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judy chu
Outrage Over How ICE Tricked Newlyweds Speaks to 'Broader Pattern' Under Trump Agenda
"The number of people being grabbed at immigration check-ins or green-card hearings is despicable," said one writer. "They’re following the process... Yet they’re being disappeared."
Oct 01, 2025
Congresswoman Judy Chu was among many expressing anger on Tuesday evening over the Trump administration's detention of Barbara Gomes Marques, a film director who was detained by immigration agents last month after attending a "properly scheduled" meeting regarding her green card and is now facing the "very real possibility" of deportation.
Marques' experience, said Chu (D-Calif.), "reflects a broader pattern under [President Donald] Trump’s immigration policies that are unlawful and cruel."
Chu spoke out on the case after Marques' husband, Tucker May, brought attention to their experience on social media.
The couple, who was married just last year, went to the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles in September to meet with immigration officers regarding Marques' green card. She arrived in the US on a tourist visa seven years ago and has worked as a film director. She has no criminal record. As the libertarian CATO Institute reported in June, 65% of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first months of Trump's second term have no criminal convictions, despite the administration's repeated claims that its mass deportation and detention operation is aimed at cracking down on violent criminals.
May and Marques were accompanied by their lawyer at the meeting, which they believed was a step toward Marques becoming a US citizen and were told was "successful." But after the meeting, an agent told the couple Marques needed to accompany them down a hallway to make a copy of her passport due to a broken copier in the office.
"Once separated from her legal counsel, she was arrested," wrote May on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for the couple's legal fees.
"They're trying to remove her as far away as they can from her counsel, from her family, so that kind of cuts on her ability to defend herself."
ICE agents told the couple they were detaining Marques due to a missed court date in 2019; Marques and May have said they did not receive a letter about the court date and were not informed about it until she was detained.
May told reporters that ICE agents "put her in hand shackles and in leg shackles, and around the waist as well, like she's some hardened criminal. She had tears streaming down her face, and she told me one of the ICE agents pulled out his cellphone, laughing, and took a selfie."
May wrote that "the officer used the excuse of a broken copier to trick her into walking away from her lawyer," making it possible for his wife to be taken the Adelanto ICE Processing Center nearly 100 miles away. From there, Marques was sent to a facility in Arizona, and then to a "staging facility" in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Friends of the couple reported on their GoFundMe page Tuesday that a court had "officially acknowledged a motion to reopen Barbara’s case," stopping ICE from deporting her while a judge reviews the case. But the couple's lawyer, Marcelo Gondim, told CBS News he believes Louisiana has been planned as Marques' last stop before being deported.
"They're trying to remove her as far away as they can from her counsel, from her family, so that kind of cuts on her ability to defend herself," said Gondim, who filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop the government from deporting Marques. "Knowing that she's married to a US citizen, she has a legal way to become a permanent resident in a matter of months, if they just gave her a chance to find her paperwork."
Chu said she was "demanding that ICE follow the law" and emphasized that "unfortunately, Barbara’s case is not unique."
As Common Dreams reported last week, an Ecuadorian woman, Monica Moreta-Galarza, was thrown to the ground by an immigration agent at a courthouse in New York City as she pleaded with him not to arrest her husband, who had attended a court hearing as part of the family's legal application for asylum. The agent who attacked Moreta-Galarza was briefly suspended, but returned to work days later.
In July, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed a class action lawsuit accusing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) of "ongoing collusion" in which the agencies have directed government attorneys to request the dismissal of immigrants' legal cases at court hearings they were ordered to attend. Once their cases have been dismissed, immigrants have been arrested and detained by ICE agents waiting at courthouses.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian Columbia University student organizer and green-card holder, was also arrested by masked federal agents earlier this year after arriving at an immigration office in Colchester, Vermont, where he had been directed to go to complete his US citizenship application.
