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center for popular democracy
Ocasio-Cortez, Smith Push Bill to Create Social Housing Authority
"Because we believe that housing is a human right, like food or healthcare, we believe that more Americans deserve the option of social housing."
Sep 18, 2024
"It's becoming nearly impossible for working-class people to buy and keep a roof over their heads. Congress must respond with a plan that matches the scale of this crisis."
That's according to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who on Wednesday introduced the Homes Act in a New York Times opinion piece and an event with supporters of the proposal on Capitol Hill.
"Because we believe that housing is a human right, like food or healthcare, we believe that more Americans deserve the option of social housing," the pair wrote in the Times. "That's why we're introducing the Homes Act, a plan to establish a new, federally backed development authority to finance and build homes in big cities and small towns across America. These homes would be built to last by union workers and then turned over to entities that agree to manage them for permanent affordability: public and tribal housing authorities, cooperatives, tenant unions, community land trusts, nonprofits, and local governments."
"Our housing development authority wouldn't be focused on maximizing profit or returns to shareholders," the congresswomen continued. "Rent would be capped at 25% of a household's adjusted annual gross income. Homes would be set aside for lower-income families in mixed-income buildings and communities. And every home would be built to modern, efficient standards, which would cut residents' utility costs. Renters wouldn't have to worry about the prospect of a big corporation buying up the building and evicting everyone. Some could even come together to purchase their buildings outright."
In addition to establishing the new authority under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the bill would repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which prevents the use of federal money for building new public homes. Under the new plan, construction would be funded by congressional spending and Treasury-backed loans.
"In New York, the average worker would need to clock in 104 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. "This country is staring down a full-blown housing crisis. A crisis where affordable housing is slipping out of reach."
"This bill would create more than 500,000 jobs and create 1.25 million affordable housing units," she noted, declaring that "everyone deserves a place to call home."
It's not just New York City where lower-wage people are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Smith pointed out that "more than 90% of workers cannot afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. Americans across the country are bidding for homes against the wealthiest financial firms and they're losing."
"We have a severe housing crisis," she stressed. "The private market cannot meet this moment on its own. The Homes Act meets peoples' needs through social housing."
As Jacobin's Samuel Stein wrote Wednesday:
The housing system sketched out in the Homes Act looks nothing like what we are used to in the United States. Though we have an important social housing legacy, we have never normalized decommodification as the cornerstone of our housing system.
Introducing legislation like the Homes Act does not accomplish that goal in and of itself, but it offers us a concrete depiction of what that transition could look like. It also highlights the severe disjuncture between what our housing and urban planning system does right now—promote private profits in real estate while minimizing the public provision of housing—and what we need it to do.
The goal of legislation like this is not to pass it immediately, since no sober person would expect the current U.S. Congress to line up in support. Nor is the goal to supplant the messy work of organizing with the schematic and technical language of legislation. Instead, the point is to inspire organizing: to show that the status quo is not the only way our housing could operate, to give tenant organizations a concrete and affirmative vision to build toward, and to offer socialist candidates for office a platform to run on.
The bill to create a social housing authority—introduced less than two months out from the U.S. general election—is backed by the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and its affiliates from across the country.
"Working families are being forced to make sacrifices in order to pay the skyrocketing cost of keeping a roof over their heads, while corporate landlords and Wall Street executives are getting even richer," said CPD co-executive directors Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper. "This legislation provides a clear alternative to for-profit housing. It creates a framework to make community-owned, permanently affordable green social housing a reality."
Advocates from both sponsors' states also spoke out in favor of the bill.
"In Greater Minnesota, counties and towns don't have staff to build affordable housing projects, financing is another huge issue. We don’t have as many philanthropic organizations or financial institutions as urban areas," explained Noah Hobbs, policy director at One Roof Community Housing in Duluth. "This bill is the first real investment we've had in years. We're incredibly proud to endorse this legislation."
Aisha Hernandez, secretary of the Coalition to Save Affordable Housing at Co-op City in the Bronx, said that "cooperative housing gave me the ability to co-own my home. A few years ago, my neighbors and I came together to ensure our housing stays affordable, that our management is working in the interest of homeowners and prevent any corporate takeover of Co-op City."
"We are co-owners, not at the whims of corporate landlords," Hernandez added. "I want my fellow Americans to have the same access to housing that co-op has afforded me. This bill has the ability to do that. So let's get it done."
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50+ Groups Demand Biden Go Further on US Housing Crisis
"With the Supreme Court decision to criminalize people who are unhoused, we need you to stand up and create more humane housing policies today."
Aug 13, 2024
In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that is devastating for homeless people, over 50 organizations on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden to take immediate action to address the nation's housing emergency before his first term ends next January.
