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chris deluzio
Democrats Aim to Make GOP Pay as 'Angry' Voters See Health Insurance Premiums Soar
"Republican politicians who cut healthcare to pay for more billionaire tax cuts, or to increase profits for their corporate donors, are selling out working families," said Rep. Greg Casar.
Jan 02, 2026
The enhanced subsidies for people who buy their health insurance through exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act have officially expired, and Democratic lawmakers are ready to make sure voters know whom to blame going into the midterm elections.
Politico reported Friday that while Democrats in Congress are still pushing their Republican colleagues to allow a vote on renewing the enhanced subsidies, they have mostly settled on a political strategy of going scorched-earth on the GOP for letting them expire in the first place.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) told Politico that Americans who see their monthly premiums skyrocket in the wake of the subsidies' expiration will take out their anger on the GOP.
"I think the public’s angry," Bera said. "So I think they will blame the party in charge."
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) emphasized that the huge spikes Americans will see in their monthly premiums will help Democrats make the case that President Donald Trump and Republicans have failed to tackle the affordability crisis in the US.
“It’s part of the top issue, which is cost of living—whether it’s groceries, gas, housing, energy costs,” said Deluzio. “Healthcare seems to be top of mind as something that Congress can actually do to bring down the costs."
In a Friday social media post, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) also piled on and hammered the GOP for inaction on healthcare.
"Healthcare is a human right, not a bargaining chip," he wrote. "Republican politicians who cut healthcare to pay for more billionaire tax cuts, or to increase profits for their corporate donors, are selling out working families."
And its not just Democrats raising alarms about the expired subsidies, as Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said in an interview with BBC that was "pissed for the American people" about his party not holding a vote on renewing them.
"Everybody has a responsibility to serve their district, to their constituents," said Lawler. "You know what is funny? Three-quarters of people on Obamacare are in states Donald Trump won."
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Deluzio Gets Bomb Threats After Trump Said Hang Him for Warning Troops About Illegal Orders
"We stand with Rep. Deluzio and every patriot holding the line," said one veteran group. "We reject violence. We reject intimidation. And we will never apologize for defending the oath."
Nov 21, 2025
Just a day after President Donald Trump suggested that six congressional Democrats should be hanged for reminding members of the US military and intelligence community of their duty not to obey illegal orders, one of those lawmakers was the target of multiple bomb threats.
A spokesperson for US Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) said Friday afternoon that his "district offices in Carnegie and Beaver County were both the targets of bomb threats this afternoon. The congressman and congressional staff are safe, and thank law enforcement for swiftly responding. Political violence and threats like this are unacceptable."
On Tuesday, the former US Navy officer had joined Democratic Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (NH), and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), along with Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), for the 90-second video.
Trump—who notably incited the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol while trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential contest—lashed out at the six veterans of the military and intelligence agencies on his Truth Social platform Thursday, accusing them of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" and reposting a call to "HANG THEM."
Deluzio and the others have doubled down on their message that, as he says in the video, "you must refuse illegal orders."
In a joint statement responding to Trump's remarks, the six Democrats reiterated their commitment to upholding the oaths they took "to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," urged every American to "unite and condemn the president's calls for our murder and political violence," and stressed that "we will continue to lead and will not be intimidated."
Deluzio also addressed Trump's comments on CNN, denouncing his "outrageous call for political violence."
Other lawmakers, veterans, and political observers have also condemned Trump's comments—and the grassroots vet group Common Defense pointed to them on social media Friday, after Deluzio's staff confirmed the bomb threats.
"First: Common Defense unequivocally condemns political violence in all shapes, forms, and from any party. Violence has no place in our democracy. We believe in the rule of law. But we cannot ignore the cause and effect here," the organization said.
"The response to quoting the Constitution was a call for execution," the group continued. "Now, Rep. Deluzio, an Iraq War veteran, is facing actual bomb threats. When leaders normalize violence against political opponents, this or worse is the inevitable result."
"We stand with Rep. Deluzio and every patriot holding the line," Common Defense added. "We reject violence. We reject intimidation. And we will never apologize for defending the oath."
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GOP Leaders Silent After State Lawmaker Called for Rep. Jayapal to Be 'Hanged'
Top Republicans have claimed that calling Trump “fascist” or “authoritarian” is an incitement to “terrorism." But party leaders have said nothing about an explicit call for violence from one of their own.