"People scheduled for hearings at immigration courts across the country continue to feel as though as they are walking into a trap set by the Trump administration," said the NIJC last week. "We must fight to save due process and keep telling these stories."
Marques' friends and family called on the public to send "an absolute storm of calls and emails" to lawmakers in Louisiana, demanding that her deportation be halted.
"The number of people being grabbed at immigration check-ins or green-card hearings is despicable," said one writer this week. "They’re following the process. They’re doing everything the right way. Yet they’re being disappeared. Barbara Marques: Say her name. Demand accountability. Help bring her home."
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Dem Congresswomen Demand ICE Agents Clearly Identify Themselves Amid Wave of Imposter Assaults
"Your current practices leave women vulnerable to life-altering violence," the lawmakers said. "It's past time to act."
Aug 11, 2025
Citing "horrifying" incidents in which masked men impersonating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents kidnap and assault women, more than 30 Democratic congresswoman on Monday demanded that ICE officers clearly identify themselves while conducting enforcement activities.
"All our lives, we are taught to fear masked men in unmarked vehicles. We learn we should run from such men to avoid being kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or killed," 33 members of the Democratic Women's Caucus (DWC) wrote in a letter led by Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), and Nydia Velásquez (D-N.Y.) to Trump administration officials including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and "border czar" Tom Homan.
"Yet, ICE is increasingly conducting raids and arrests in masks [and] plain clothes, without visible identification or badges, using unmarked vehicles—tactics that cause confusion, terror, and mistrust among the public," the letter continues. "These tactics invited perpetrators of violence against women to take advantage of the chaos by impersonating masked ICE agents in order to target and sexually assault women."
DWC Members sent a letter calling out recent cases of people impersonating ICE to abuse women. We demand DHS and ICE wear visible identification to stop enabling impersonators.Women deserve to be safe. We’ll keep fighting.
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— Democratic Women’s Caucus (@demwomencaucus.bsky.social) August 11, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reports of masked men—and in one case, a woman—impersonating federal officers began emerging shortly after President Donald Trump returned to the White House and ordered a mass deportation campaign that senior adviser Stephen Miller said aims to arrest at least 3,000 people per day. Since then, there have been reports of impostors abducting and subsequently sexually assaulting, robbing, or extorting women in states including Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
"This cannot continue and must be addressed immediately," the DWC letter insists. "The Democratic Women's Caucus is committed to defending the rights of all women and girls to live in safety. We call on the department to recognize this pervasive issue and to take immediate action."
"We demand that ICE agents visibly and clearly identify themselves when conducting immigration enforcement activities to stop enabling impersonators who leverage women's uncertainty and fear of immigration consequences to rape, harass, and abuse them," the congresswoman wrote.
"Your current practices leave women vulnerable to life-altering violence," the letter adds. "It's past time to act. Just like local police officers, ICE agents must be required to wear visible and clear identification to ensure their safety, better protect women, and deter impersonators. Finally, impersonators must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law and this violence must be denounced by this administration."
In a bid to unmask federal agents, Velázquez in June introduced the No Masks for ICE Act, which would ban agents from wearing facial coverings during enforcement actions and require them to wear clothing displaying their name and agency affiliation.
House lawmakers led by Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in June also introduced the No Secret Police Act, which would require all Department of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement officers to show their faces and clearly display their badges and identification when detaining or arresting people.
Similar legislation—the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (VISIBLE) Act of 2025—was introduced last month in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Also in July, upper chamber lawmakers led by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kain (D-Va.) proposed the similar Immigration Enforcement Identification Act.
States including California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have also introduced or plan to propose legislation banning masked agents and requiring clear identification.
"When agents of the federal government are operating like masked militias, we've crossed a dangerous line by turning immigration enforcement into a paramilitary secret police force that should shock the nation's collective conscience," New York state Sen. Patricia Fahy (D-46), who last month introduced the Mandating End of Lawless Tactics (MELT) Act, said at the time.