"We appreciate the steps your administration has taken to address America's affordable housing crisis," the coalition wrote, applauding his proposed 5% cap on rent hikes for tenants of corporate landlords and "regulatory actions to use public land for affordable housing, provide grants for deeply affordable homes, and require 30-day notice for rent increases and lease expirations."
Noting that Biden is not seeking a second term—Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is set to face former Republican President Donald Trump in the November election—and the urgency of the housing crisis, the groups argued that "taking stronger action will resonate deeply with working and low-income people and people of color nationwide."
"Now is a critical moment for aggressive action to help end the worst housing and homelessness crisis our country has ever seen, help renters and houseless folks struggling with the cost of rent now, and set the country on a long-term path of providing safe, stable, and permanently affordable rental housing for decades to come," the letter states. "We, the undersigned, are calling on you to show leadership by using your executive authority immediately, to effect change now—during the worst housing and homelessness crisis of a generation."
"We must urgently create a more just and sustainable housing system."
Specifically, the coalition is calling for Biden to issue one executive order to establish an Office of Social Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and another for rent regulations and good cause eviction protections in federally insured properties.
Additionally, the groups want Biden to demand federal legislation supporting the right of all renters to organize and bargain collectively as tenant unions with landlords over rents and living conditions, along with appropriating $1 trillion over a decade to create 12 million permanently affordable homes, as well as $230 billion to fully repair and green existing public housing.
The letter—part of the House Every One! campaign—is led by the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action and backed by groups including Stand Up Alaska, Make the Road Connecticut, Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement, Florida Rising, New Georgia Project, Step Up Louisiana, Maryland Communities United, Maine People's Alliance, Detroit Action, TakeAction Minnesota, New York Communities for Change, One Pennsylvania, Texas Organizing Project, and Our Future West Virginia.
As part of the campaign, "during the month of August, thousands of renters and community groups across the country will host local town hall meetings to call on their local and national representatives to crack down on corporate landlords, cap rents, and invest in tenant-owned, permanently affordable green social housing," CPD said in an email Monday.
The coalition wrote to Biden Tuesday that "we must protect families from the looming threat of unprecedented homelessness and displacement; halt Wall Street speculation and corporate landlords' growing influence over the housing market; create truly affordable green social housing; and redress our federal government's history of institutionalized bias, putting us on a path towards greater racial, economic, and gender equity."
"We all deserve a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home," the letter says. "We must urgently create a more just and sustainable housing system."
The letter also stresses that "with the Supreme Court decision to criminalize people who are unhoused, we need you to stand up and create more humane housing policies today, nodding to the City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson ruling. The right-wing justices ruled that local governments can enforce bans on sleeping outdoors, regardless of whether they are able to offer shelter space.
Some Democrats are under fire for welcoming the June ruling—including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is widely believed to have presidential ambitions. Since the decision, Newsom has issued an executive order directing officials to clear out homeless encampments, participated in clearing of a Los Angeles encampment, and threatened to withhold funding from counties that don't crack down on unhoused people.
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Analysis Shows Embracing Bold Renter Protections Can Help Democrats Win in 2024
"Tenant protections aren't just good policies—they're good politics," said one housing justice campaigner.
Jun 18, 2024
An analysis released Tuesday bolsters an argument that progressive lawmakers and organizers have been making with growing urgency in the lead-up to the critical November elections: Housing should be at the top of the Democratic Party's—and President Joe Biden's—agenda.
The research brief, authored by Russell Weaver of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) Buffalo Co-Lab, shows that tenants are a "large, untapped political base" that can be mobilized by candidates who offer bold solutions to the housing crisis and support the rights of renters against the predatory landlords squeezing them for profit.
While homeowners typically turn out to vote at a far higher rate than tenants, Weaver noted, the "owner-renter turnout gap is nearly cut in half when candidates run on renter-friendly platforms." Renters in New York state (NYS)—the focus of the new analysis—are more likely than homeowners to be registered as Democrats or members of the Working Families Party.
Analyzing the results of New York's statewide general election in 2022, Weaver found that NYS tenants "might have been relatively motivated to turn out for candidates who were vocal supporters or co-sponsors of the 2022 state-level Good Cause Eviction bill, which protects renters against rent hikes and evictions."
"In NYS Senate races that did not feature such a candidate, the average turnout rate among likely renters was roughly 29% (after adjusting for race-ethnicity and political party)," Weaver wrote. "In races that included Good Cause proponents, however, average renter turnout was more than five percentage points higher, at 34.1%—a statistically significant difference."
Weaver said in a statement that his analysis underscores that "candidates who campaign on housing affordability and tenant protections have the potential to significantly boost renter turnout, which could be decisive in tightly contested races."
"An organized tenant voting bloc could be the key to jump-starting a statewide housing policy agenda that works for all New Yorkers," said Weaver.
The findings could also have implications for national races as rent remains high across the country, leaving roughly half of U.S. tenants unable to afford their monthly payments as corporate landlords and billionaire investors gobble up rental properties and drive up costs. The Federal Reserve is also making the crisis worse by keeping interest rates elevated.
