Congress

Government Employees Union Sues Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Debt Limit Law

May 12, 2023 Zach Schonfeld, The Hill. Resist! Congress, Debt Ceiling, Finance and the Economy, Joe Biden

The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) filed a lawsuit to block enforcement of a law that sets the nation’s debt limit, arguing it is unconstitutional as a political divide over raising the borrowing cap comes to a head. The lawsuit contends that, if the debt limit is reached, President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would be forced to decide which payments to prioritize, violating the separation of powers by taking over Congress’s spending authority. “The Debt Limit Statute is unconstitutional because it puts the President in a quandary to exercise discretion to continue borrowing to pay for the programs which Congress has heretofore duly authorized.

The Debt Ceiling Debate Is A Massive Deception Against The Public

May 11, 2023 Richard D. Wolff, Popular Resistance. Educate! Congress, Debt Ceiling, Federal Reserve, Finance and the Economy, Taxes

Future historians will likely look back at the debt ceiling rituals being reenacted these days with a frustrated shaking of their heads. That otherwise reasonable people would be so readily deceived raises the question that will provoke those historians: How could this happen? The U.S. Congress has imposed successive ceilings on the national debt, each one higher than the last. Ceilings were intended to limit the amount of federal borrowing. But the same U.S. Congress so managed its taxing and spending that it created ever more excesses of spending over tax revenues (deficits). Those excesses required borrowing to cover them. The borrowings accumulated to hit successive ceilings.

Activists Demand Representative Jim McGovern Act Against Sanctions

May 9, 2023 Celina Della Croce, People's Dispatch. Resist! Congress, Cuba, Economic Blockade, Sanctions, Venezuela

May 28, 2023 will mark exactly two years to the date of Rep. Jim McGovern’s letter imploring President Biden to “stop using the Venezuelan people as a bargaining chip.” “The impact of sectoral and secondary sanctions is indiscriminate, and purposely so,” the congressman wrote in what has been referred to by policy experts as “the best letter that we’ve ever seen out of Congress on sanctions, period.” His letter was applauded by his constituents and human rights defenders around the world and remains frequently cited by leading experts in the field – including supporters of the Venezuelan opposition who are calling for an end to the US sanctions.

NFFC’s Progressive Farm Bill Platform – Placing Family Farmers First

April 18, 2023 Jordan Treakle and Antonio Tovar, National Family Farm Coalition. Educate! Congress, Farm Bill, Farmers, Food Sovereignty, Worker Rights and Jobs

The National Family Farm Coalition released its 2023 Farm Bill Platform urging lawmakers to pass a suite of policy proposals that prioritize consumers, family farmers and ranchers, and rural communities over the profits of corporate agribusinesses. Big Ag and structurally problematic farm policy continue to undermine family farms and ranches, leading to the drastic loss of generational wealth, depressed rural communities, and a highly concentrated food and farm system vulnerable to disruption—problems largely ignored by Congress and government agencies. The Farm Bill opens an important opportunity to reverse these trends and ensure good food for all, prosperous local economies, and healthy ecosystems.

Open Letter To Congressional Sponsors Of Medicare For All

April 9, 2023 National Single Payer Steering Committee, Commondreams. Educate! Congress, Health Care, Medicare for all, Single-Payer

As legislation for national single payer health care, an Improved Medicare for All, has not yet been introduced into the current Congress, now is the time to work to make that bill what it must be to solve the nation’s health care crisis. We thank you for your past sponsorship of national single payer. We urge you to work to assure that the upcoming legislation is based on sound policy so that, when implemented, it will bring excellent care to all as it frees our health care from the corporate control and profits that have made it so cruel and expensive. Then we urge you to sponsor, speak boldly, and stand up for a national single payer, not-for-profit, publicly-funded health care system, because nothing less can bring efficient, humane, compassionate care to everyone in our county.

Warmongers In Congress Use Tik-Tok To Justify Aggression Towards China

April 1, 2023 Wei Yu, Nuvpreet Kalra and Melissa Garriga, LA Progressive. Educate! China, Congress, Media, Social Media, Tik Tok, US Imperialism

Last Thursday, a Congressional hearing took place where the TikTok CEO was grilled for five hours on the grounds of “security concerns.” This was days after the FBI and DOJ launched an investigation on the Chinese-owned American company. Isn’t it ironic that while the US government is putting TikTok under the magnifying glass, it’s turning a blind eye to its own surveillance programs on the American people? Ten years ago, Edward Snowden told the whole world the truth about the US global surveillance programs. If Congress cares about our digital privacy, it should first begin by investigating the surveillance policies of its own US agencies.

What Unionized Starbucks Workers Think Of Howard Schultz’ Testimony

April 1, 2023 Saurav Sarkar, In These Times. Educate! Congress, Starbucks, union busting, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The latest round in the fight between Starbucks and its nascent barista network — Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) — came to a head on Wednesday with the appearance of former CEO and current board member Howard Schultz at the Senate Committee on Housing, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). “It was honestly hard not to laugh out loud at some of the [bald-faced] lies he told,” said James Greene, a fired Starbucks shift supervisor in the Pittsburgh area. “He denied breaking the law repeatedly as senators were listing off multiple judges’ rulings against [Starbucks],” Greene added.

