Congress

This New Import Law Will Hurt US Consumers

June 23, 2022 Moon of Alabama. Educate! China, Congress, Global Economy, New Cold War, Trade, Uyghurs

The Chinese government had launched a large scale program to solve the problem once and for all. It subsidized companies to move production facilities to Xinjiang. For geographic reasons these are now mostly in the northern part of Xinjiang. The government also organized large camps for vocational and language training. After people went through those they were offered jobs in the new factories where they work in exchange for normal wages. The U.S. anti-China propaganda campaign claims that these Uighur people were forced to take up their new jobs and calls that 'forced labor'. It is not. Working in some industry far from home is normal in China. It is the reason why each year during the Spring Festival season 300 million people in China travel to reunite with their families. Real forced labor is what one sees in the U.S. prison industry where prisoner have no choice but to work for a few pennies which the prison will in the end regain due to absurd prices for small necessities prisoners have to pay for.

Congress Lets School Lunch Program Expire As It Increases Military Budget

June 20, 2022 Jordan Uhl, I Hate It Here And Never Want To Leave. Educate! Congress, Food Security, Public schools, School Lunch

Rebecca Wood didn’t realize she was food insecure until she wasn’t anymore. She credits the U.S. Department of Agriculture for that. Since March 2020, when the pandemic hit, the USDA has issued waivers to expand school lunch programs. This $11 billion program provided a vital lifeline to working families who were struggling to feed their kids during the pandemic, even when schools were out during the summer. Before the vouchers were issued, Wood struggled paying off her 10-year-old daughter’s school lunch debt. “Each pay period, I dumped a portion of my paycheck into my daughter Charlie’s school meal account. In doing so, I paid off her debt and added a few more dollars for future meals,” Wood told me.

Lessons On Fighting Privatization From The Recent Postal Service Victory

April 4, 2022 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. Podcast Congress, Louis DeJoy, Privatization, US Postal Service

Congress recently passed the Postal Service Reform Act - the result of 15 years of organizing to end the mandate to prefund 75 years worth of retirement benefits and other changes that were hurting the people's post office. The new act opens the door to building on the current postal infrastructure to provide more services to people, especially in poor and rural communities. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chuck Zlatkin, the legislative and political director of the largest local postal worker union, about what the new law will do and how it was won. Zlatkin also discusses the fight over making the new postal fleet electric and Biden's new nominees to the Board of Governors. Zlatkin warns us not to underestimate the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is playing a long game to privatize the postal service.

The Man Who Turned America’s Economy Into A Literal Casino

March 19, 2022 Robert Scheer, Scheer Post. Educate! Capitalism, Congress, Economic crisis, Finance and the Economy

To anyone paying attention, the American economy sure feels a lot like a casino. The stock market has become increasingly gamified, and the consequences are felt by all of us, every day—even those of us who aren’t even invited to play. There’s actually a term for our financial system that uses these words: casino capitalism. What many don’t know, however, is that behind this new form of capitalism is a flesh-and-bones man with a certain sort of gambling addiction. His name is Bill Gross, and his is the story that Mary Childs, co-host of NPR’s “Planet Money” podcast, tells so compellingly in her book, “The Bond King.” Titled after the investment banker’s moniker, Childs’ book explains how Gross remade the bond market into a gambler’s paradise, and went on not only to found the investment firm Pimco, but to rig the entire U.S. economy in his favor.

Schools Will Stop Serving Free Lunch To All Students

March 17, 2022 Marlene B. Schwartz, The Conversation. Create! Congress, Education, Food Access, Food and Agriculture, School Lunch

In March 2020, nearly all U.S. K-12 school buildings closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal government’s National School Lunch Program, quickly granted waivers to increase program flexibility and accommodate the challenges of the pandemic. These waivers, which have been renewed several times, were critically important for school food service programs as the programs abruptly shifted away from serving meals in cafeterias and designed new distribution models to continue to feed students. Many school meal staff across the country created grab-and-go meals that families could pick up, which was particularly important in the spring of 2020 and the following school year.

