October, 25 2023, 02:09pm EDT
Incoming Speaker Mike Johnson is An Enemy of Social Security
Today, House Republicans elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the new Speaker of the House. The following is a statement on Rep. Johnson from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works:
“Rep. Mike Johnson has a long history of hostility towards Social Security and Medicare. As Chair of the Republican Study Committee from 2019-2021, Johnson released budgets that included $2 trillion in cuts to Medicare and $750 billion in cuts to Social Security, including:
- Raising the retirement age
- Decimating middle class benefits
- Making annual cost-of-living increases smaller
- Moving towards privatization of Social Security and Medicare
Multimillionaire Johnson has also made the outrageous claim that forced births are necessary to fund Social Security. He would ban abortions and deny women their rights so that the ultra-wealthy don’t have to pay more into Social Security. In fact, we can afford to not just protect but expand Social Security by requiring wealthy people to pay into the program on all of their income.
Johnson recently joined the vast majority of House Republicans to vote for a commission designed to cut Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors. Now that Johnson is Speaker, he will do what the Republicans never stop doing — everything in their power to cut our Social Security and Medicare, by hook, crook, or commission.
The White House has rightfully referred to such a commission as a ‘death panel’ for Social Security and Medicare. Seniors and people with disabilities are counting on the Biden Administration, as well as Congressional Democrats, to stand united to protect our earned benefits. That means rejecting any commission proposal.”
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
LATEST NEWS
'Horrific': Israel's War on Gaza Also Destroying the Climate, Study Finds
"This report lays bare the hypocrisy of Western nations who moralize about the perils of climate breakdown... while funding, aiding, and enabling the Israeli regime's catastrophic war," one expert said.
Jun 06, 2024
In addition to its death toll, Israel's war in Gaza comes at great cost to the climate, mainly because of the emissions that will be required to reconstruct tens of thousands of buildings there, a study published Thursday shows.
The study looked at the first four months of the war, during which time the authors estimated that some 156,000 to 200,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged in the Gaza Strip. The resulting climate costs were greater than the annual emissions of the world's 135 lowest-emitting countries put together, the study, which was published in the SSRN and is currently under peer review, shows.
"While the world's attention is rightly focused on the humanitarian catastrophe, the climate consequences of this conflict are also catastrophic," Ben Neimark, a co-author and lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, toldThe Guardian.
Though the vast majority of the estimated climate cost comes from the future rebuild, the study authors also looked at the immediate climate emissions from wartime activities, most of which came from flights by Israeli fighter jets and U.S. cargo planes that supplied weapons, fuel, and other supplies. There were 244 round-trip cargo flights from the U.S. to Israel during the four-month study period.
Experts not affiliated with the study, which was an update on earlier work, responded by expressing outrage at the multiple layers of Western complicity in the Gaza onslaught.
"Quite apart from the unspeakable destruction in Gaza and across Palestine, this report lays bare the hypocrisy of Western nations who moralize about the perils of climate breakdown and the responsibility of every nation to protect the planet—all the while funding, aiding, and enabling the Israeli regime's catastrophic war and its implications for those affected by ongoing and future climate change," Zena Agha, a Palestinian-Iraqi policy analyst at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, a think tank, told the paper.
New from our team: In addition to the harrowing human costs of the Genocide in Gaza, acts of genocide themselves have serious climate consequence- our work calculates the climate impacts of the 1st 120 days after Oct 7. 🧵 https://t.co/5LeIJFvcrb
— Patrick Bigger (@patrickmbigger) June 6, 2024
Patrick Bigger, a study co-author and research director at the Climate and Community Project, has separately called for a cease-fire and an end to apartheid in Palestine, arguing that the "climate crisis in Palestine cannot be detached from the Israeli occupation."
The people of Gaza, who prior to the war used solar panels to an exceptional degree, are themselves particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, authorities there say.
The biggest threat to Palestinians before the war was the climate crisis, Hadeel Ikhmais, head of the climate change office at the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority, told The Guardian, referring to rising sea levels, extreme heat, and increased occurrences of flooding and drought.
"As long as this war continues, the implications will be exacerbated with horrific consequences on emissions, climate change, and hindering climate action in Gaza," he said.
The environmental impacts of the war go well beyond the contribution to climate change coming from new emissions. "Gaza's water, soil, and air have been devastated," Al Jazeerareported earlier in the war.