"This brief tells us what we already know: Renters are a powerful voting bloc that will determine the 2024 election," Katie Goldstein, a housing justice organizer at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), said of Weaver's analysis. "We can't leave these votes on the table."
"Tenant champions who run on these issues will be rewarded at the ballot box—and politicians who fail to do so will be voted out of office."
CPD, Right to the City Action, and HIT Strategies released survey data earlier this month showing that 87% of U.S. voters believe the "cost of rent and housing is a major or big problem in their state" and that 70% said they are "more likely to vote for someone who supports rent stabilization policies."
The new research brief and polling data strengthen the case for making housing a top priority for an incumbent president and Democratic lawmakers hoping to defeat their Republican opponents in November.
"Tenant protections aren't just good policies—they're good politics," said Esteban Girón, member of the Tenants PAC Board. "Candidates have the opportunity to win big by committing to keep rents affordable and protect tenants from displacement."
At a gathering in Los Angeles in early April, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and other lawmakers at the national, state, and local levels in imploring Democrats to elevate bold housing policies and tenant protections such as federal rent control to the top of the party's agenda.
"This is the richest country on Earth. We're not a poor country," Sanders said at the event. "Can we build affordable housing that we need? Can we protect? And the answer is of course we can. But it will require a massive grassroots effort to transform our political system to do that."
Politico reported earlier this year that Biden has privately expressed "increasing concern" that housing costs are putting his reelection hopes in jeopardy.
"The White House is now pushing a range of bulked-up tax credits to incentivize existing homeowners to sell their starter homes, as well as expand rental assistance and extend help for lower-income buyers with their down payments," the outlet noted. "Yet all those ideas require legislation. And while the White House has publicly argued the crisis affects red states just as much as blue states, aides privately acknowledge any movement is a long shot in an election year. Indeed, Republicans have been quick to pan Biden's housing push."
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not released a housing agenda as he vies for another four years in the White House. During his first term as president, Trump repeatedly pursued steep cuts to federal housing programs and assailed affordable housing initiatives.
Brahvan Ranga, political director of For the Many, said Tuesday that it is "critical we elect legislators who will enact policies that expand tenants' rights, create and maintain affordable green social housing, and affirm housing as a guaranteed right."
"The housing crisis is front of mind for tenants as they head to the polls—both in Democratic primaries and general elections. As housing costs continue to rise and working families struggle to stay in their homes, corporate real estate and greedy landlords are raking in record profits," said Ranga. "Tenant champions who run on these issues will be rewarded at the ballot box—and politicians who fail to do so will be voted out of office."
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'The Pressure Is Working': Biden Weighs Climate Emergency Declaration
Campaigners urged the president to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
Apr 18, 2024
The youth-led Sunrise Movement on Thursday celebrated Bloomberg reporting that "White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency."
The Wednesday revelation came just two days after six young activists were arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles, California home to increase pressure on the Biden administration to make such a declaration, which would unlock various federal powers to combat the fossil fuel-driven global crisis.
According to Bloomberg:
Top advisers to President Joe Biden have recently resumed talks about the merits of such a move, which could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling, and curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because a final decision has not been made.
White House advisers are divided over the idea of declaring a climate emergency, with some saying it wouldn't provide Biden with enough newfound authority to make substantial changes, the people said. Others, however, argue such an announcement would galvanize climate-minded voters.
"The pressure is working. Let's keep it up," Sunrise said on social media, highlighting some of what Biden—who claimed last year that "practically speaking," he had already declared a national climate emergency—could do with a real declaration.
Sunrise wasn't alone in welcoming the news. The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action said that "we've BEEN calling for a climate emergency!! Now, the White House is considering declaring one."
The group urged Biden to "keep listening to the millions of young, people of color, and working-class voters who are demanding climate policy that meets the moment."
As Biden and Harris have campaigned for reelection in November—when they are expected to face former Republican President Donald Trump, whose plan for the planet is "drill, baby, drill"—the Democrats have encountered intense pressure from campaigners including members of CPD and Sunrise to step up their climate actions.
"I'm on the frontlines raising my voice for my Black and Latine families and friends, because I know that we deserve to have affordable housing and healthcare, we deserve an administration who will fight for us, but instead of declaring a climate emergency, we are seeing Biden and Harris expand oil and gas production to record levels," 18-year-old Ariela Lara, who was arrested at Harris' house, said Monday.
Climate campaigners have praised the Biden administration for parts of the Inflation Reduction Act and a recent pause on liquefied natural gas exports but blasted the president for skipping last year's United Nations summit, continuing fossil fuel lease sales, and enabling the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Willow oil project, and construction of the nation's largest offshore oil terminal.
