jobs like these that are already underfunded is a direct attack on working class front line workers and an insult to my generation” said Carly Bryant, 18.
This protest comes as Sunrise members prepare to go to the DNC Headquarters in DC later in the day to urge VP Harris to put forward a plan to fight for young, working class people that can confront the false promises from right-wing politicians like Vance.
Sunrise Movement is a movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
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According to a Saturday report in The New York Times, Rubio for the last several months has been acting informally as the "viceroy" of Venezuela ever since its recognized president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted by the American military in January and brought to the US to face charges related to "narco-terrorism."
The Times' sources revealed that Rubio "effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources, and its government" and "is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations," while maintaining regular contact with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.
Under current arrangements, the US Treasury Department takes in revenue from Venezuela's exports, including its petroleum, and then disperses the money back to the country through its private banks with strict conditions set by Rubio over what it can be spent on.
In explaining the system, the Times likened it to "parents handing out allowances to children," adding that it gives Rubio "immense leverage over... Rodríguez, who depends on the money to pay workers and prop up the national currency."
Elizabeth Saunders, professor of political science at Columbia University, described Rubio's power over Venezuela as "insane," as well as "derelict, unconscionable, and impeachable."
"The secretary of state's time is scarce, valuable, and not outsourcable," Saunders emphasized.
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According to the Times, the subpoenas are attempting to force reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday next week, a move that the paper describes as an "extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations."
The issued subpoenas do not specifically name the Times' reporting on the Qatari jet as the reason for the grand jury probe, although they were given to all four journalists—Tyler Pager, Julian Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Eric Lipton—who reported the story.
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