Take Action: End The Persecution Of Julian Assange

April 1, 2023 Defending Rights and Dissent. Resist! Congress, Julian Assange, Justice Department, Press Freedom

Australian publisher Julian Assange is a political prisoner. After being abducted out of the Ecuadorian embassy, he has languished in Belmarsh prison for nearly four years. In the intervening time, press freedom groups, major newspapers, and civil libertarians have all condemned the US’s unprecedented charges against Assange. After years of grassroots advocacy, now members of Congress are starting to speak out. But they need to hear your voice. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is currently circulating a sign-on letter calling for Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop the charges against Assange.

Get Out The Popcorn, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz Called Before Senate

March 29, 2023 Jenny Brown, Labor Notes. Educate! Congress, Starbucks, union busting, Worker Rights and Jobs

Starbucks projects the image of an employee-friendly company, but its workers have been exposing the contradiction between the company’s words and its actions. On March 29, they’ll get some help from the U.S. Senate’s HELP Committee, chaired by Bernie Sanders. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has called Howard Schultz, who recently resigned as Starbucks CEO, to testify before Congress about the company’s union-busting. Schultz is likely to be asked to explain why the company has not negotiated a contract with its union, even though the first store unionized in Buffalo in December 2021. Nearly 300 stores have now unionized with Starbucks Workers United.

A Highway To Peace Or A Highway To Hell?

March 22, 2023 William J. Astore, Tom Dispatch. Educate! China, Congress, Military Industrial Complex, Pentagon Budget, Russia

In April 1953, newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a retired five-star Army general who had led the landings on D-Day in France in June 1944, gave his most powerful speech. It would become known as his “Cross of Iron” address. In it, Ike warned of the cost humanity would pay if Cold War competition led to a world dominated by wars and weaponry that couldn’t be reined in. In the immediate aftermath of the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Ike extended an olive branch to the new leaders of that empire. He sought, he said, to put America and the world on a “highway to peace.” It was, of course, never to be

‘Holman Rule’ Allows The House To Fast-Track Government Program Cuts

March 20, 2023 Charles Tiefer, The Conversation. Educate! Austerity, Congress, Government Programs, Holman rule

The slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives has just voted to give itself a streamlined way to fire civil servants and shut down federal programs it doesn’t like – outside the standard process of review and debate. This method, known as the Holman rule, has been used in the past by both parties to cloak political decisions in the language and process of saving taxpayers money. It was included in a package of rules approved as the House began its business in January. As a former acting general counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives and the author of a treatise on congressional procedure, I know that this method has been used in the past to push extreme political agendas through the political process without due consideration for the public interest.

SNAP Benefits For African Mothers Are Gone While Ukraine Eats Good

March 16, 2023 Erica Caines, Hood Communist. Educate! Black America, Congress, Food Security, SNAP Program

As the country ushers in commemorations for ‘International Women’s Month’, 42 million households have been hit with a significant reduction in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits impacting the ability of millions of mothers to feed their children. In December 2022, Congress voted to end the pandemic emergency allotments after passing the government funding package the previous year. After nearly three years, the program that temporarily increased federal SNAP benefits for low-income families came to an end on March 1st.

House Of Representatives Defeats Resolution Demanding Troop Withdrawal From Syria

March 11, 2023 People's Dispatch. Educate! Congress, Syria, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

A resolution asking for the complete withdrawal of US troops from Syria within six months was defeated on Wednesday, March 8, in the US House of Representative despite drawing bipartisan support. The resolution was proposed by Republican representative Matt Gaetz from Florida, who claimed that the presence of US troops in Syria has no justification and no clear objective. The resolution received 103 votes in favor and 321 votes against. Despite the expressed support of the Progressive Caucus, the resolution was only supported by 56 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the House, which has a total strength of 435.

Protesters Disrupt House China Panel’s First Hearing

March 3, 2023 Jared Gans, The Hill. Resist! China, Congress, New Cold War, Wars and Militarism

Protesters disrupted the first hearing of a House select committee investigating potential threats that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) poses to the country and U.S.-China competition late Tuesday, arguing that the country should cooperate with China instead of competing with it. “China is not our enemy,” read a sign held by Olivia DiNucci, an organizer for CODEPINK: Women for Peace, which advocates against the United States engaging in wars and “regime change efforts.” A CODEPINK release states that DiNucci delivered a message that “The American people need cooperation, not competition with China” before she was taken out of the chamber where the meeting was happening.

We Need To Cut The Military Budget, But Don’t Trust The Far Right To Do It

February 28, 2023 Phyllis Bennis, In These Times. Educate! Congress, Military Industrial Complex, Pentagon Budget, Rightwing Politics

Since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives earlier this year, the so-called “Freedom Caucus” — the badly misnamed right-fringe of the congressional GOP — has been flexing its influence. Caucus members are deeply invested in an agenda that would increase inequality and enrich corporations and billionaires, strip hard-won rights from people of color, immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community, destroy the environment to enrich fossil fuel companies and slash social investment for the poor. And yet surprisingly, some of these extremists are also—sort of—calling for cutting the military budget. Does that provide an opening for anti-war progressives looking to cross the aisle? Unfortunately, no.

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