Sep 30, 2025
It has now been almost a full week since a Republican Arizona state representative called for the execution of Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal. But top Republicans in Congress and the White House have remained silent, even as they blame the left for escalating "political violence."
On Wednesday, in response to an out-of-context clip from Jayapal's (D-Wash.) YouTube channel posted to social media, state Rep. John Gillette (R-30) wrote that the Washington state Democrat—who discussed how protesters could become "strike ready or street ready"—was calling for the overthrow of the federal government.
“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged... it will continue,” he wrote on X.
Video: Arizona's Family (3TV/CBS5)
But when the full video, published in March and titled "The Resistance Lab," was unearthed by the Arizona Mirror, it showed that Jayapal was discussing how to plan "nonviolent resistance actions." In fact, over the course of the hour-and-a-half training video, the words "nonviolent" and "nonviolence" were said a total of at least 18 times by Jayapal and other speakers.
"Getting strike ready," meanwhile, was a call for labor union members to prepare for work stoppages, which are legal.
Gillette has not apologized for his call to hang Jayapal. In fact, he doubled down, referring to the Mirror's reporting that he called for Jayapal's execution as "fake news," and reiterating the false claim that Jayapal "openly advocates for the violent overthrow of the US government."
On Friday, Jayapal issued a statement calling Gillette's comments "appalling, unacceptable, and dangerous from anyone, but particularly from an elected official."
Other Democratic lawmakers were quick to condemn the comments. Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) said Gillette "must be held accountable for inciting violence against a member of Congress." Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said Gillette's incitement "puts [Jayapal] and all active participants in our democracy in danger." Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the comments "sick and wrong" and said that "Republican leaders need to condemn this heinous call for violence, and there needs to be real accountability."
As of Tuesday, not a single Republican in Congress appears to have publicly condemned Gillette's comments—a deafening silence at a time when top members of the party, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have attempted to blame Democrats' rhetoric for recent acts of violence, like the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and last week's shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas.
On Friday, as part of a new strategy to combat what it calls "left-wing domestic terrorism," Donald Trump directed law enforcement to "disrupt" individuals and groups “that foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.” Possible "indicators" of terrorism, the memo says, include "anti-capitalism," "anti-Christianity," and “hostility” toward traditional views on family or “morality.”
Top Trump ally Steve Bannon told the New Republic that he expects the government will begin to criminally investigate and prosecute groups and individuals that describe ICE as "authoritarian," agreeing with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller that such First Amendment-protected criticism "incites violence and terrorism."
Following Kirk's assassination and the ICE shooting, liberal and leftist politicians, journalists, and activists across the board rushed to unequivocally condemn both acts of political violence, even while stating their disagreements with Kirk and with Trump's immigration policies.
Common Dreams contacted the offices of both Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) to ask if they would publicly condemn Gillette’s comments and urge others in their caucus to do the same. At press time, neither had responded.
No public condemnations appear to have come from Trump, Vance, or any other members of the Trump administration.
The local news network Arizona’s Family (3TV/CBS5) said it reached out to the office of Arizona’s House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-21) to ask if Gillette would face any discipline over his comments. The office did not respond.
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) harshly criticized their silence.
"Patriots don’t cower and meekly hide from condemning their political allies when they do stuff like this," he said. "Everybody should be condemning this call for violence. Period."
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After 'Years of Neglected Oversight,' House Votes to Repeal Authorization Used by Presidents to Wage 'Forever Wars'
One foreign policy expert said these congressional authorizations "have become like holy writ, documents frozen in time yet endlessly reinterpreted to justify new military action."
Sep 11, 2025
Almost exactly 24 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US House of Representatives voted Tuesday to finally repeal a pair of more than two-decade-old congressional authorizations that have allowed presidents to carry out military attacks in the Middle East and elsewhere.
In a 261-167 vote, with 49 Republicans joining all Democrats, the House passed an amendment to the next military spending bill to rescind the Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in the leadup to the 1991 Persian Gulf War and 2003 War in Iraq.
The decision is a small act of resistance in Congress after what the Quincy Institute's Adam Weinstein described in Foreign Policy magazine as "years of neglected oversight" by Congress over the "steady expansion of presidential war-making authority."
As Weinstein explains, these AUMFs, originally meant to give presidents narrow authority to target terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and use military force against Saddam Hussein, "have been stretched far beyond their original purposes" by presidents to justify the use of unilateral military force across the Middle East.