New Reform Bill Reinforces Authority For Postal Banking

March 12, 2022 David Dayen, The American Prospect. Create! Congress, Finance and the Economy, Postal Banking, US Postal Service

A postal reform bill that passed Congress this week could offer another opportunity to install a postal banking system in the United States, according to a review by the Prospect. While the $107 billion in savings from ending the Postal Service’s prefunding of retirement benefits and moving postal retirees onto Medicare has received most of the headlines, Section 103 of the bill, subsection 3704, restates USPS authority to partner to “provide property and nonpostal services” to federal government agencies, as long as whatever results raises revenue for the Postal Service. This would appear to supersede one aspect of a ban on non-postal products from the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, and could pave the way to providing services that mirror a bank account for any American who wants one.

Sanctions: A Sanctimonious Word for Economic Warfare and Outright Theft

March 9, 2022 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Congress, Eritrea, Sanctions, US Imperialism

The word “sanctions” emerged in the Middle Ages, meaning ecclesiastical decrees. Today it’s a sanctimonious word for economic warfare, including even outright theft. Despite all the terror about what could happen in Ukraine next, Afghans are still facing freezing cold and starvation and the US has seized—not just frozen but seized—their $7 billion in assets on deposit at the Federal Reserve. And Ethiopia and Eritrea face brutal sanctions in House Resolution 6600. The US has imposed sanctions on roughly a third of the world’s population , most famously now on Russia, but more on developing nations than not. In mid-February a bill to impose new sanctions on Ethiopia and Eritrea, House Resolution 6600 , moved out of the House Foreign Relations Committee onto the House floor.

Postal Reform Act Passes In Senate, Sent To President Biden’s Desk

March 8, 2022 National Association of Letter Carriers. Resist! Congress, US Postal Service, Worker Rights

Today, in a 79-19 vote the Senate passed the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (H.R. 3076). Following House passage on Feb. 8, the bill will now be sent to President Biden for his signature to become law. “This is a monumental victory for letter carriers and all Americans who depend on the Postal Service for affordable and high-quality universal service,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. “I want to congratulate and thank all the NALC members who lobbied their members of Congress to win passage in the Senate and the House. Thanks to your support, dedication and action, bipartisan postal reform, that was 12 years in the making, has finally passed in both chambers.” This bipartisan legislation will improve the financial stability of the Postal Service.

We Can’t Just Keep Saying ‘Pass The PRO Act’

February 22, 2022 Jonah Furman, Labor Notes. Organize! Congress, Labor Unions, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In January our movement got its annual punch in the gut from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose 2021 report shows 241,000 fewer union members than the previous year. Just 1 in 10 workers belongs to a union; in the private sector it’s 1 in 16. In 20 years the country gained 14 million workers—but unions lost 2 million members. Poll after poll shows majority support for unions; “Striketober” gripped headlines for weeks. And yet our numbers keep going down. The law is broken, the employers are aggressively resistant, the members are on defense—all true enough, but none is an answer to the crisis. The bottom line is that our unions either can’t organize, or won’t. The United Auto Workers has lost 275,000 members—40 percent of its membership—since the year 2000.

Experts Detail Deadly Consequences Of US Drone Strikes To Senate

February 11, 2022 Brett Wilkins, Commondreams. Educate! Civilian Deaths, Congress, Drones, extrajudicial murder

Experts on the conduct and consequences of U.S. drone strikes delivered harrowing testimony Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on two decades of aerial bombardment during the so-called War on Terror. "Our nation is at a turning point," Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said upon opening the hearing. "In the months after 9/11 we strayed from our values, engaging in torture and indefinite detention at Guantánamo, which continues." "We also began conducting lethal strikes in unprecedented ways," he continued, later acknowledging the tens of thousands of men, women, and children killed U.S. airstrikes in at least half a dozen nations over the past 20-plus years. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the committee, was dismissive of the proceeding, instead expressing concern for "the growing spike in violent crime, including murders and attacks on police" in the United States.

