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carolyn maloney
House Dems Say FDA 'Inappropriately Collaborated' With Biogen on New Alzheimer's Drug
"I am hopeful these findings are a wake-up call for FDA to reform its practices and a call to action to my congressional colleagues to continue oversight of the pharmaceutical industry to ensure they don't put profits over patients," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
Dec 29, 2022
Nearly two years after a leading U.S. consumer advocacy group sounded the alarm on the matter, House Democrats released a report Thursday showing the Food and Drug Administration and pharma giant Biogen "inappropriately collaborated" prior to the controversial approval of a new $28,000-per-year Alzheimer's drug of questionable efficacy.
Originally carrying a $56,000 annual price tag for uninsured patients—which Biogen's then-CEO called "fair"—aducanumab, sold under the brand name Aduhelm, was approved by the FDA in June 2021. The approval came despite concerns that the drug—a monoclonal antibody treatment for patients with mild cognitive impairment caused by Alzheimer's—might not work, as well as safety trial data showing that a staggering 4 in 10 participants suffered potentially fatal brain bleeding and swelling after taking it.
"This report documents the atypical FDA review process and corporate greed that preceded FDA's controversial decision to grant accelerated approval to Aduhelm."
The new report, the result of an 18-month probe by the Democrat-led House Oversight and Reform Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, found that the FDA's approval process for Aduhelm was "rife with irregularities," including an "atypical" number of meetings and other contacts between the agency and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based drugmaker.
The panel also found that Biogen and the FDA closely collaborated on a document written for outside advisers during the approval process, with at least one paragraph of the company's submission authored by agency officials.
On pricing, the lawmakers concluded that Biogen gave Aduhelm an astronomical price tag knowing that doing so would place the drug out of reach for many patients—even those with insurance—and would cost Medicare $12 billion per year.
"This report documents the atypical FDA review process and corporate greed that preceded FDA's controversial decision to grant accelerated approval to Aduhelm," outgoing House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said in a
statement.
"While we all support the search for new cures and treatments to address devastating diseases like Alzheimer's, we must ensure that expediency does not take precedence over protocols that ensure the independence and scientific rigor of FDA," Pallone added. "Patient safety and drug efficacy must remain at the core of our nation's pharmaceutical regulatory review process."
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who will leave office when Republicans take over the lower chamber next week, said that "the number of patients and families impacted by Alzheimer's disease will continue to increase, and it is crucial that FDA and drug companies adhere to established procedures and conduct themselves with the transparency necessary to earn public trust."
"I am hopeful these findings are a wake-up call for FDA to reform its practices and a call to action to my congressional colleagues to continue oversight of the pharmaceutical industry to ensure they don't put profits over patients," she added.
The new report comes nearly two years after the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen warned of exactly the sort of questionable collaboration detailed in the publication.
"After aducanumab's two identical phase three trials were stopped in 2019 at the halfway point because a preliminary analysis found that they were unlikely to show the drug benefited Alzheimer's patients, the FDA and Biogen worked collaboratively to salvage the drug," the group wrote in January 2021. "They jointly relied on dubious analyses that over-emphasized the results of one phase three trial suggesting the drug may work at a high dose but disregarded data from the other phase three trial showing no benefit of the drug at any dose. The FDA and Biogen co-authored an unprecedented joint briefing document on aducanumab that was heavily biased in favor of the drug."
Reacting to the new report, Dr. Aaron Kesselheim—a former member of the FDA's outside advisory panel who voted against green-lighting Aduhelm and resigned after it was approved—told The Wall Street Journal Thursday that "I hope this inspires a full re-examination of the nature of the communications between FDA and industry."
"Lines of communication need to be at arm's length and transparent," he added, "so that there remains trust in the FDA's decisions."
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Campaigners to House Dems: Not Giving Big Oil Documents to the Senate Would Be an 'Epic Failure'
"Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil."
Dec 28, 2022
A House committee that has spent more than a year investigating the fossil fuel industry's climate disinformation efforts has reportedly decided not to hand the subpoenaed documents it compiled over to the Senate, a reversal that would likely spell the end of the probe as industry-friendly Republicans take over the chamber.