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400,000+ US Citizens to Top Democrats: Fix Supreme Court Corruption
"It's time for Senate leaders to step in and do something," said one campaigner. "If the court cannot act in an ethical manner and put the will of the people over their wealthy benefactors, then Congress must act now."
Oct 30, 2023
National advocacy groups representing millions of U.S. citizens on Monday delivered over 400,000 petition signatures to the offices of top Senate Democrats to demand congressional action on alleged United States Supreme Court corruption.
The groups want senators to investigate recent claims against conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and to bring Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-R.I.) Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act up for a floor vote.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats advanced the bill—which would require an enforceable code of ethics and stronger disclosure rules—in July, but it is unlikely to pass the divided upper chamber or the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
"Each scandal is brushed aside because the justices know that there will be no consequences, but today we are saying: Enough is enough."
Still, the groups—including Center for Popular Democracy, Demand Justice, Indivisible, MoveOn, and Stand Up America—submitted the signatures to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
"Each scandal is brushed aside because the justices know that there will be no consequences, but today we are saying: Enough is enough," said Stand Up America executive director Christina Harvey. "We cannot afford to sit back and hope this issue resolves itself. We need urgent action to meet this moment. It's time for Senate leaders to step in and do something. If the court cannot act in an ethical manner and put the will of the people over their wealthy benefactors, then Congress must act now."
The petition delivery and related press conference outside the court came after the U.S. Senate Finance Committee last week released a report detailing how Thomas may have had a substantial amount of a loan for a luxury RV forgiven by a wealthy friend—which an attorney for the justice disputed to The New York Times but did not provide documentation to support.
Thomas has already faced calls to recuse himself from certain cases or resign from the court over his ties to the Koch network, fellow members of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, and billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow.
Alito has similarly come under fire this year for declining to recuse himself from multiple cases after revelations of his connections to hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, as well as for publicly casting doubt on the power of Congress to reform the court.
"While we appreciate the steps Senate Democrats have taken to address the ethical disasters currently destroying the Supreme Court's integrity and reputation, it is clear that more must be done," said Meagan Hatcher-Mays, Indivisible's director of democracy policy.
"The conservative justices at the center of this almost comical corruption are now openly mocking Congress' authority to rein them in, and they and their network of billionaire benefactors have been emboldened due to a lack of real consequences," she noted. "Congress has both the authority and a constitutional duty to reform the court when the justices throw the institution this far off the rails."
"That starts with subpoenas," Hatcher-Mays added. "Indivisibles across the country urge Majority Leader Schumer and Sen. Durbin to take swift and bold action by issuing subpoenas to address this crisis of democracy before it's too late."
Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of Center for Popular Democracy, stressed that "if they had any shame or conscience, Justices Thomas and Alito would hang up their robes and resign. But they don't."
"It's in the Senate's hands and it must act now," she declared. "Our senators must investigate Justices Thomas and Alito, remove them from their seats, hold hearings, and pass a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices."
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Black, Brown, and Indigenous Climate Justice Activists Take Center Stage in NYC
Our multiracial movement of climate leaders and defenders is turning up the volume over the bullhorn at next week’s March to End Fossil Fuels—bringing the crisis to the footsteps of the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit.
Sep 15, 2023
The following is part of a series of opinion pieces Common Dreams is publishing in the lead-up to the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, September 17 in New York City. Read the rest of the series and our complete coverage here.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s dangerously hot out there. Record-breaking heat—an all-too-familiar byproduct of climate change—has claimed 142 American lives this Summer and closed schools across the East Coast. Category 5 Hurricane Lee hovers near the Caribbean only days after Hurricane Idalia pounded Florida with 125 mile-per-hour winds while more than 1,000 Hawaiians lost their lives to the wildfires in Maui.
The climate crisis is killing us. And we know the racial wealth gap that besieges Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities exponentially increases their risk of exposure to environmental and climate disasters. It’s why our multiracial movement of climate leaders and defenders is turning up the volume over the bullhorn at next week’s March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City—bringing the crisis to the footsteps of the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit.
BIPOC communities have always lived at the intersection of wealth disparity and the climate crisis. For example, more than half of households in South Los Angeles—a community composed mostly of people of color—live below the poverty level. Nearly three-fifths of people living in that neighborhood didn’t have access to air conditioning in 2020. Moreover, a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies discovered that more than 30% of Black New Orleans residents didn’t own cars, which could’ve helped them escape Hurricane Katrina ahead of the storm. In fact, low-income communities of color are often systemically herded into low-lying areas that are at higher risk of catastrophic flooding from hurricanes.
As the largest progressive grassroots organizing network in the country, alongside 600+ organizations, we are mobilizing the largest march of civil society since the start of the pandemic to put all eyes on President Joe Biden and demand an end to fossil fuels.