Capitol Hill Staffers Are Organizing Unions

February 10, 2022 Chris Cioffi and Jim Saksa, Portside. Organize! Capitol Hill, Congress, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Inspired by an anonymous Instagram account and disgusted by bad pay and worse bosses, congressional staffers have begun the uncertain journey toward unionizing. Organizers of the nascent Congressional Workers Union described their long-running efforts and future plans to organize one of the nation’s most idiosyncratic workplaces to CQ Roll Call on Monday. Just what their struggles will produce remains to be seen — much will depend on how members of Congress, their fellow staffers and an obscure legislative branch office respond. The CWU announced its campaign to unionize lawmaker offices and committees on Friday, but the organizers said they had been planning for more than a year. The initial talks began before Jan. 6, 2021, but the attack on the Capitol changed the tone.

Black Alliance For Peace Condemns The ‘America COMPETES Act’

February 9, 2022 Black Alliance for Peace. Educate! China, Congress, New Cold War, US Imperialism

On Friday evening, February 4, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022 (H.R. 4521). The stated intent of the legislation is to strengthen “America’s national and economic security and the financial security of families, and advance our leadership in the world.” While this claim, found in Nancy Pelosi’s press statement on January 20th, seems to be addressing some of the most important political and economic issues currently plaguing the United States, from the supply chain to the shortage of semiconductors, the Black Alliance for Peace sees this piece of legislation as sinophobic and militaristic, and that only strengthens the imperialist designs of U.S. foreign policy.

Memo To Congress: Diplomacy For Ukraine Is Spelled M-i-n-s-k

February 8, 2022 Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Popular Resistance. Educate! Congress, NATO, Russia, Ukraine

A December 2021 poll found that a plurality of Americans in both political parties prefer to resolve differences over Ukraine through diplomacy. Another December poll found that a plurality of Americans (48 percent) would oppose going to war with Russia should it invade Ukraine, with only 27 percent favoring U.S. military involvement. The conservative Koch Institute, which commissioned that poll, concluded that “the United States has no vital interests at stake in Ukraine and continuing to take actions that increase the risk of a confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia is therefore not necessary for our security. After more than two decades of endless war abroad, it is not surprising there is wariness among the American people for yet another war that wouldn’t make us safer or more prosperous.”

Congress Launches New Pro-Israel ‘Cheerleading’ Caucus

January 30, 2022 Jessica Buxbaum, Mintpress News. Educate! Congress, Israel, Israeli Lobby, Peace

Washington - Earlier this month, Congress launched the bicameral, bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus to support normalization between Israel and Arab states. Backed by pro-Israel groups, this new political development can be interpreted as a way for the Israel lobby to regain its power over a U.S. Congress that is increasingly critical of Israel. Described as a “cheerleading squad” in the Jewish Insider by its co-chair, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the caucus’s stated goals include expanding the Abraham Accords agreements and fostering regional peace. The group’s other co-chairs are Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), David Trone (D-MD), Ann Wagner (R-MO), and Brad Schneider (D-IL).

US Unveils Legal Trigger For War With Russia

December 17, 2021 Finian Cunningham, Sputnik News. Educate! Congress, Russia, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

A bill tabled this week in the Senate looks likely to pass into law because of the bilateral consensus of belligerence towards Russia. It is generally accepted as if fact that Russia is threatening to invade Ukraine despite Moscow’s repeated denials and lack of evidence to support such sensationalized speculation. Among other provocations, the lawmakers want to more than double the supply of lethal weaponry that the US is about to send Ukraine and to kill off the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. On top of that – as if all that were not incendiary enough – the US Senators want to designate Russia a “terrorist state” if its “forces further invade Ukraine”.

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