Investigative journalist Amy Westervelt reported for The Intercept over the weekend that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who helped lead the Big Oil probe, previously vowed to "release all the subpoenaed documents to the Senate to continue the investigation or at least finish reviewing them for pertinent information—a task the committee has not had the time or staff resources to complete."
"But the decision to release the documents has since been reversed, according to Khanna's press secretary," Westervelt wrote. "The committee also decided not to send letters to the Department of Justice or the White House requesting that the investigation continue, Khanna staffers said."
The decision by the House panel, which is headed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), drew an outraged response from climate campaigners and watchdogs. Over the course of its investigation, the committee released more than 1,000 pages of documents, including internal emails and company memos further showing that the oil and gas industry is misleading the public about its role in the climate crisis and its supposed efforts to cut down on planet-warming emissions.
"The investigations into Big Oil will continue no matter what, but it should be a no-brainer for Rep. Maloney and Oversight Democrats to forward the Big Oil Files to the Senate and DOJ—or release them all now! The public deserves to know the truth," tweeted Jamie Henn, the director of Fossil Free Media.
The committee has until January 2 to turn over the documents to the Senate, which will be narrowly controlled by Democrats in the new session. On January 3, Republicans hostile to climate action and allied with oil and gas interests will take over the House.
"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders."
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee and a recipient of fossil fuel industry donations, has openly bashed the panel's Big Oil investigation, calling its latest report on the industry's climate lies "a partisan show designed to demonize America's energy producers and force radical Green New Deal policies on Americans."
Comer pledged to "return the Oversight Committee to its primary mission of conducting oversight over the Biden administration."
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a statement Tuesday that "refusing to share the committee's findings with the Senate and others who can continue to investigate Big Oil's climate deception would be an epic failure by House Democrats."
"Over the last 15 months, the Oversight Committee has unearthed crucial new evidence that Big Oil companies continue to fuel the climate crisis and lie about it. But members have also made clear that they possess potentially thousands more documents that they have not had time to analyze," said Wiles. "Obviously the incoming Republican House majority that will control the documents as of January 3 has no interest in continuing to investigate Big Oil."
"Committee members cannot allow their groundbreaking work to expose Big Oil's role in fueling the climate crisis to end by giving control of thousands of unexamined documents to Big Oil's defenders," Wiles added. "Instead of fumbling the ball on the goal line, Democrats on the committee need to use their final days in the majority to pass along their documents and findings to colleagues in the Senate, officials at the Justice Department, and any other agency that has the power to hold Big Oil accountable."
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House Dems to Examine Rise in Anti-LGBTQ+ Extremism in 'First of Its Kind' Hearing
"Republicans on my committee and across the country will be forced to face the real-life impact of their dangerous agenda," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
Dec 12, 2022
Survivors of last month's deadly shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will be among those testifying this week when federal lawmakers hold a hearing on how a surge in bigoted legislation pushed by Republicans has been linked to an uptick in violent attacks on LGBTQ+ communities.
"The rise in anti-LGBTQI+ extremism and the despicable policies that Republicans at every level of government are advancing... are harming the LGBTQI+ community."
The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), will convene the hearing on Wednesday morning, examining a number of Republican proposals as well as recent incidents of violence.
"From Colorado Springs to my own district in New York City, communities across the country are facing a terrifying rise of anti-LGBTQI+ violence and extremism," said Maloney in a statement. "Make no mistake, the rise in anti-LGBTQI+ extremism and the despicable policies that Republicans at every level of government are advancing to attack the health and safety of LGBTQI+ people are harming the LGBTQI+ community and contributing to tragedies like what we saw at Club Q."
The hearing comes less than a month after a shooter armed with an AR-15 style rifle entered Club Q and immediately began shooting, killing five people and injuring more than a dozen others.
Authorities have not yet publicly identified a motive, but the shooting has been investigated as a hate crime and the suspect has been charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder and bias-motivated crimes.