"This goes beyond immigration enforcement; it's intimidation and it echoes authoritarian regimes, not the United States of America," Fahy added.
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Dems Denounce Trump Official for Hiding Social Security Service Metrics
"The agency's removal of comprehensive customer service data calls into question whether this administration seeks to hide from the public the negative customer service impacts of its staffing cuts," said reads a letter led by Rep. Judy Chu.
Jul 14, 2025
As the Trump administration pushes to cut 7,000 jobs held by federal employees at the Social Security Administration, the agency that oversees the crucial anti-poverty program for senior citizens and people with disabilities has made numerous efforts to disguise the customer service crisis that the cuts have caused—and Democrats on Monday demanded answers about what one progressive lawmaker recently denounced as a "cover up" to hide long wait times.
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) led 18 Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee in writing to Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano, urging the former Wall Street executive to explain why several customer service metrics were deleted from the SSA's website just as Americans were facing longer wait times and a reduced ability to speak with customer service representatives rather than having their claims and questions handled through automation.
Chu spearheaded the letter weeks after the SSA stopped publishing more than 30 metrics related to the performance of its 1-800 number, retirement claims processing times, and disability decision reconsideration wait times.
"Early last month SSA abruptly removed that comprehensive menu of data from its website and replaced it with a new webpage that provides much more limited and sometimes misleading information on the agency's customer service performance," wrote the Democrats. "We are concerned that this new menu is far less helpful for our constituents in knowing what to expect when interacting with SSA."
In addition to omitting crucial information about how long retirees and people with disabilities can expect to wait to receive their benefits or to talk to a representative, Chu noted that the metrics that are currently shown "seem designed to pressure beneficiaries to use online tools instead of talking to live people, an option that simply doesn't work for all beneficiaries, especially the very old and people in rural areas with poor Internet access."
"The agency's removal of comprehensive customer service data calls into question whether this administration seeks to hide from the public the negative customer service impacts of its staffing cuts," reads the letter.
"Early last month SSA abruptly removed that comprehensive menu of data from its website and replaced it with a new webpage that provides much more limited and sometimes misleading information on the agency's customer service performance."
The letter was sent days after The Washington Post reported that the SSA is pulling staff from its field offices to act as customer service representatives for its 1-800 number following a surge in complaints about dropped calls and website crashes.
That change is likely to slow down responses to complicated claims cases that are often handled by field office staff, Jessica LaPointe, president of Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees, told the Post.
"So it's just going to create a vicious cycle of work not getting cleared, people calling for status on work that's sitting because the claims specialists now are going to have to pick up the slack of the customer service representatives that are redeployed to the teleservice centers," LaPointe said last week.
Alex Lawson, executive director of the advocacy group Social Security Works, told the Post last month as the metrics were deleted from the SSA website that the Trump administration's attempts to conceal the effects of its mass layoffs would not succeed.
"People notice when they can't get an appointment because their local field office has lost half its staff. When checks and decisions are delayed. When they get the runaround from an AI chatbot on the phone, instead of getting to talk to a real person," said Lawson.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the agency for "playing musical chairs to try and fill in the gaps" and suggested Bisignano "stop gutting the critical workforce that helps Americans every single day."
Chu and the other Ways and Means Committee Democrats emphasized that the agency recently restored one metric to its new website: a chart showing the six-year trend of disability determination processing times.
"That the agency chose to cherry pick and restore only this metric," they wrote, "and not any of the others that had been removed, only deepens our concern about why your agency continues to keep hidden certain metrics that had previously been publicly available."
The Democrats demanded that the SSA restore "all the robust public data that the agency had previously reported prior to June 2025, including historical data, and to regularly update that data."
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'Heartbreaking': 4-Year-Old Who Came to US Legally Could Die Within Days If Deported
"It's cruel and inexcusable," said Rep. Judy Chu.
May 27, 2025
Yet another Trump administration deportation case is sparking outrage: This time, a 4-year-old Mexican girl and her parents face expulsion, despite the family coming to the United States legally and the child's risk of death if she loses the medical care she is receiving in California.