Communities of color are disproportionately affected by diseases from air pollution caused by fossil fuel extraction and emissions. Federal policies have consistently greenlit corporations to earmark historically redlined areas as convenient covert landfills for oil and gas wells. More than 17 million folks living near them experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease, asthma, higher Alzheimer’s disease risk, and preterm births.
Then there’s Cancer Alley—where 30 large petrochemical plants are concentrated near primarily Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. These plants—including the Shintech ethylene plant—have polluted the air, seeped blue runoff into roadside ditches, and contaminated the water. Now, 1 of every 10 households has a prospect of at least one cancer death.
Last week the U.N. released an alarming report stating, “The window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing,” The globe has to cut its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 43% by 2030, and 60% by 2035, the report said. In order to meet these goals “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels is required.”
As the largest progressive grassroots organizing network in the country, alongside 600+ organizations, we are mobilizing the largest march of civil society since the start of the pandemic to put all eyes on President Joe Biden and demand an end to fossil fuels. The crisis demands that we amplify the voices of communities most impacted alongside powerful organizations like Make the Road NY, NY Communities for Change, and countless others traveling from as far away as Alaska.
Since Earth Day 2023 we have led escalated protests and civil disobedience to urge the Biden administration to act. We visited cities across America with a 120-foot banner, shut down public events and fundraisers to demand Biden declare a climate emergency and end the era of fossil fuels once and for all. As global leaders and heads of state gather this week’s first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit hosted by the U.N. Secretary-General, we need President Biden, arguably the most critical global leader, to bring the most ambitious plan to phase out fossil fuels. Since the start of his administration, he has approved more fossil fuel projects than former President Donald Trump—a step backward from what is truly needed.
It is true that the climate justice movement has historically struggled to be a truly multiracial movement that centers the voices of those most impacted by the unfolding crisis, and, even though climate mitigation only receives 2% percent of philanthropic giving and BIPOC-led organizations even less than that, it is Black, Indigenous, immigrant, working-class people of color who have been leading the efforts in the lead up to this historic march in NYC.
Last week’s New York Times/Siena poll showed Black and Brown voters have cooled toward the president. We urge him to woo that crucial voting bloc that elected him. The Inflation Reduction Act is a crucial first step, but it falls short of confronting the true scope of the crisis.
As Congress returns to the Capitol and Dems hit the campaign trail this election season, we demand that lawmakers and the White House make good on promises to end our reliance on fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy now before we’re past the point of no return.
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Progressive Coalition Launches Campaign to Demand Congress Act on SCOTUS Reform
"Unless we stand together, the Supreme Court is only going to further erode our rights, our democracy, and the quality of our lives and those of our loved ones."
Jun 12, 2023
Accusing the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority of "trampling long-standing judicial norms and legal precedent," a coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups on Monday announced a new campaign aimed at pushing Congress to rein in the "extreme" court.
Made up of "grassroots organizations, labor unions, and advocates for reproductive rights, gun violence prevention, the environment, workers' rights, and more," United for Democracy "kicks off with a $1 million ad campaign and multistate initiative to raise awareness about the court's impact on Americans' lives and freedoms," the coalition said in a statement.
Starting in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and "tapping into the growing attention paid to battleground states as we approach 2024," United for Democracy aims to "build pressure on Congress to act" by regulating the court's ethical and administrative aspects—and even by increasing the number of its justices.
"United for Democracy is launching with a clear message in Washington, D.C. and across the country: This extreme Supreme Court is hurting workers, families, communities, and our country," Stasha Rhodes, the campaign's director, said in a statement. "We are standing together to organize, fight back, and demand change."
"We are launching United for Democracy to make sure people understand what's at stake and how they can demand action from Congress."
"This Supreme Court has grabbed unprecedented power, rejected basic ethics, transparency, and accountability—and is implementing an extreme agenda that the American people have continuously rejected," Rhodes added. "We are launching United for Democracy to make sure people understand what's at stake and how they can demand action from Congress."
Bianka Emerson, president of coalition member Colorado Black Women for Political Action, said: "Our democracy is under attack. So many in this country worked and fought to provide for equality for all and we have seen in the past few years, the clock turning back on this very progress."
"Progress for women's health, voting rights, and even public safety have all been compromised," she added. "We must work to rein in the Supreme Court in order to secure a true democracy for generations to come."
Alliance for Justice president Rakim Brooks warned that "unless we stand together, the Supreme Court is only going to further erode our rights, our democracy, and the quality of our lives and those of our loved ones."
"America is supposed to be a country where the rule of law governs, not ideology, yet in recent years we've watched this court trample decades of precedent and eviscerate the rule of law to serve an ideological agenda," Brooks continued. "If that weren't bad enough, we now know Justice [Clarence] Thomas has been profiting for his profane use of public office."
Thomas is under fire for failing to report lavish gifts he and his relatives received from billionaire Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.