The committee will hear testimony from Michael Anderson, a bartender at Club Q, and James Slaught, a patron, as well as co-owner Michael Haynes.
"These attacks like the one at Club Q are designed to scare us from living authentically and honestly," Anderson told NBC News. "But to our community and to the world, just know this: We are not afraid, we are empowered, we are strong, and we are proud. Love will win."
The shooting intensified condemnation of Republicans who have pushed anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation, including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). The congresswoman offered "prayers" to the victims, survivors, and their families after the attack, leading progressives to point out that she has aggressively promoted the loosening of gun control laws and has accused LGBTQ+ teachers, transgender people, and drag performers of "grooming" children throughout her political career.
One proponent of Boebert's "grooming" narrative, Gays Against Groomers founder Jaimee Mitchell, told FOX News host Tucker Carlson that shootings like the one at Club Q will not "stop until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children."
Republican state lawmakers last year introduced more than 340 pieces of legislation seeking to limit LGBTQ+ people's rights, including proposals to force transgender or gender non-conforming students to use bathrooms and join sports teams that correspond with their sex assigned at birth instead of their gender, to bar doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to young transgender people, and to ban classroom discussions related to gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools.
Since Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his state's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill into law earlier this year, social media posts accusing LGBTQ+ people of being "groomers" went up by more than 400%, the House Oversight Committee reported.
At this week's hearing, Maloney said, "Republicans on my committee and across the country will be forced to face the real-life impact of their dangerous agenda. I hope LGBTQI+ individuals across the country will see that Democrats in Congress are fighting for them and will continue to push for policies that protect and expand their ability to live authentically and safely."
The Hill reported that the hearing will be the "first of its kind." While Congress held hearings decades ago in support of anti-LGBTQ+ measures, said author and researcher Jason Colavito, Maloney's will be the first to call for protections for these communities.
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'Democracy Won': Cortez Masto Victory Means Democrats Keep Control of Senate
"Voters sided with democracy and delivered a resounding defeat to Republican extremism this week," said one left-leaning political action group. "There's more to do, but this is critical progress."
Nov 13, 2022
Democracy defenders breathed a collective deep sigh of relief Saturday night as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was projected to win reelection, ensuring Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate regardless of the results of next month's Georgia runoff.
"Voters across the country showed election-denying MAGA Republicans that we can see through their lies and fearmongering."
"Democracy was on the ballot--and democracy prevailed," Sean Eldridge, founder and president of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said in a statement Sunday.
"Voters across the country showed election-denying MAGA Republicans that we can see through their lies and fearmongering and want leaders who will protect our freedoms," he added. "With democracy defenders elected as secretaries of state in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nevada and the Senate in Democratic control, we're building a firewall for democracy in 2024 and beyond."
Swing Left, a group working to elect congressional Democrats in swing states and districts, tweeted: "Voters sided with democracy and delivered a resounding defeat to Republican extremism this week. There's more to do, but this is critical progress--thanks to you."
Cortez Masto's imminent victory over former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt--a purveyor of former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was fraudulent--means the upper chamber's Democratic caucus will have at least 50 members, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
"Nevadans rejected the far-right politicians working to divide us," Cortez-Masto, who is the first-ever Latina elected to the Senate, told supporters Sunday. "We rejected their conspiracies, their attacks on our workers, and their efforts to restrict our freedoms."
" Mitch McConnell just learned he will not be majority leader."
"This morning the sky is blue! Democracy itself was on the ballot and democracy won because Democrats held the Senate," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) tweeted Sunday. "Special thanks to Gen Z-er's for their turnout. You are the future!"
Charles Booker, the Kentucky progressive defeated by incumbent Republican Sen. Rand Paul last week, tweeted: "Mitch McConnell just learned he will not be majority leader. Enjoy your evening, America."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) congratulated Cortez Masto, tweeting: "This is great news for the country. Great news for our democracy."
"But," he added, "there's a big difference between 51 and 50. BIG. Let's keep going and win the Georgia runoff."