The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday shared the story of the family, which came to the United States on humanitarian grounds in 2023: the young girl, identified by her initials, S.G.V.; her mom, 28-year-old Deysi Vargas, who is also Mexican; and her 34-year-old dad, who is from Colombia.
They have been living in Bakersfield, and S.G.V. has been receiving care for her short bowel syndrome at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). However, the family received a letter last month stating that their legal status had been terminated and urging them to leave the United States of their own accord, to avoid deportation.
While spokespeople for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as well as CHLA declined to comment, the Times reported on a letter written by Dr. John Arsenault at the family's request:
If there is an interruption in her daily nutrition system, called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), the doctor wrote, "this could be fatal within a matter of days."
"As such, patients on home TPN are not allowed to leave the country because the infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program's utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders," Arsenault wrote.
"This is a textbook example of medical need," said the family's attorney, Rebecca Brown of the pro bono legal firm Public Counsel, who petitioned for continuation of their temporary humanitarian legal status. "This child will die and there's no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice."
Readers of the reporting quickly called out U.S. President Donald Trump and other key officials in his administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, who was behind the family separation policy from Trump's first term.
To Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and the other ghouls overseeing Trump's draconian deportation policy, a child dying would probably go down in their diary as a "good outcome." www.latimes.com/california/s...
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— Charles Idelson (@cidelson.bsky.social) May 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
"Heartbreaking: A 4-year-old came here legally with her family for lifesaving care. Yet Trump still seeks to deport her despite doctors warning she could die. It's cruel and inexcusable," said Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif.), whose district is in Los Angeles County.
Adrian Carrasquillo, who writes the immigration-focused newsletter "Huddled Masses" at The Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative outlet, stressed that "this is being done in our name."
The Trump administration has provoked legal battles and intense scrutiny for deporting various people in recent months, including multiple children who are U.S. citizens—among them, a 4-year-old cancer patient.
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Analysis Shows 'Unprecedented Surge' of Dark Money Ahead of 2024 Elections
"Contributions from dark money groups and shell companies are outpacing all prior elections and may even surpass the roughly $660 million in contributions from unknown sources that flooded 2020 elections."
Mar 14, 2024
Dark money groups are spending at record levels in their efforts to influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. elections, an analysis published Wednesday by OpenSecrets revealed.
According to the watchdog, the "unprecedented surge" in spending by dark money groups—which, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling don't have to disclose their donors—topped $162 million in 2023, "surpassing the level of dark contributions seen at the same point in any prior election cycle."
"So far this election cycle, contributions from dark money groups and shell companies are outpacing all prior elections and may even surpass the roughly $660 million in contributions from unknown sources that flooded 2020 elections—a cycle that attracted over $1 billion in total dark money," the group said.
According to OpenSecrets' analysis, super PACs and other dark money groups supporting Democrats have spent $85 million during this election cycle, while contributions backing Republicans have totaled $74 million so far. If the trend holds, this will be the fourth consecutive election cycle in which Democrats enjoyed a dark money advantage.
Americans for Prosperity Action, a right-wing hybrid PAC led by billionaire Charles Koch, has reported around $25 million in contributions so far this election cycle—far more than any other dark money group. Senate Majority PAC, which supports Democrats, has spent over $16.7 million, while the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund is in third place with more than $15.8 million in donations.
In an effort to tackle dark money's corrupting influence, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) last month introduced legislation aimed at closing a loophole that lets wealthy individuals make tax-free asset donations to dark money groups.
Dark money is back in the headlines amid scrutiny over the right-wing billionaires behind the upcoming No Labels third-party "unity" ticket and $100 million blitz unleashed by the American Israel Political Action Committee against Democrats who criticize Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
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New Bill Would Prevent Billionaires From Donating to Dark Money Groups Tax-Free
"Billionaires attempting to influence politics from the shadows should not be rewarded with taxpayer subsidies," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
Feb 06, 2024
Legislation introduced Tuesday by a pair of Democratic lawmakers would close a loophole that lets billionaires donate assets to dark money organizations without paying any taxes.