President George W. Bush used the 2002 authorization, which empowered him to use military force against Iraq, to launch a full invasion and military occupation of the country. Bush would stretch its purview throughout the remainder of his term to apply the AUMF to any threat that could be seen as stemming from Iraq.
After Congress refused to pass a new authorization for the fight against ISIS—an offshoot of al-Qaeda—President Barack Obama used the ones passed during the War on Terror to expand US military operations in Syria. They also served as the basis of his use of drone assassinations in the Middle East and North Africa throughout his term.
During his first term, President Donald Trump used those authorizations as the legal justification to intensify the drone war and to launch attacks against Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria. He then used it to carry out the reckless assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.
And even while calling for the repeal of the initial 2001 and 2002 authorizations, former President Joe Biden used them to continue many of the operations started by Trump.
"These AUMFs," Weinstein said, "have become like holy writ, documents frozen in time yet endlessly reinterpreted to justify new military action."
The amendment to repeal the authorizations was introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).
Meeks described the authorizations as "long obsolete," saying they "risk abuse by administrations of either party."
Roy described the repeal of the amendment as something "strongly opposed by the, I'll call it, defense hawk community." But, he said, "the AUMF was passed in '02 to deal with Iraq and Saddam Hussein, and that guy's been dead... and we're now still running under an '02 AUMF. That's insane. We should repeal that."
"For decades, presidents abused these AUMFs to send Americans to fight in forever wars in the Middle East," said Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) shortly before voting for the amendment. "Congress must take back its war powers authority and vote to repeal these AUMFs."
Although this House vote theoretically curbs Trump's war-making authority, it comes attached to a bill that authorizes $893 billion worth of new war spending, which 17 Democrats joined all but four Republicans Republicans in supporting Wednesday.
The vote will also have no bearing on the question of President Donald Trump's increasing use of military force without Congressional approval to launch unilateral strikes—including last week's bombing of a vessel that the administration has claimed, without clear evidence, was trafficking drugs from Venezuela and strikes conducted in June against Iran, without citing any congressional authorization.
Alexander McCoy, a Marine veteran and public policy advocate at Public Citizen, said, "the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs" are "good to remove," but pointed out that it's "mostly the 2001 AUMF that is exploited for forever wars."
"Not to mention, McCoy added, "we have reached a point where AUMFs almost seem irrelevant, because Congress has shown no willingness whatsoever to punish the president for just launching military actions without one, against Iran, and now apparently against Venezuela."
In the wake of Trump's strikes against Iran, Democrats introduced resolutions in the House and Senate aimed at requiring him to obtain Congressional approval, though Republicans and some Democratic war hawks ultimately stymied them.
However, Dylan Williams, the vice president of the Center for International Policy, argued that the repeal of the AUMF was nevertheless "a major development in the effort to finally rein in decades of unchecked use of military force by presidents of both parties."
The vote, Williams said, required lawmakers "to show where they stand on restraining US military adventurism."
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Voters Again Shown to Prefer Populism Over Neoliberal 'Abundance' Agenda in New Research
"Majorities of Democrats and independents and two in five Republicans believe the outsized power of billionaires and corporations in our government is a bigger problem than red tape and bureaucracy."
Sep 04, 2025
A new strategy memo written by a progressive think tank and a pair of high-profile Democratic Party operatives makes the latest case that a populist economic message will help the party more than a message centered around the so-called "abundance" agenda, Politico reported on Thursday.
The memo—which was written by Democratic pollster Geoff Garin and Democratic strategist Brian Fallon, in collaboration with Groundwork Collaborative—uses polling and focus group data to argue that a sharp populist message is more effective at winning back working-class voters than a message focused on cutting regulations in order to build more housing and infrastructure.
"While there are elements of the Abundance agenda that have appeal, and the choice on which messages to deliver is not zero-sum, a populist economic approach better solves for Democrats' challenges with working-class voters," the memo states. "If candidates are asking which focus deserves topmost billing in Democrats' campaign messaging, the answer is clear: Though some voters believe excessive bureaucracy can be a problem, it ranks far behind other concerns and tackling it does not strike voters as a direct response to the problem of affordability."
The memo went on to argue that "majorities of Democrats and independents and two in five Republicans believe the outsized power of billionaires and corporations in our government is a bigger problem than red tape and bureaucracy."