That election will take place on December 6. Money for ads and campaign operatives from both sides are already pouring into Georgia, where neither incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock--who with 99% of ballots counted, received 49.4% of the votes--nor Republican challenger Herschel Walker, with 48.5%, reached the 50% threshold required for outright victory.
The Washington Post reports:
Even though Democrats have held their majority in the Senate, with Vice President [Kamala] Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes, picking up a 51st vote in Georgia would offer a cushion for key legislation. During the past two years, Democrats have been unable to move forward with some agenda items, including voting rights and a sweeping climate and social spending bill, because they couldn't always get the votes of Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.).
Kendra Cotton, chief executive of the pro-democracy New Georgia Project, told the Post that it would be "super-shortsighted" for Democrats to not aggressively campaign for Warnock.
"It's like if you're playing a football game and you're winning by three and you have the opportunity to score a touchdown--and you're like, 'Oh, no, I'm already winning by three,' but there's like 10 minutes on the clock," Cotton said. "You look stuck on stupid. Score a touchdown."
Control of the House of Representatives, meanwhile, remained up in the air Sunday, with 20 races--10 in which Democrats are leading, and 10 in which the GOP candidate has the advantage--still undecided.
"Regardless of what happens to the House, Democrats still have defied the odds and it's a big deal," Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted Sunday.
"My heart is filled with gratitude for our candidates, campaign staffers, voters, donators, state party leaders, DNC, DCCC, DSCC and grassroots orgs," she added. "We broke a huge trend y'all."
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House Hearing Exposes Gun Industry's Profiting 'Off the Blood of Innocent Americans'
"These companies are selling the weapon of choice for mass murderers who terrorize young children at school, hunt down worshippers at churches and synagogues, and slaughter families on the Fourth of July."
Jul 27, 2022
Firearm companies have raked in over $1 billion from selling AR-15-style rifles over the past decade, a U.S. congressional committee revealed in a report ahead of a Wednesday hearing, prompting calls from Democratic lawmakers and gun control advocates for a renewed assault weapons ban.
"The business practices of these gun manufacturers are deeply disturbing, exploitative, and reckless."
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held the hearing on gunmakers' responsibility for a national crisis that costs tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
In the wake of recent massacres in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York, the House panel queried five leading gun manufacturers--Bushmaster, Daniel Defense, Ruger, Sig Sauer, and Smith & Wesson--about their sales and marketing of AR-15-like and other assault-style semi-automatic rifles. Such weaponry is used in around three-quarters of mass shootings, attacks that are far deadlier when they involve assault weapons, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.
"How much are the lives of America's children, teachers, parents, and families worth to gun manufacturers? My committee's investigation has revealed that the country's major gun manufacturers have collected more than $1 billion in revenue from selling military-style assault weapons to civilians," House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement ahead of the hearing.
"These companies are selling the weapon of choice for mass murderers who terrorize young children at school, hunt down worshippers at churches and synagogues, and slaughter families on the Fourth of July," she continued. "In short, the gun industry is profiting off the blood of innocent Americans."
"My committee has found that the business practices of these gun manufacturers are deeply disturbing, exploitative, and reckless," Maloney said. "These companies use aggressive marketing tactics to target young people--especially young men--and some even evoke symbols of white supremacy. Yet we found that none of these companies bothers to keep track of the death and destruction caused by their products."
Among the panel's findings:
- Sales of assault-style weapons are increasing as gun deaths and mass shootings rise;
- Gun companies utilize a variety of financing tactics and manipulative marketing campaigns to sell assault weapons to customers, including teens;
- Firearm manufacturers fail to track or monitor deaths, injuries, or crimes that occur using their products, or when their products have been illegally modified.
"Congress must act to rein in the irresponsible business practices of the gun industry, prohibit the sale of dangerous weapons of war to civilians, and reassess the liability protections that prevent the American people from accessing the courts to hold gun manufacturers accountable for the deadly effects of their business decisions," the committee concluded.