The U.S. tax code allows write-offs when appreciated assets such as shares of stock are donated to a charity, but the tax break doesn't apply when the assets are given to political groups.
However, donations to 501(c)(4) organizations—which are allowed to engage in some political activity as long as it's not their primary purpose—are exempt from capital gains taxes, a loophole that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) are looking to shutter with their End Tax Breaks for Dark Money Act.
Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has focused extensively on the corrupting effects of dark money, said the need for the bill was made clear by what ProPublica and The Lever described as "the largest known donation to a political advocacy group in U.S. history."
The investigative outlets reported in 2022 that billionaire manufacturing magnate Barre Seid donated his 100% ownership stake in Tripp Lite, a maker of electrical equipment, to Marble Freedom Trust, a group controlled by Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo.
The donation, completed in 2021, was worth $1.6 billion. According to ProPublica and The Lever, the structure of the gift allowed Seid to avoid up to $400 million in taxes.
"It's a clear sign of a broken tax code when a single donor can transfer assets worth $1.6 billion to a dark money political group without paying a penny in taxes," Whitehouse said in a statement Tuesday. "Billionaires attempting to influence politics from the shadows should not be rewarded with taxpayer subsidies."
"We cannot allow millionaires and billionaires to run roughshod over our democracy and then reward them for it with a tax break."
If passed, the End Tax Breaks for Dark Money Act would ensure that donations of appreciated assets to 501(c)(4) organizations are subjected to the same rules as gifts to political action committees (PACs) and parties.
"Thanks to the far-right Supreme Court, billionaires already have outsized influence to decide our nation's politics; through a loophole in the tax code, they can even secure massive public subsidies for lobbying and campaigning when they secretly donate their wealth to certain nonprofits instead of traditional political organizations," said Chu. "We can decrease the impact the wealthy have on our politics by applying capital gains taxes to donations of appreciated property to nonprofits that engage in lobbying and political activity—the same way they are already treated when made to traditional political organizations like PACs."
The new bill comes amid an election season that is already flooded with outside spending.
The watchdog OpenSecrets reported last month that super PACs and other groups "have already poured nearly $318 million into spending on presidential and congressional races as of January 14—more than six times as much as had been spent at this point in 2020."
Thanks to the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums on federal elections—often without being fully transparent about their donors.
Morris Pearl, chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires, said Tuesday that "there is no justifiable reason why wealthy people like me should be allowed to dominate our political system by donating an entire $1.6 billion company to a dark money political group."
"But perhaps more egregious is the $400 million tax break that comes from doing so," said Pearl. "It's a perfect example of how this provision in the tax code is used by the ultrawealthy to manipulate the levers of government while simultaneously dodging their obligation to pay taxes. We cannot allow millionaires and billionaires to run roughshod over our democracy and then reward them for it with a tax break."
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'This Should Be a National Scandal': For-Profit Medicare Advantage Plans Using AI for Denials
"They're using AI to predict when to cut off payment for treatments," said one watchdog group. "We repeat, AI. Not a doctor."
Nov 03, 2023
As Medicare Advantage plans rely increasingly upon artificial intelligence to determine—and often deny—payment for patient care, a group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Friday urged Medicare's top official to strengthen oversight of AI and algorithmic tools used to make coverage determinations.
"In recent years, problems posed by prior authorization have been exacerbated by MA plans' increasing use of AI or algorithmic software to assist in their coverage determinations in certain care settings, including inpatient hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health," 32 House Democrats led by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) wrote in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Books LaSure.