In a head-to-head messaging test, voters told researchers that government giving preference to large corporations and billionaires was a bigger problem than government bureaucracy causing inefficiencies by a nearly two-to-one ratio. By roughly the same ratio, the researchers found, voters preferred cracking down on price-gouging corporations to cutting bureaucratic red tape.
The researchers did credit abundance-centric messaging with generating "some fresh ideas that challenge the status quo," but warned that "there are significant questions about whether a focus on it in political messaging adequately meets the moment Democrats face today.
The memo is set to be presented to Democrats on Capitol Hill next week, and Politico noted that it has the support of Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), who represents a competitive congressional district and who in the past has embraced populist messaging.
The "abundance" movement got its name after a book released earlier this year by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, who both argued that Democratic-led state governments have put up too many bureaucratic roadblocks to achieve ambitious goals such as affordable housing and high-speed rail.
Some critics of the book, however, argue that it fails to address issues such as corporate power and wealth inequality as the real roadblocks to progressive change.
As Common Dreams reported last week, a recent analysis by Revolving Door Project and Open Markets Institute detailed how the abundance movement "erroneously" claims that environmental reviews hinder clean energy progress while having little to say about "the real causes of delay," including interference by fossil fuel-backed politicians and profit-driven privately-owned utilities.
The memo's release comes just as an "Abundance" conference is set to kick off in Washington, DC on Thursday that will include Klein and Thompson as featured speakers, as well as Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
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'This Is How It's Done': Dems Flip a PA State Senate District Trump Carried by 15 Points
"Republicans everywhere should be afraid," wrote Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin.
Mar 26, 2025
Democrats are cheering the Pennsylvania special election victory of state Senate candidate James Malone, who on Tuesday narrowly beat his Republican opponent and flipped a district that voted for U.S. President Trump over presidential candidate Kamala Harris by more than 15 points last November.
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) congratulated Malone on winning the race for the state's 36th Senatorial District on social media on Tuesday, writing that he was proud to stump with Malone in the borough of East Petersburg, where Malone serves as mayor. "This is a huge upset and an historic win for a Democrat in a Trump-won district, and we are leading the way in PA!" he wrote.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also touted the win on social media. "This is how it's done. Run everywhere. Run down ballot. Focus on local elections ASAP—from school board to councils to state legislatures. We build from there," she wrote on Tuesday.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin also congratulated Malone, and cast the victory as a repudiation of how Republicans have governed in Washington, D.C. since Trump returned to the White House.
"Republicans everywhere should be afraid," wrote Martin. "The best barometer we have of voters' feelings of the Trump-Musk administration is how they actually vote," referencing billionaire and GOP megadonor Elon Musk—who has been core to Trump's efforts to slash federal spending and personnel.
Malone told one local outlet that he's "very excited and really, really happy that all the work we put in has paid off."
Malone's win was the second electoral victory for Democrats in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Democrat Dan Goughnour won a state House seat in western Pennsylvania, securing Democratic majority control of the chamber by a single seat.
Democrats have struggled to find their footing since Trump returned to the White House in January. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has suffered scrutiny from members of his own caucus and liberal groups after he threw his weight behind a Republican-backed spending bill, breaking with House Democrats who had voted nearly unanimously to oppose it when the bill cleared that chamber. Democrats have also heard from constituents at town halls across the country, where some voters have turned out to demand lawmakers do more to counter the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, a "Fight Oligarchy" town hall tour organized by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and featuring Ocasio-Cortez at a number of stops has brought out huge crowds.
With the news of Malone's win, Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, struck an optimistic tone in a statement on Tuesday.
"Democrats are on a roll in state legislative races in 2025, from flipping red seats to defending one-seat majorities, which should put Republicans on edge," she wrote. "Both wins affirm Democratic leadership in a moment when GOP power is synonymous with chaos."
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Top Progressives Urge DNC to Reject Super PACs, Uplift Working-Class Base
Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders are pressing the Democratic Party to offer "a clear alternative and inclusive vision for how we will make life better for the 90% who are struggling in this economy."
Dec 10, 2024
In the wake of U.S. federal elections resulting in Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress—in no small part due to Democrats' failure to win working-class votes—leading congressional progressives are pushing a plan to rebuild the Democratic Party by rejecting corporate cash and uplifting low- and middle-income Americans.
In a memo first shared with Punchbowl News, outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), incoming Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), and CPC members Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) urge the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to "rebuild our party from the ground up."