"Enough is enough; it's time we defend our court and take it back from those who would undermine its legitimacy and vital role in our democracy."
"Enough is enough; it's time we defend our court and take it back from those who would undermine its legitimacy and vital role in our democracy," Brooks added.
Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig said his group joined United for Democracy because "the growing Supreme Court corruption crisis has highlighted how fundamentally broken our court is and how urgently it needs reform."
"With United for Democracy, Accountable.US is proud to join forces with key partners to shine a light on the corrupt court and demand that it stop putting special interests over everyday Americans," Herrig added.
Some coalition members, including the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), are calling for an expanded Supreme Court.
"CPD has fought hard to hold U.S. Supreme Court justices accountable and expand the high court to stop a conservative majority that serves the interests of the powerful few," the group said. "We're proud to join the United for Democracy coalition at a moment when justices have gotten away with egregious ethical breaches, strong-armed minority and dissenting voices, and ignored the will of the people."
United for Democracy members include the American Federation of Teachers, Planned Parenthood, League of Conservation Voters, Dēmos, Giffords, National Education Association, Fair Fight, SEIU, NARAL, MoveOn, March for Our Lives, Black Voters Matter Fund, Alliance for Justice, LUCHA, UltraViolet, and many others.
The campaign is also supported by U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a leading congressional proponent of Supreme Court ethics reforms.
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Over 650 Progressive Groups Vow to Fight 'Dirty' Manchin Deal 'With Everything We've Got'
Broad coalition calls on Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to "stand with the communities who continue to bear the brunt of harm from fossil fuels and act to prevent wholesale climate disaster."
Aug 24, 2022
A broad coalition of more than 650 climate and progressive advocacy groups Wednesday called on congressional Democratic leaders to reject Sen. Joe Manchin's "alarming" demands for U.S. fossil fuel projects contained in a "dirty" side deal that the West Virginia Democrat secretly negotiated to gain his support for his own party's historic but watered-down package on climate, taxes, and drug price reforms.
"After the IRA paved the way for another decade of fracking and pipelines, we have no choice but to fight this dirty deal with everything we've got."
"We are writing to express our strenuous opposition to any additional fossil fuel giveaways," states the coalition's letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), noting that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed by President Joe Biden last week "already included large giveaways to polluters."
"We call on you to unequivocally reject any effort to promote fossil fuels, advance unproven technologies, and weaken our core environmental laws," the letter adds. "You must stand with the communities who continue to bear the brunt of harm from fossil fuels and act to prevent wholesale climate disaster."
According to a leaked one-page summary of what critics have called "the ultimate devil's bargain," the proposal would prioritize approval of projects with "strategic national importance," set time restrictions for reviewing permits, alter federal water rules, limit lawsuits, and increase federal authority for certain facilities. Manchin is also pushing for the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a fracked gas project that runs through his home state but is opposed by many of his constituents.
"This fossil fuel wish list is a cruel and direct attack on environmental justice communities and the climate," the new letter argues. "Prolonging the fossil fuel era perpetuates environmental racism, is wildly out of step with climate science, and hamstrings our nation's ability to avert a climate disaster. Supporting this legislation would represent a profound betrayal of frontline communities and constituents across the country who have called on you to prevent the multitude of harms of fossil fuels and advance a just, renewable energy future."
The groups--including the Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Justice Alliance, Green New Deal Network, Indivisible, Oil Change International, MoveOn, NAACP, Oxfam America, People's Action, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement--are demanding "bold congressional action to address the existential threat of climate chaos."
Such action "requires limiting the production of oil, gas, and coal, which are responsible for 85% of greenhouse emissions and are the root driver of the climate crisis," the letter states. "Relying only on large-scale investments in renewable energy and environmental justice alone will not stave off climate disaster if Congress simultaneously puts its legislative foot on the gas to expand fossil fuel production and false solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, biomass, biofuels, factory farm gas, and nuclear power."
The letter acknowledges that Manchin wants to tie his dirty deal--which is already facing opposition from some progressives in the House--to legislation to fund the federal government after the end of next month. The right-wing Democrat has even threatened a government shutdown if members of both parties don't back his proposal.
The coalition's letter charges that "tethering this legislation to any must-pass legislation including a continuing resolution to fund the federal government is morally abhorrent. Holding the funding of the entire federal government hostage to satiate one senator with a heavy financial self-interest in fossil fuels is beyond irresponsible."
"Sacrificing the health and prosperity of communities in Appalachia, the Gulf Coast, Alaska, the Midwest, the Southwest, and other frontline communities around the country makes this side-deal profoundly disgraceful," the documents adds. "Our communities and our collective future require the political courage to stop the fossil fuel stranglehold once and for all."
Representatives of groups that signed the letter echoed its urgent tone.