The panel added:
Congress and federal agencies should also consider requiring death and crime reporting requirements for the gun industry, similar to those imposed on other industries, which will force manufacturers to develop compliance systems and take reasonable precautious to ensure their products are not misused. Additionally, Congress should consider imposing reasonable regulations on how the gun industry advertises its products, such as age limitations, content warnings, and further enabling agencies like the Federal Trade Commission to regulate misleading advertisements.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), who is not a member of the committee, was even blunter, tweeting, "ban assault weapons NOW."
"These companies made a BILLION dollars selling weapons of war. Assault rifles are designed to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," she added. "They irreparably shatter families and communities. They have no place in our country."
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Docs Expose Trump's 'Illegal' Effort to Help GOP by Weaponizing Census
"It is clear that legislative reforms are needed to prevent any future illegal or unconstitutional efforts to interfere with the census and chip away at our democracy," said the House Committee on Oversight and Reform chair.
Jul 20, 2022
A U.S. House of Representatives panel probing the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census on Wednesday released a memorandum underscoring that the failed effort was politically motivated.
"The documents ultimately obtained by the committee... shed additional light on the depth of partisan manipulation in the 2020 census."
The memo focuses on documents that were finally shared with the panel in January after former President Donald Trump's commerce secretary and attorney general, Wilbur Ross and William Barr, were held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over requested materials.
"The documents ultimately obtained by the committee--including the legal memorandum prepared for Secretary Ross and secret communications between Trump administration lawyers and political appointees--shed additional light on the depth of partisan manipulation in the 2020 census, including senior officials' focus on using a citizenship question to alter apportionment counts and their illegal attempt to develop a pretext," the memo states.
"These documents exposed the vulnerability of our national statistical system to partisan manipulation and highlighted the need for Congress to protect the constitutionally mandated census from abuses of power and political interference," the memo continues.
As the panel's report lays out, the documents from the departments of Commerce and Justice (DOJ) show that:
- Contrary to Secretary Ross' testimony to Congress, congressional apportionment was central to his efforts to add a citizenship question;
- The initial draft of the legal memo warned that using a citizenship question for apportionment would likely violate the Constitution;
- Commerce officials downplayed legal concerns and altered the memo to suggest the citizenship question could be used for apportionment;
- Even as they developed a pretext, Trump administration officials privately admitted their "hook" was that the president or Congress could decide to use citizenship data for apportionment; and
- Secretary Ross secretly steered DOJ towards the pretextual rationale.
"Lest anyone doubted that what the Trump administration was up to was wrong, these documents show that even the Trump administration itself knew that what it was doing was illegal," Thomas Wolf, deputy director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Civil rights groups have long slammed the Trump administration's push for inserting a citizenship question into the census--which informs the allocation of federal funding and the drawing of political voting maps--as a bid to benefit Republican candidates for office.
John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC, one of the groups that challenged the Trump effort, nodded to that critique on Wednesday.
"The documents released today demonstrate the depths to which political actors sought to corrupt a basic function enumerated in the Constitution: the counting of all people in America every 10 years," Yang told The New York Times. "Secretary Ross chose to pursue his political goals through whatever means available."
Both the committee's memo and chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), pointed to the findings as further evidence of the need for reforms--specifically those included in the Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act that she introduced last week.
"For years, the Trump administration delayed and obstructed the oversight committee's investigation into the true reason for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, even after the Supreme Court ruled the administration's efforts were illegal," Maloney said in a statement Wednesday.
Though the high court's 2019 decision effectively blocked the inclusion of the citizenship question and a federal court ruled against a July 2020 Trump memorandum intended to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census, a government analysis confirmed this year that minorities were significantly undercounted.
Maloney said that the committee's new memo "pulls back the curtain on this shameful conduct and shows clearly how the Trump administration secretly tried to manipulate the census for political gain while lying to the public and Congress about their goals."
The congresswoman added that "it is clear that legislative reforms are needed to prevent any future illegal or unconstitutional efforts to interfere with the census and chip away at our democracy."
"My bill, the Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act, is commonsense legislation that will help prevent a similar crisis from occurring again and will protect one of our nation's most vital democratic institutions from partisan exploitation," she continued, calling on the Democrat-controlled House to swiftly pass the legislation "to safeguard the integrity and independence of the U.S. Census Bureau."