The lawmakers call on DNC leadership to "create an authentic Democratic brand that offers a clear alternative and inclusive vision for how we will make life better for the 90% who are struggling in this economy, take on the biggest corporations and wealthiest individuals who have rigged the system," and expose GOP President-elect Donald Trump's "corporate favoritism" to "create a clear contrast with Republicans."
Jayapal outlined what she called "four core principles" for the next DNC chair, who hasn't yet been elected:
- Reform, restructure, and rebrand the Democratic Party from the ground up and commit to a 50-state strategy that builds power through state parties;
- Embrace grassroots donors and reject special interest and dark money, including by reinstating the DNC's 2008 ban on corporate political action committee donations, and pushing to prohibit super PAC spending in state primaries;
- Rebuild Democrats' multiracial, working-class base by uplifting poor, low-, and middle-income voices and concerns; and
- Highlight recent electoral successes while working to build broad coalitions to win elections.
The progressives' memo urges the DNC to "invest in showing our commitment to real populism versus Trump's faux populism
through lifting up working-class voices and issue-based campaigns that take on corporate concentration and monopoly power at the expense of working people."
The principles enumerated in the memo resonated beyond the CPC. Responding to the proposed agenda in a social media post, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) concurred: "The next DNC chair should absolutely refuse to take corporate PAC money. If we are the party of the working class—and we are—then let's raise $ like we mean it."
Casar, who before running for elected office worked as policy director for the Workers Defense Project—whose victories included rest and water breaks for outdoor laborers, anti-wage theft legislation, and living wage requirements—has repeatedly stressed the imperative "to re-emphasize core economic issues" that matter most to American workers.
"The core of the Republican Party is about helping Wall Street and billionaires. And I think we have to call out the game," Casar said last week during an interview with NBC News.
"The Democratic Party, at its best, can hold people or can have inside of its tent people across geography, across race, and across ideology," he added. "Because we're all in the same boat when it comes to making sure that you can retire with dignity, that your kids can go to school, that you can buy a house."
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A Year After Ohio Disaster, Renewed Calls for Rail Safety Legislation
"Folks like us, who live along or near the tracks, refuse to be treated as collateral damage in the way of big railroads' profits," said Congressman Chris Deluzio.
Feb 02, 2024
On the eve of the first anniversary of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, residents, lawmakers, and members of U.S. President Joe Biden's administration are renewing calls for Congress to swiftly pass federal legislation boosting rail safety.
In a Friday letter, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to "bring the Railway Saftey Act to the floor for a vote before Congress adjourns for the August recess," highlighting that the bill is backed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers as well as the Biden administration and former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner.
Deluzio, who introduced the House version of the bill with Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), noted that the Norfolk Southern train derailed and released hazardous materials "less than a mile from the Pennsylvania state line and the homes and farms of my constituents."
"Without dwelling on the resulting health problems, environmental scare, and general lack of trust that I still regularly hear from my constituents, I instead want to empathize that we cannot accept congressional inaction, and how the February 3, 2023 derailment could have been much worse," the congressman wrote. "Folks like us, who live along or near the tracks, refuse to be treated as collateral damage in the way of big railroads' profits."
"Over the last two centuries, railroad companies have wielded their power and influence to protect their profits and avoid commonsense safety measures, allowing them to cut corners and pad the pockets of their corporate shareholders at the expense of the American people," he explained. "After the East Palestine derailment, the big railroad lobby sprang into action once again and lobbied members of Congress—directing them to do nothing to make rail safer and risk cutting into their profits."
The Railway Saftey Act—led in the Senate by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and JD Vance (R-Ohio)—contains provisions to enhance safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials, reduce the risk of wheel bearing failures, require well-trained two-person crews, force carriers to face higher fines for wrongdoing, support communities impacted by disasters, and invest in safety improvements.
Brown and Vance have also issued fresh calls for action this week.
"Over the last year, I've visited East Palestine repeatedly, and our staff is there even more often," Brown said Tuesday. "Each time, we ask residents what we can do. They want the support and the compensation they are owed, but they do not want this derailment to define them. I don't want that either, and I don't want any other community in Ohio or around the country to have to deal with a disaster like this ever again."
"As I've told the people of East Palestine—and as I keep telling them: I'm here for the long haul," he added. "I will always fight for the people of East Palestine. I will always fight to hold Norfolk Southern accountable. And I will always fight to make our railways safer."
As Nexstar's Reshad Hudson reported Tuesday:
Vance says he's working with Brown to get the needed support for the bill.