"Advocates and the media report that the use of such software has led to coverage decisions that are more restrictive than allowed under traditional Medicare rules, as well as more frequent and repeated denials of care," the lawmakers wrote. "Absent prohibiting the use of AI/algorithmic tools outright, it is unclear how CMS is monitoring and evaluating MA plans' use of such tools in order ensure that plans comply with Medicare's rules and do not inappropriately create barriers to care."
The lawmakers are calling on CMS to take steps including, but not limited to:
- Requiring MA plans to report prior authorization data including reason for denial, by type of service, beneficiary characteristics (such as health conditions), and timeliness of prior authorization decisions;
- Comparing "guidance" generated by AI and algorithmic tools with actual MA coverage decisions;
- Assessing how and to what extent initial prior-authorized AI determinations for services are adjusted to account for unanticipated changes in a patients' condition;
- Requiring attestation from MA plans and contractors that their coverage guidelines are not more restrictive than traditional Medicare; and
- Determining whether MA plans are inappropriately using race/other factors in these algorithms.
MA plans are not part of Medicare. They are a private health insurance "scam" created by a GOP-controlled Congress and signed into law 20 years ago by then-President George W. Bush "as a way of routing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of for-profit insurance companies," according to frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Thom Hartmann.
A report published last month by Physicians for a National Health Program revealed that MA plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, enough to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.
The lawmakers' letter is endorsed by advocacy groups including the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, Center for Health and Democracy, and Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation.
"The use of AI by Medicare Advantage insurers to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities represents the most recent and dangerous step by greedy companies focused on profit instead of patients," Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said in a statement.
"Now is the time for CMS to crack down on companies that are using AI and other mechanisms to deny care that would be covered if the enrollee were covered by traditional Medicare," Gilbert added. "Understanding how Medicare Advantage insurers are using AI to deny needed care and holding bad actors accountable are crucial steps to protecting seniors and the Medicare program."
Last year, a U.S. Senate probe found that insurance companies and other brokers are "running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists" making false or misleading claims to dupe senior citizens into purchasing MA plans.
Progressive lawmakers have also criticized President Joe Biden for delaying promised curbs on Medicare Advantage plans amid heavy insurance industry lobbying.
Earlier this year, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)—one of the 32 lawmakers who signed the letter to Brooks LaSure—Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky reintroduced a bill to change the official name of MA to "alternative private health plan" to make clear that such coverage is offered by for-profit companies.
"The scheme is called Medicare Advantage," Pocan and Khanna explained. "But in reality, so-called 'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage."
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Democrats Propose Bill to Protect US Workers From 'Life-Threatening Heat'
"How many more workers will we let dangerous heat and callous employers kill before this nation acts?" asked one union leader.
Jul 26, 2023
Labor unions and climate groups applauded Wednesday as congressional Democrats introduced legislation to ensure the health and safety of workers exposed to dangerous heat as temperatures soar to record highs across the Northern Hemisphere.
Named for a California farmworker who died after picking grapes for 10 hours in 105°F, the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act is spearheaded by U.S. Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), and Bobby Scott (D-Va.,) and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).
"I will never forget Asunción Valdivia or how his tragic death could have been avoided," Chu said in a statement. "Whether on a farm, driving a truck, or working in a warehouse, workers like Asunción keep our country running while enduring some of the most difficult conditions—often without access to water or rest."
"The escalating climate crisis has led to sweltering temperatures and to a distressing increase in cases of workers collapsing and even losing their lives due to excessive heat," she continued. "To value our workforce and protect people's safety and lives, this bill will establish comprehensive and enforceable federal standards addressing heat stress on the job."
The legislation directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to create policies for heat exposure in indoor and outdoor environments.
"Asunción Valdivia was killed by extreme heat in 2004 while working to feed this nation," noted United Farm Workers (UFW) president Teresa Romero. "Since his death, we've also lost Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez in 2008, Florencio Gueta Vargas in 2021, and now Efraín López García and Dario Mendoza, both killed in July of 2023—just to name a few."