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'Good Trouble': 17 House Democrats Arrested Protesting Roe Reversal at Supreme Court
"Even though they arrested us, we won't stop our organizing, agitating, and legislating for justice," declared Rep. Cori Bush.
Jul 19, 2022
Several members of Congress were among the demonstrators arrested outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday while protesting right-wing justices' recent ruling against the constitutional right to abortion.
"I will do whatever it takes, including putting my body on the line, to protect our reproductive rights."
"Today I was arrested in a civil disobedience action at the Supreme Court to protest Roe v. Wade getting overturned and the assault on reproductive rights across the country," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in a statement.
"Our reproductive rights are under assault across the country, thanks to an extremist court with little regard for precedent or our basic rights," she added. "I will do whatever it takes, including putting my body on the line, to protect our reproductive rights."
Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action, said that "today, the CPDA network and Democratic members of Congress sent a powerful message to Republican lawmakers and SCOTUS: We will not back down."
U.S. Capitol Police confirmed in a tweet Tuesday that officers arrested 35 people, including 17 members of Congress, for "crowding, obstructing, or incommoding."
Others arrested include Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Andy Levin (D-Mich.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).
"This Supreme Court has been relentless in stripping away our reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, but we're not backing down," said Pressley. "Today, we put our bodies on the line to defend abortion rights because the stakes in this fight could not be higher."
Pressley noted that "due to the cruelty and callousness of this court, millions of people now face insurmountable barriers to abortion care and the health of our most vulnerable--especially our Black, Brown, low-income, disabled, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ siblings--is now further at risk."
"I'm grateful to all of the advocates on the frontline of this fight who led us in peaceful protest today and have been leading this movement for generations," she added. "Abortion rights are human rights, and we won't stop fighting until our policies and budgets reflect that fundamental truth."
Chants at the demonstration included "shut it down," referring to the high court, and: "What do we want? Freedom! When do we want it? Now!"
Lawmakers and others in the road were warned, "Cease and desist or you will be arrested."
Bush--who on Monday introduced legislation to boost access to medication abortion--shared a photo of fellow "Squad" members at the demonstration and vowed that "even though they arrested us, we won't stop our organizing, agitating, and legislating for justice."
Some of the participants invoked the words of the late John Lewis. The civil rights leader who became a Democratic congressman and represented Georgia for over three decades famously encouraged getting into "good trouble" when fighting against injustices.
https://twitter.com/NydiaVelazquez/status/1549462283184705539
Referencing anti-choice legislation recently enacted by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican state legislators, Escobar said:
Protesting injustice in our country is as old as our democracy itself; it is a cornerstone of our history, a principle of our nation, and a faithful mechanism for the will of the people to be heard. That is why, in the face of unprecedented attacks on abortion access and reproductive justice, like the draconian laws and anti-woman agenda we are seeing from the Texas state Legislature, Gov. Abbott, and the Supreme Court, I joined several of my colleagues in front of the highest court in the land to make good trouble.
My arrest today for civil disobedience was a small act in the centuries-long battle to ensure every woman has the freedom to make personal decisions with those they love and trust without politicians trying to control them. We stand on the shoulders of giants whose struggle against injustices everywhere lights the way forward: The fight didn't start here, and it's far from over.
Levin, the only male lawmaker arrested, tweeted that "I'm always down to stir up #GoodTrouble and fight for our rights. We cannot give in to this extremist, right-wing court. I'm angry and ready for ACTION!"
In a recent opinion piece for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) noted that July 17 marked the two-year anniversary of Lewis' death. The congresswoman suggested that if her "friend, mentor, and predecessor" were still alive, "he would be moved to act, like he did throughout his entire life," in response to "the Supreme Court's cruel and damaging decision to strip more than half the country of their right to access abortion."
Watson Coleman pointed out that "on Friday, Democrats in the House passed legislation to protect the right to choose."
Although House Democrats approved the Women's Health Protection Act and Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, neither bill is expected to get through the Senate due to the filibuster rule and obstruction by the GOP as well as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Maloney highlighted that while overturning Roe was a longtime ambition of Republicans in U.S. politics, they are not likely to stop there.