"It's not going to eliminate every train crash, but it hopefully can make these things much less common because they happen way too often,” Vance said.
According to Roll Call, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters this week that his department has "done our part" and "we are pressing industry to do their part, Congress needs to act as well."
"Any congressional leader of any party who is serious about railroad safety should support funding for railroad safety inspections... and should support the Railway Safety Act," he said.
While the outlet noted that delays in the House are partly tied to a forthcoming national Transportation Safety Board investigation report, the bill's sponsors and Buttigieg are largely blaming industry opposition, with the secretary saying that "in the past, there have been times when Congress stood up against the railroad lobby... they should do that now."
The White House announced this week that Biden plans to visit East Palestine sometime in February "to meet with residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment and assess the progress that his administration has helped deliver in coordination with state and local leaders to protect the community and hold Norfolk Southern accountable."
The White House also reiterated the administration's support for the Railway Safety Act—a bill that is backed by workers but also contains loopholes that "you can run a freight train through," as Eddie Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, warned last year.
Other measures before Congress include the Railway Accountability Act—led by Brown along with Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who are also fighting to pass the Railway Safety Act.
Demands for congressional action on rail safety and more have also continued to pour out of East Palestine and surrounding communities—particularly from people who remain displaced and are suffering a wide range of symptoms.
"What I've been experiencing is some of the fear that I've never known in almost all of my 70 years," Stella Gamble, a grandmother of nine who lives less than a mile from the derailment, said in a testimony shared by The Real News Network. "I am so afraid for my grandchildren and for the other children in this town. My granddaughters have rashes on their skin. They've been having female issues. They get massive headaches."
"I think that the whole thing behind everything that's happened here is the same as it is everywhere else in this country. It's all about the money," Gamble added. "Everything about it is the money, and they will gladly sacrifice a few thousand Appalachians to keep their trains going through here... We're just a sacrifice. That's how I feel. And I feel like my grandkids are being sacrificed, too."
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Warren, Deluzio Grill Arms-Makers on How Much They Would Benefit From GOP Tax Cuts
"These tax breaks are nothing but corporate handouts," the lawmakers said in a letter to the CEOs of four military-industrial complex giants.
Jul 26, 2023
A pair of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday sent a letter to the CEOs of four of the largest corporations in the military-industrial complex asking how their firms would benefit from Republicans' proposed expansion of a Trump-era tax cut under which the companies stand to save billions of dollars.
In their letter to heads of Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) took aim at Republican efforts to extend provisions of the nearly $2 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in 2017.
One of those provisions, the so-called research and experimentation (R&E) deduction, would give the weapon-makers billions of dollars in retroactive tax breaks.
"A revival of the R&E tax break would add to the billions in savings your companies have already received from the 2017 Trump tax cuts."
" House Republicans, thanks to aggressive lobbying by Northrop Grumman, are trying to extend these tax giveaways while continuing to demand massive cuts to critical government programs relied on by millions of Americans," the letter states.
"A revival of the R&E tax break would add to the billions in savings your companies have already received from the 2017 Trump tax cuts, but it is far from clear if that is the best use of taxpayer dollars," the lawmakers continued. "As Congress continues to debate corporate tax reform and government funding levels—including proposals for further corporate tax giveaways, large increases [in] military spending, and cuts to other critical government programs—we should understand how your company and other massive corporations will be rewarded."
The lawmakers noted that Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman have acknowledged they would save between $500 million and $2 billion for 2022 alone if the R&E deduction is retroactively extended.
"These tax breaks are nothing but corporate handouts," the letter asserts. "Meanwhile, Republicans plan on paying for their bill by gutting the clean energy credits passed through the Inflation Reduction Act. These energy credits will help grow the U.S. economy up to $200 billion and create up to 1.3 million jobs nationally by 2030, mainly by incentivizing investments in research and domestic manufacturing."
On Wednesday, Warren—who last month partnered with Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Rep. Mike Garamendi (D-Calif.) to reintroduce legislation to crack down on price gouging by military contractors—led a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on what she called "the need to root out waste" and profiteering.
The Biden administration is asking Congress to authorize $886 billion in military spending in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives earlier this month. The bill is currently before the Senate.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who earlier said he would vote against the measure—"in the richest country on Earth, we do not need to force false choices. We can fund critical domestic priorities while maintaining a strong military, caring for our veterans, and getting Ukraine what it needs."