"Farmworker families have already lost far too many loved ones to deadly temperatures—and to deadly government inaction," she added, welcoming the bill. "How many more workers will we let dangerous heat and callous employers kill before this nation acts?"
In addition to UFW, the bill is backed by groups including the AFL-CIO, Earthjustice, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Migrant Legal Action Program, National Employment Law Project, Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists, UNITE HERE!, United Auto Workers, and United Steelworkers.
"Whether it's driving a catering truck in direct sun to stock departing planes with food and water or toiling in front of commercial appliances at maximum hotness in hotel kitchens, workers in both primarily outdoor and indoor spaces face record highs," said Gwen Mills, UNITE HERE! secretary treasurer. She commended the sponsors and urged Congress to swiftly pass the bill, calling it "the kind of federal intervention required for protecting ourselves from an increasingly more alarming climate crisis."
Juley Fulcher, a worker health and safety advocate at Public Citizen, pointed out that "working in the scorching heat, especially at the levels we've seen across the country this summer, can cause heat exhaustion, muscle and organ damage, cardiac arrest, heat stroke, and even death."
"Breathing in the wildfire smoke that has recently blanketed much of the nation triples the risk of death on extremely hot days," Fulcher continued. "Repetitive heat exhaustion from working in extreme heat—such as the unprecedented heatwaves that continue today—can cause long-term illnesses."
Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien—whose union just won a historic contract battle with United Parcel Service within days of what was expected to be the nation's largest single-employer strike—declared that "it's long past time for meaningful legislation" to protect workers from extreme heat.
"Paid breaks in cool spaces, access to water, and limitations on time exposed to heat are simply commonsense steps that should be mandated immediately," he said. "Waiting to implement these measures is unacceptable and will result in the further loss of lives."
Brown stressed that "no worker should have to endure life-threatening heat to provide for their family."
"We know too many workers still work in dangerous conditions, putting their health and safety on the line every day to provide for their families," the senator added. "There's not much dignity in a job where you fear for your health or your life."
On Monday, Brown, Cortez Masto, Chu, Grijalva, Padilla, and Scott partnered with Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as well as Reps. Greg Casar and Sylvia Garcia, both Texas Democrats, for a letter—endorsed by dozens of other lawmakers—to two DOL leaders calling for "the fastest possible implementation" of an OSHA heat standard "to ensure that millions of people can go to work with greater confidence that they will return to their families alive and uninjured."
The letter came after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month signed House Bill 2127. The "Death Star" law, as it's called by critics, bans municipalities from passing policies that contradict nine broad areas of state law, and is set to kill certain heat rules.
To draw attention to the need for federal protections given the worsening fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, Casar on Tuesday joined advocacy groups and unions for a vigil and "thirst strike" on Capitol Hill. The congressman said that "the Biden administration must step in, override Abbott, and ensure heat protections for all Americans in all industries. Our government should work for working people, not for greedy corporations that exploit their workers and fill Abbott's campaign coffers."
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Faced With 'Devastating' Fallout One Year After Dobbs, Dem Lawmakers Fight Back
Republican senators blocked what Democrats called "four commonsense bills to protect women's fundamental freedoms."
Jun 21, 2023
Pro-choice Democrats in both chambers of Congress took steps to protect and expand reproductive rights across the United States on Wednesday, nearly one year since the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
Almost a half-century after the high court affirmed the constitutional right to pre-viability abortion with Roe v. Wade, right-wing justices reversed that position last June, further fueling relentless attacks on reproductive freedom at all levels of government.
Led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon attempted to pass by unanimous consent what they called "four commonsense bills to protect women's fundamental freedoms."
- The Right to Contraception Act (S. 1999)—which would codify the right to access and use contraceptives, and healthcare professionals' ability to provide birth control—was proposed by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and blocked by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).
- The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act (S. 2053)—which would prohibit interference with the ability to access out-of-state reproductive healthcare—was proposed by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev) and blocked by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
- The Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act (S. 631)—which would protect the privacy of personally identifiable health and location data—was proposed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)—and blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).
