AOC’s Facts Hurt Police Union’s Feelings

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLzNl7a0Ozk&ab_channel=TheRationalNational

'If Biden Wants to Be FDR, He Should Immediately Cancel Student Debt': President-Elect Urged to Go Big

"Young people voted for Biden in record numbers—he owes us this one."



by
Julia Conley, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/10/if-biden-wants-be-fdr-he-should-immediately-cancel-student-debt-president-elect




Progressives are calling on President-elect Joe Biden to immediately cancel student loan debt upon taking office in January, a move proponents say would transform the lives of millions of working Americans, boost the economy, and position Democrats to maintain popular majorities long into the future.

While the Republican Party may well retain control of the U.S. Senate following last week's elections—though Democratic victories in Georgia's two runoff elections planned for January could change that—Biden would be able to use his executive authority to clear all student debt held by 42 million Americans, totaling $1.6 trillion.

As the debtors' union Debt Collective wrote in an extensive Twitter thread over the weekend, just as Biden was announced the projected winner of the 2020 election, the president-elect could direct his education secretary to "UNILATERALLY cancel ALL student debt" using a provision in the Higher Education Act.





"Thus, the secretary of education—or her delegate—has the ability to cancel or write down claims against student debtors either unilaterally or in exchange for something else, apparently for any reason or for no reason," Debt Collective tweeted.

The demand echoed a 2015 call by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who pushed President Barack Obama's Education Department to use a provision under the Higher Education Act known as "borrower defense" to cancel the debt of college students who were defrauded by for-profit institutions. Pressure from Warren pushed the department to clear hundreds of millions of dollars in student loans.

Cancelling the debt of all student loan borrowers, said author and activist Naomi Klein on Tuesday, would put Biden on the path to running the country as President Franklin D. Roosevelt did as the U.S. faced the Great Depression.





While running in the Democratic primary against progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—who called for a complete cancellation of student loan debt and relief for up to $50,000 in debt for some households, respectively—Biden displayed skepticism of student loan forgiveness.

After winning the nomination, the president-elect unveiled a plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for every year a public servant works, up to five years and halve payments for undergraduate federal student loans. He also endorsed proposals by Senate Democrats to offer $10,000 in student loan forgiveness for every borrower, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Warren was joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in September in a more ambitious call, demanding that the White House wipe out $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower.

In an interview with writer and commentator Anand Giridharadas on Saturday, Schumer repeated the call, saying Biden's first 100 days in office "ought to look like FDR's."

"Getting rid of student debt ... We believe that Joe Biden can do that with the pen as opposed to legislation," Schumer said.

Proponents say far-reaching action to cancel student loan debt would stimulate the economy by freeing up the household budgets of tens of millions of Americans, more than 25% of whom are currently behind in their loan payments. Action taken by Biden would also be broadly popular, a Hill/HarrisX poll taken last year showing that 58% of registered voters support student loan cancellation.

Progressives on social media on Tuesday echoed the call of Klein and Debt Collective.




"Administrative student debt cancellation of any ambition would be most efficiently accomplished with a president fully committed to the project because it would require coordination across the executive branch," tweeted Debt Collective, calling on Americans to support its campaign. "That's why we need all of you and your political will and our collective pressure on Joe Biden and his secretary of education for her to use this authority and free tens and millions of Americans from crippling student loan debt."

Trump’s Selfishness Causes Secret Service Crisis

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6VeuiCVOe4&ab_channel=TheRationalNational

'Many Workers Will Suffer': Days After Election, Trump Quietly Freezes Wages of Farm Laborers

"The Trump administration is trying to get a lot of stuff like this out the door ASAP."




Jake Johnson, staff writer




https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/09/many-workers-will-suffer-days-after-election-trump-quietly-freezes-wages-farm




Just days after U.S. voters went to the polls to help deny President Donald Trump another four years in the White House, the Trump administration issued a little-noticed rule freezing the wages of farm laborers working under H-2A visas, a move that could severely harm low-wage guest workers who have already been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

The rule (pdf), published in the Federal Register by the Department of Labor on November 5, will "help corporate interests deny pay hikes to frontline farmworkers who help maintain America's food supply," The Daily Poster's Julia Rock reported Monday.

"The wage freeze is the Trump administration's second attempt this fall to cut wages for H-2A visa holders," Rock explained. "On Sept. 30, Secretary of Agriculture [Sonny] Perdue published a one-page notice announcing that the USDA was suspending the Farm Labor Survey, a data collection tool that has been used for over a century to calculate wages for migrant workers, known as Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs)."

A federal judge blocked the suspension of the Farm Labor Survey, prompting the Trump administration to come back "with a second attempt to cut the wages of H-2A workers, enacting a rule to freeze wages for H-2A workers," Rock explained. The new rule would freeze the wages of H-2A workers until 2023.

"The rule that was published last week only included the wage aspects of the rule that was initially proposed," Rock continued. "The new rule will raise the AEWRs for a small number of H-2A workers in more specialized or supervisory roles, but will lower the rate for the vast majority of H-2A workers." Workers on the H-2A guest worker program make up around 10% of the U.S. agricultural workforce.

HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson, who was among the first to call attention to the rule after it was quietly published last week, noted in a series of tweets that the wage freeze "is obviously a boon to growers," which Perdue readily admitted in a statement hailing the measure as a significant victory.




Jamieson warned that the new rule is an example of the kind of damage Trump could attempt to inflict on his way out of office.

"The Trump administration is trying to get a lot of stuff like this out the door ASAP," Jamieson said. "Lawsuits can slow it, and some of it can be undone by a subsequent administration, but it's a cumbersome process through rulemaking."

In a public comment (pdf) on the Labor Department's rule, a coalition of dozens of advocacy groups led by Farmworker Justice warned that "many workers will suffer increased debt, lower wages, worse housing conditions, and more uncertainty regarding job terms" due to the wage freeze.

"Overall," the coalition said, "the proposed changes to the regulations would be harmful to many agricultural workers."

'Exactly What We Want to See': Overhaul Expected to Strengthen Power of Congressional Progressive Caucus

These "really crucial changes," said one advocate, "are setting the Congressional Progressive Caucus up to be the power brokers everyone needs them to be if Congress is going to deliver on literally any issue."



by
Jessica Corbett, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/09/exactly-what-we-want-see-overhaul-expected-strengthen-power-congressional




Amid publicized Democratic Party infighting in the wake of elections last week that saw voters nationwide rally behind congressional candidates who champion policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, the majority of the Congressional Progressive Caucus voted on Monday for an overhaul that supporters say will boost the CPC's power on Capitol Hill and potentially push out "free riding members."

As The Intercept detailed on October 26, the caucus of nearly 100 House Democrats—and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—is restructuring to "shape itself into a more cohesive fighting force come 2021." Politico's Heather Caygle, who also reported on the proposed changes with two colleagues last month, tweeted Monday that of the nearly three-quarters of CPC members who voted on the overhaul, 91% favored it.

The outcome was immediately welcomed by progressive activists and advocacy groups. Former Move On executive director Ilya Sheyman called it "fantastic news" while Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project pointed out that the changes are "potentially [a] very big deal in terms of Congress."


The changes impact the highest level of the CPC, shifting from a pair of co-chairs to just one leader. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) is stepping down from his post and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) will continue serving at the helm of the caucus. Both members of Congress have expressed support for the reforms.

Pocan told Politico he is "self term-limited" and supports Jayapal leading the CPC into the future. As for concerns that the restructuring gives too much power to one person, the congressman said that "it actually does the opposite of that. ...The heart of this is really around empowering members to be more active."

Jayapal acknowledged to The Intercept that the reforms could mean some members exit the caucus, but she accepts that. "We're ready for that to happen," she said. "I just would rather have people who are really committed to the progressive caucus in the caucus and participating rather than sort of just having it as a label."

Supporters of the "really crucial changes" posited that they will set up the caucus members "to be the power brokers everyone needs them to be" and congratulated Jayapal for "leading the CPC into a new era."







Advocates of the overhaul believe it will put pressure on CPC members to back progressive policies and actually participate in the caucus. As The Intercept explained:



Under the new rules, if a position wins two-thirds support among the CPC, members of the caucus will be expected to vote as a bloc, which would make it the first Democratic caucus to attempt to bind its members. Yet at the same time, members need only support the official position of the CPC two-thirds of the time before running afoul of the rules and risking expulsion.

[...]

The new rules would also require CPC members to attend a certain number of meetings and to respond to whip requests, which are questions from caucus leadership about how a member feels about a particular bill or position. That such basic requirements are being written into the rules is a reflection of the current lack of participation. Some of that silence amounted to obstruction; a way to undermine a whip count was to simply ignore it. The new rules would strip the nonrespondents from the denominator, meaning a member who doesn't respond can't jam up the process. The caucus will also require members to vote for and sponsor a certain amount of progressive legislation.

Responding to that report last month, Indivisible said that "we need our leaders to govern boldly. This is exactly what we want to see from the CPC—the progressive voting bloc is a critical step towards actually wielding our power in the new Congress."

Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat who won his race in New York's 16th Congressional District last week to join the expanded Squad, had expressed excitement about the potential new direction of the caucus and indicated he would be a part of it:


The initial four members of the Squad—Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—all won reelection last week and are members of the CPC. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Pressley are on the task force set up to write the new rules, according to The Intercept.

The congresswomen, particularly Ocasio-Cortez, have in recent days used their platforms—from social networks to interviews with national media—to highlight signals that voters want lawmakers, especially Democrats, to pursue a progressive agenda. The New Yorker has been willing to call out her own party and the CPC since her primary win in 2018; that July, she floated the idea of forming "a sub-caucus of the progressive caucus" that "operates as a bloc" in an effort to "generate real power."

DIANNE FEINSTEIN'S Out-Of-Touch Legislation During Economic Crisis

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahOqvv0F3_I&ab_channel=TheJimmyDoreShow

F*** Trump & Biden Rally Shows More Waking Up

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qlnb_5Sgv0&ab_channel=GrahamElwood