"This dirty side deal is nothing short of a wholesale giveaway to the fossil fuel industry to the detriment of frontline communities, tribal nations, and Mother Earth," said Joye Braun, national pipelines organizer of the Indigenous Environmental Network. "The world is on fire and negotiating the amount of fuel for those flames is not acceptable. Congress needs to understand that there is no compromise when it comes to protecting the next seven generations of life and beyond."
According to Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, "it's atrocious that Congress is even considering dismantling bedrock environmental protections just to please one senator." He called the effort a "poisonous plan" that "must be stopped."
"The grassroots climate movement is fired up to stop this fossil fuel expansion deal, and the sit-ins at Sen. Schumer and Murray's offices last week are just the beginning."
The letter follows protests against the deal and resulting arrests last week at the offices of both Schumer and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the party's third-ranked member in the Senate.
Thomas Meyer, national organizing manager at Food & Water Watch, told Common Dreams that "Manchin and Schumer are in for a rude awakening if they thought they could slip this deal through without a fuss."
"The grassroots climate movement is fired up to stop this fossil fuel expansion deal, and the sit-ins at Sen. Schumer and Murray's offices last week are just the beginning," Meyer added. "After the IRA paved the way for another decade of fracking and pipelines, we have no choice but to fight this dirty deal with everything we've got."
The Stop MVP and People vs. Fossil Fuels coalitions are planning a public demonstration against Manchin's deal in the nation's capital next month. "No Sacrifice Zones: Appalachian Resistance Comes to D.C." is set to kick off at 5:00 pm local time on September 8 at the Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon.
"We are done being sacrifice zones, and we must stop this bill and MVP!" organizers said in a statement Tuesday. "We want to build community between intersectional Appalachian resistance organizations and have their voices heard! We must protect bedrock environmental laws and public input. We are in solidarity with all frontlines of the climate crisis."
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday granted MVP's request to extend its certificate of public convenience and necessity by four years--a move that Russell Chisholm of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition said "emphasizes the brutal length and uncertainty of the project."
"This project should never be built and this decision subjects our communities to prolonged harm," he added. "That's why tens of thousands of people submitted comments to stop FERC from granting this extension. Now we're taking our growing movement to D.C. to demand decision-makers stop MVP and all pro-fossil fuel legislation."
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US Mobilization Planned to Demand 'Livable, Just, and Healthy Planet for All'
"We've already waited too long to enact reforms that address this climate emergency," said the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy. "Our federal government must act now."
Apr 21, 2022
Over 20 advocacy organizations are planning a nationwide "Fight for Our Future" mobilization for Saturday to demand climate action from the Biden administration and Congress.
"There's a clear path forward for critical investments in climate, care, jobs, and justice, and Congress must seize this crucial opportunity to truly ensure the future we all deserve."
On the heels of Earth Day, demonstrators plan to gather in Washington, D.C., and communities across the United States to reiterate the necessity of pursuing bold policies to combat the fossil-fueled planetary emergency, citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released earlier this month.
The organizing comes not only in the midst of the climate emergency but also as Russia's war on Ukraine and price gouging by fossil fuel giants--in the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic--drive up the cost of gas.
Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz in a statement that "in this unprecedented moment of climate crisis, rising prices, energy insecurity, and racial and environmental injustice, it's vital that our leaders fight to establish a livable, just, and healthy planet for all."
"The latest IPCC report made clear that we not only have an imperative to address the climate crisis, but also the means to do so--doing so just requires the political will to make transformational investments at the scale and speed the crisis demands," he added. "There's a clear path forward for critical investments in climate, care, jobs, and justice, and Congress must seize this crucial opportunity to truly ensure the future we all deserve."
The Build Back Better Act that would have delivered on some of President Joe Biden's campaign pledges to boldly tackle the climate emergency passed the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives last year but stalled in the evenly split Senate due to objections from a few corporate Democrats, particularly Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, whom critics call a "coal baron."
Though that package has no apparent path to Biden's desk, Politico reported earlier this month that "House progressives say they may be prepared to accept policies that boost fossil fuels in the short term in order to win Sen. Joe Manchin's support for a party-line climate change and social spending bill to help salvage their agenda ahead of the midterm elections."
"The reality is we don't have the votes to do everything we want," Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), a member of the House Climate Crisis Committee, told the outlet. "So compromise is called for. Is it the compromise I would like? No. But we have a saying in the Virginia legislature. Every now and again you have to swallow a toad. And this is swallowing a toad."
Manchin's office declined to comment on any specifics but signaled to Politico a willingness to keep discussing potential climate policy.
"Momentum is at our backs right now," said Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Mary Kay Henry, whose group is among those behind the forthcoming protests. "Now is the best and potential final opportunity for Congress to take action on climate and create millions of good-paying union jobs across our care economy."