- The Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act (S. 1297)—which would ensure the right to provide reproductive healthcare services—was proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and blocked by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.).
After the Republicans prevented passage of the four proposals, Murray, the Senate assistant Democratic leader, said that "none of these should be controversial" and slammed the GOP objections as "shameful."
Ahead of the attempts to advance the legislative package, the senator stressed that "every day, women across our country are confronting a dystopian reality: one where Republican politicians have the final say in their healthcare decisions."
"Women are forced to stay pregnant against their will—even when their health and lives are at risk, doctors in some states are having to deny patients the lifesaving care they need or risk being sent to jail, and other providers—in states like mine—are being pushed to the breaking point trying to serve an influx of patients from out of state," she noted. "The fallout has been devastating."
KFF survey results released Wednesday show that OB-GYNs across the United States say Dobbs has majorly impacted care, with providers reporting cases in which patients were unable to obtain an abortion they sought and faced constraints on the management of miscarriages and pregnancy-related medical emergencies.
"Large shares of OB-GYNs believe that the Dobbs decision has also exacerbated pregnancy-related mortality (64%), racial and ethnic inequities in maternal health (70%), and made it harder to attract new OB-GYNs to the field (55%)," KFF said.
As Molly Longman wrote for Cosmopolitan on Wednesday: "In the year since the Supreme Court plunged reproductive rights into chaos with its decision on Dobbs, a lot has gone down—much of it dismaying, dangerous, vile, problematic, and…dare we say…shitty. Alongside the devastation, though, there have also been hopeful developments, which prove that when people are unwilling to give up the fight, there is room for light, possibility, and collective power."
Longman cataloged "all the major milestones you should know," from "shitty" developments such as GOP-led states enacting abortion bans and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) proposing a nationwide 15-week ban to "hopeful" moments like Kansas voters rejecting an anti-abortion amendment and governors in several states taking action to protect patients and providers.
In the U.S. House of Representatives—narrowly controlled by Republicans—a trio of Democratic congresswomen on Wednesday moved to force a vote on the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would restore the right to access abortion care nationwide.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who authored WHPA, along with Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus Co-Chairs Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) filed a discharge petition for the legislation. If the petition receives 218 signatures, the bill must receive a floor vote, despite any objections from chamber leadership, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
"With House Republicans beholden to their extreme MAGA members, they refuse to restore and strengthen Americans' reproductive rights," said Chu. "I am beyond proud to work with House Democratic leadership and the Pro-Choice Caucus to offer the Women's Health Protection Act in a discharge petition to force accountability for their inaction. House members who do not add their signature are telling Americans that they shouldn't have the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions."
The developments on Capitol Hill came as advocates are preparing to mark the official one-year anniversary of Dobbs on Saturday with demonstrations across the country.
"We know there is power in numbers, and together we will send an unmistakable message that Roe may have fallen, but we are still fighting, and we won't stop until we win!" say organizers, including All Above All Action Fund, National Women's Law Center, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Ultraviolet, and Women's March.
Members of the Biden administration are also speaking out this week. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night was featured in an MSNBC special about Dobbs, during which she said that "this issue is so fundamentally about freedom."
First Lady Jill Biden on Tuesday hosted a White House conversation about Dobbs. While assuring those in attendance that President Joe Biden "is doing everything he can to fight back," the first lady also emphasized that "the only way we can ensure that every woman has the fundamental freedoms she deserves is for Congress to make the protections of Roe v. Wade the law of the land once again."
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Friday plans to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where abortions are still legal, then head to a facility 20 minutes away, in St. Louis, Missouri, where abortion is now illegal.
That's according to Axios, which noted that the latter clinic is "where Becerra was giving remarks last year when the Dobbs decision dropped." This year, the secretary's roundtable and press conference will focus on the "tale of two states," and the impact of last year's ruling throughout the country.
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