"The Republican Party and the right-wing extremists behind this decision are not pro-life, but pro-controlling the bodies of women, girls, and any person who can become pregnant," she said. "Their ultimate goal is to institute a national ban on abortion. We will not let them win. We will be back."
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Citing 'Deluge of New Evidence,' House Jan. 6 Committee Delays Hearings
Chair Bennie Thompson said hearings into the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump would resume sometime in July.
Jun 22, 2022
Citing a "mountain of new information" requiring analysis, the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol announced Wednesday that it will delay the hearings into the deadly insurrection until next month.
"We've taken in some additional information that's going to require additional work. So rather than present hearings that have not been the quality of the hearings in the past we made a decision to just move into sometime in July," committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told reporters, according to The Hill.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) explained that "there's been a deluge of new evidence since we got started. And we just need to catch our breath, go through the new evidence, and then incorporate it into the hearings we have planned."
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) attributed the delay to a "mountain of new information that's come in and that we have to go through."
Before pausing, the panel will hold one more round of hearings on Thursday, when witnesses will testify about efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his supporters to pressure U.S. Justice Department officials to help overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Thompson said the committee needs time to review video footage it received from documentarian Alex Holder--which reportedly includes previously unseen footage of Trump and his family--new information from the National Archives and tips received via a special hotline.
The congressman assured reporters the committee would reconvene after the House returns from recess on July 11.
"We will announce dates and times for those hearings soon," he said.
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House Dems Say Amazon 'Obstructing' Probe of Warehouse Collapse That Killed Six
A congressional review of last year's tragedy "seeks to determine whether Amazon's corporate practices put employee safety first, or… is merely paying lip service to this principle."
Jun 02, 2022
A trio of Democrats from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Thursday accused Amazon of "obstructing" its investigation into the December 2021 collapse of a warehouse in Illinois that killed six employees.
"The committee's investigation is of crucial importance to the American people."
The collapse resulting from tornado damage at the Amazon fulfillment center in Edwardsville has heightened scrutiny of the e-commerce giant's labor practices. In late March, the House committee requested documents from the company related to the event, internal reviews of it, and broader extreme weather policies.
The panel's chair, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), joined with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) for a Thursday letter to Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy highlighting that the company "has failed to meaningfully comply with the committee's requests."
"These documents were due on April 14, 2022," the letter states. "Amazon still has not produced any of the key categories of documents identified by committee staff, let alone the full set of materials the committee requested."
"On May 17, 2022, counsel to Amazon claimed that Amazon is withholding these documents based on work-product and attorney-client privileges," the document continues. "As committee staff previously informed your counsel, the committee, under chairs of both parties, does not recognize common-law privileges as valid reasons to withhold documents from Congress."
"Amazon's inability to produce even this limited set of materials in a timely manner is troubling," the letter adds, "given that the company represented to members of Congress more than four months ago that it was 'conducting a thorough internal investigation' into the Edwardsville events, and 'cooperating' with an inquiry by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)."
Since the March request for records, the letter points out, "OSHA revealed that an inspection of the Edwardsville facility 'raised concerns about the potential risk to employees during severe weather emergencies,' and recommended that Amazon 'voluntarily take the necessary steps to eliminate or materially reduce your employees' exposure' to the risk factors OSHA identified."
The document also cast doubt on Amazon's willingness to address issues internally, noting that last month, "shareholders--following the company's recommendation--defeated a proposal for an independent audit of working conditions at the company's warehouses," a vote that came the same day that they approved Jassy's compensation package worth over $212 million.
According to the Democratic lawmakers:
The committee's investigation is of crucial importance to the American people. Employers like Amazon must prioritize worker safety over the corporate bottom line. Our investigation into Amazon's response to the events in Edwardsville and other extreme weather events seeks to determine whether Amazon's corporate practices put employee safety first, or whether your company, which now employs nearly one million people in the United States, is merely paying lip service to this principle. As we noted back in March, "This investigation will inform legislative efforts to curb unfair labor practices, strengthen protections for workers, and address the effects of climate change on worker safety."