"We simply cannot afford inaction: It's time to make a real investment in making our nation safer, cleaner, healthier, and also more equitable and resilient," she continued. "Caregivers and the people who depend on their services--young children, seniors, people with disabilities, and others--face grave danger in the event of life-threatening climate disasters. That's why we're joining with the 'Fight for Our Future' coalition to mobilize a massive nationwide coalition to call for action on climate and care."
Events are planned in dozens of cities, and "Biden administration officials will speak at the event in D.C., with confirmed attendance from White House deputy climate adviser Ali Zaidi and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory," according to The Washington Post.
"There have been so many discussions over the past year and a half, and the planet's clock is running out," Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for energy and environment policy at the Center for American Progress, another group organizing the events, told the newspaper.
"Heat is rising, storms are worsening, and vital resources increasingly flow to the powerful at the expense of poor, rural, Black, and Brown people."
"After Memorial Day, it becomes all about politics and campaigns, and everyone is focused on their reelections," she added. "So this is it. This is the last opportunity we're going to have for years to get these priorities over the finish line."
Other groups joining the mobilization include the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), Green New Deal Network, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, NAACP, People's Action, Poor People's Campaign, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement.
"We've already waited too long to enact reforms that address this climate emergency," CPD co-executive director DaMareo Cooper stressed in a statement, "and the suffering endured by people living in every corner of the world proves the immediacy of this crisis."
"The president and Congress must protect our planet and the people who call Earth home--now," Cooper declared. "Heat is rising, storms are worsening, and vital resources increasingly flow to the powerful at the expense of poor, rural, Black, and Brown people. The irreversible impact of global warming is no longer theoretical."
"From Alaska to Puerto Rico, our communities can't afford more bureaucratic delays in short and long-term solutions that develop clean energy and prevent natural disasters, massive community displacements, and crisis profiteering," the campaigner added. "Our federal government must act now."
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Progressive Coalition to Schumer: No More Cuts to Popular Build Back Better Bill
"Now is the moment to do everything in your power to ensure that we get the best, most inclusive, reconciliation bill possible across the finish line."
Dec 02, 2021
Amid reports that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer may put the House-approved Build Back Better Act up for a vote in mid-December, a coalition of over 100 progressive groups on Thursday urged the New York Democrat to prevent any further cuts to the budget reconciliation package.
"The Build Back Better Act has already been cut drastically."
"As we move forward to getting this critical legislation passed out of the Senate, we, the undersigned organizations, write to urge you to do everything in your power to preserve all of the critical investments included in the House-passed bill and reject efforts to further reduce or weaken the bill," the coalition's letter to Schumer says of the $1.75 trillion climate and social spending package.
"The Build Back Better Act has already been cut drastically, with some elements of the bill having been stripped entirely, namely Medicare expansion to dental and vision and the Clean Electricity Performance Program," the letter notes, "while others have been significantly weakened, such as the prescription drug negotiation plan, the immigration provisions that changed from citizenship to temporary status, and the slashing of funding for public and affordable housing, child care, education, paid leave, and other vital programs our people and our communities need."
Spearheaded by the Center for Popular Democracy, Indivisible, People's Action, and the Working Families Party, the letter follows House Democrats passing the Build Back Better package last month, after a few right-wingers in the party forced a delay and unpairing of the bill from bipartisan infrastructure legislation the Senate had approved earlier this year.
Democrats are using the budget reconciliation process to get the package--which contains several elements of President Joe Biden's campaign promises and commitments since taking office--through the evenly divided Senate. It has long been held up by a few lawmakers, primarily Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who have fought to water down the bill and oppose abolishing the filibuster to pass other legislation.
The coalition letter warns Schumer that "in order to ensure that the budget's current investments offer tangible improvements to the lives of working and poor people and place the U.S. on a path towards clean energy, nothing else must be cut from the bill."
"We appreciate your efforts to enact bold investments in our communities to begin to solve some of our society's biggest challenges," the letter adds, "and now is the moment to do everything in your power to ensure that we get the best, most inclusive, reconciliation bill possible across the finish line."
The Hill reports that an unnamed source said the top Senate Democrat was privately telling people the package could be brought to the floor as soon as the week of December 13.
"As soon as the necessary technical and procedural work with the Senate parliamentarian has been completed... the Senate will take up this legislation," he said during a Tuesday press conference. "Once that's complete, we're ready to move Build Back Better to the floor."
Schumer said on the chamber's floor Tuesday that "before we hit Christmas Day, it is my goal to have the Senate take action to debate and pass President Biden's Build Back Better legislation."
The letter and reporting on timing expectations come as new polling released this week by Data for Progress and Invest in America shows that the majority of U.S. voters across the political spectrum support the Build Back Act and want it signed into law by the end of the year.
Over half (52%) of all voters "believe it is urgent" that Congress pass the bill and 55% said it is "somewhat" or "very important" that it is signed by the year's end. Those figures are even higher--80% and 82%--for Democrats. Among Independents, the numbers were 54% for both questions.
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