"But it will require the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share in taxes, and it will require members of Congress to care less about the profits of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or Raytheon, and more about the needs of working people," Sanders added. "Now is the time to rethink what we value as a society and to fundamentally transform our national priorities."
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Khanna, Deluzio Unveil 'Derail Act' to Prevent Another Disaster Like East Palestine
"We can't trust giant corporations like Norfolk Southern to keep communities safe out of the goodness of their hearts," said Rep. Chris Deluzio. "They're in it for profits, plain and simple."
Feb 28, 2023
Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the U.S. Transportation Department to impose more strict regulations on trains carrying hazardous materials, an effort to prevent disasters like the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio from happening in the future.
"The people in East Palestine and western Pennsylvania are the working-class folks who feel invisible and abandoned by our nation," Khanna said in a statement. "This is a moment where we need political leaders from all parties and from across the country to speak out loudly for better safety regulations and to acknowledge what so many Americans are going through."
If passed, the Decreasing Emergency Railroad Accident Instances Locally (DERAIL) Act would direct the head of the Department of Transportation to "modify the definition of 'high-hazard flammable train' to mean a single train transporting one or more loaded tank cars of a Class 3 flammable liquid or a Class 2 flammable gas and other materials the secretary determines necessary for safety."
Thanks in part to aggressive industry lobbying, the Transportation Department currently defines a high-hazard flammable train as one carrying hazardous materials in at least 20 consecutive cars or 35 total, limiting the number of trains subject to more stringent safety rules.
Deluzio, who represents constituents located just miles from the East Palestine derailment, said in a statement that many people are "worried about their health and livelihoods and whether their air, water, and soil will be safe" after the East Palestine wreck.
"Following this derailment, many of them are worried about their health and livelihoods and whether their air, water, and soil will be safe after this disaster," Deluzio added. "They want answers, accountability, and assurance that something like this will never happen again. For too long, railroads have prioritized profit ahead of public safety and their workers, and it is time to regulate the railroads. This legislation is an important step forward to finally strengthen our rail regulations and improve rail safety in communities like Western Pennsylvania and across America."
As The Lever has reported, the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in eastern Ohio and spilled toxic chemicals—including the flammable carcinogen vinyl chloride—was not being regulated as a "high-hazard flammable train" (HHFT) due to a narrow definition of the category adopted by the Obama administration.
"The Obama administration in 2014 proposed improving safety regulations for trains carrying petroleum and other hazardous materials," The Lever noted earlier this month. "However, after industry pressure, the final measure ended up narrowly focused on the transport of crude oil and exempting trains carrying many other combustible materials."
"Then came 2017," The Lever continued. "After rail industry donors delivered more than $6 million to GOP campaigns, the Trump administration—backed by rail lobbyists and Senate Republicans—rescinded part of that rule aimed at making better braking systems widespread on the nation's rails."
In addition to requiring tougher regulation of trains carrying hazardous substances, Khanna and Deluzio's bill would require rail carriers involved in any potentially toxic derailment to provide the National Response Center, state and local officials, and tribal governments with a list of dangerous materials present on the train no later than 24 hours after the crash.
The House Democrats' legislation comes as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is facing growing pressure to strengthen lax regulations that are allowing railroad giants like Norfolk Southern to cut corners in pursuit of greater profits—often with dangerous consequences.
More than 1,000 trains derail in the United States each year, according to one estimate. A recent USA Today analysis found that hazardous material violations by rail companies "appear to be climbing," with federal inspectors flagging 36% more infractions over the last five years than they did in the preceding half-decade.
The Norfolk Southern train that crashed in eastern Ohio had a reputation among workers as a serious safety hazard. The train, formally known as 32N but nicknamed "32 Nasty," included around 20 cars carrying hazardous chemicals.
Greg Hynes, the national legislative director of SMART Transportation Division—the union that represents the workers who staffed the derailed Norfolk Southern train—said Tuesday that Khanna and Deluzio's proposal represents "positive action to improve rail safety for Pennsylvania and America."
PennEnvironment executive director David Masur agreed, saying the measure would "take commonsense and important steps to improve reporting and the public's right to know about volatile and hazardous materials rumbling through U.S. communities every day."
"As the derailment and explosion in East Palestine, Ohio showed us," Masur said, "federal laws excluding freight companies from reporting the dangerous and explosive materials that they are carrying have loopholes large enough to drive a train through."
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