"The committee will grant an extension until June 8, 2022, for Amazon to complete its document production," the letter concludes. "If Amazon fails to do so, the committee will have no choice but to consider alternative measures to obtain full compliance."
The warning came a day after Jassy received another letter from members of Congress related to other labor concerns--specifically, plans reported by The Intercept in April to ban certain terms like union, living wage, and slave labor from an internal messaging application.
Bush and Ocasio-Cortez partnered with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Cory Booker (D-N.Y.) for that letter, which says that the plan could be illegal and "Amazon's compliance with federal labor laws is an important matter of public concern especially given the company's status as one of the largest retailers in the country."
"This disturbing report is part of a pattern of worker exploitation, retaliation, and union-busting on the part of Amazon," the app-related letter adds, requesting documents and responses to a series of questions by June 16.
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House Democrats to Hold First Medicare for All Hearing Since Pandemic
"Congress must implement a system that prioritizes people over profits, humanity over greed, and compassion over exploitation," said Rep. Cori Bush.
Mar 24, 2022
Two years after the Covid-19 pandemic suddenly left an estimated 14.6 million Americans without employer-sponsored health insurance due to economic shutdowns and layoffs, the House Oversight Committee next week will hold the first hearing since the pandemic began on Medicare for All, with witnesses expected to testify on numerous ways the public health crisis has made the need for such a system clearer than ever.
Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) will be joined Tuesday by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in leading the hearing, which will be the third congressional ever to focus on Medicare for All.
Several progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), are also members of the committee.
"It is more clear than ever that we need improved and expanded Medicare for All."
Medicare for All advocate Ady Barkan, who suffers from ALS, is set to testify at the hearing, along other witnesses including with emergency physician Dr. Uche Blackstock and economist Jeffrey D. Sachs.
The hearing will focus partially on how universal healthcare coverage, with all types of medical care free at the point of service as it is in other wealthy nations, would help close health disparity gaps for people with disabilities, people of color, low-income and poor people, and other marginalized groups.
According to a report released just before the pandemic by Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP), Hispanic and Black Americans have significantly higher uninsured rates, at 19% and 11%, respectively, than white Americans, 8% of whom are uninsured.
Black Americans are also twice as likely as white people to die of diabetes, 22% more likely to die of heart disease, and 71% more likely to die of cervical cancer.
In the country's healthcare system established for all veterans, though, Black men are significantly less likely to develop heart disease, while high-quality health coverage erases nearly half the racial disparities for women with breast cancer.
"This policy will save lives, I want to make that clear," Bush told The Nation on Thursday. "I hope this hearing will be one more step forward in our commitment to ensuring everyone in this country, and particularly our Black, brown, and Indigenous communities, have the medical care they need to thrive."
In addition to showing how quickly a for-profit healthcare system--in which medical coverage is tied to employment for more than half the country--can leave millions without care, progressives have said since the pandemic began that the crisis demonstrated the need for Medicare for All in other ways.
As Common Dreams reported in 2020, for-profit health insurers have illegally hit Americans with surprise medical bills for Covid-19 testing and treatment, with some being billed for thousands of dollars for services advertised as free--and necessary for public health.
"Americans deserve a healthcare system that guarantees health and medical services to all. Congress must implement a system that prioritizes people over profits, humanity over greed, and compassion over exploitation," Bush told The Nation.
The announcement of the hearing comes two weeks after House Democrats pulled $15.6 billion in pandemic response funding from an omnibus spending bill, a move that forced the federal government to end coverage of Covid-19 tests and treatment for uninsured Americans.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is moving ahead with a scheme to privatize the existing Medicare program, continuing an experiment first pushed by former Republican President Donald Trump.
In the Senate this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced that he soon plans to reintroduce a Medicare for All proposal. Next week's hearing will consider a shift to the Medicare for All proposal put forward in the House by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
Marking the twelfth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson said Wednesday, "It is more clear than ever that we need improved and expanded Medicare for All."
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