In its assault on Gaza, the Israeli military had by March destroyed more than 2,000 agricultural sites, including 40% of all used farmland, according to research by Forensic Architecture, a London-based research group, which called the destruction a "deliberate act of ecocide." Humanitarian groups have suggested that the destruction is deliberate and that starvation is being used as a "weapon of war," as Human Rights Watch has repeatedly argued.
The SSRN study, full of "conservative" estimates, likely underestimates the climate impact of the war, as many factors could not be precisely accounted for, especially given military secrecy regarding emissions. Globally, military emissions account for roughly 5.5% of total emissions, according to a recent report, but are not required to be reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
However, new findings released by a U.N. agency on Monday indicate that the SSRN study may have slightly overestimated the number of destroyed buildings in Gaza. About 137,000 buildings had been damaged, destroyed, or possibly destroyed by May 3, the United Nations Satellite Center concluded—which, though a bit less than the SSRN estimate, is still more than half of the buildings in Gaza, by the agency's estimate.
Regardless of the exact figures, legal experts have accused Israel of "domicide"—"the mass destruction of dwellings to make the territory uninhabitable," as defined by an editor at The Guardian.
The continuing war, coupled with climate-related extreme weather events, could jeopardize Palestinian rights still further, experts said.
"One of the serious consequences of the war in Gaza has been the massive violation of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment… which represent a serious risk to life and the enjoyment of all other rights," Astrid Puentes, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, told The Guardian. "The region is already experiencing serious climate impacts that could get even worse."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'A Real Betrayal': Hochul Condemned for NYC Congestion Pricing Flip-Flop
Climate advocate Bill McKibben called the reversal "the most aggressively anti-environmental stand I can recall a major Democratic governor taking."
Jun 06, 2024
"Betrayal."
"A generational setback for climate policy."
"The kind of sabotage by a leader that warrants impeachment."
Those were just some of the ways New Yorkers and climate advocates described Gov. Kathy Hochul's decision to cancel a first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan for New York City on Wednesday.
Although the move will directly impact a relatively small percentage of U.S. residents' daily lives, critics said the move will stymie progress that could ultimately have been seen across the country—instead dooming communities to continued reliance on vehicles and the planet-heating emissions they cause.
A year after signaling approval for the congestion pricing plan, which was years in the making, the Democratic governor stunned campaigners Wednesday when she released a pre-recorded message announcing that "circumstances have changed" and would not allow the policy to take effect on June 30 as planned.
Under the plan, drivers who entered certain parts of Manhattan would be charged $15, with the projected annual revenue of $1 billion accounting for 50% of the funds needed for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) upgrades to its system.
The MTA's Capital Program is now on hold, according to6sqft, jeopardizing 23,000 jobs and imperiling the city's ability to improve reliability for working New Yorkers—56% of whom do not own a car—and make subway stations more accessible.
Local groups Riders Alliance and Transportation Alternatives announced plans for an emergency lobby day in Albany on Friday, where they said they would tell Hochul and state lawmakers to say "no to defunding our transit system."
Hochul said she was considering a new tax on businesses to fill in the $1 billion funding gap caused by her decision, but that would require approval by the New York Legislature, whose session ends this week.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) found in a recent analysis that more than 97% of people who commute from suburbs in New York and New Jersey would not be impacted financially by the congestion pricing plan. Looking at 217 legislative districts across the New York City metropolitan area, the percentage of commuters who would have to pay the $15 toll did not exceed 4%, and was 0-1% in most districts.
"Our members don't ride Escalades to Broadway shows. They use transit," said grassroots civil society group New York Communities for Change.
The TSTC noted that the state Legislature promised the congestion pricing plan to working families who rely on public transportation nearly five years ago.
"We urge the governor to stick to her guns and implement this transformative policy," said the group. "This is the pivotal moment. Please, Gov. Hochul, don't turn your back on the families counting on you to provide cleaner air and faster commutes for everyone."
Third Act founder and author Bill McKibben said Hochul's decision—reportedly encouraged by U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in an effort to win a Democratic majority in Congress this year—amounts to "a real betrayal."
"This is stupid policy—it's the most aggressively anti-environmental stand I can recall a major Democratic governor taking," wrote McKibben in his newsletter, The Crucial Years. "This kind of system has been a huge success in the European cities that have tried it, like London and Milan; Manhattan (as advocates back to Jimmy Breslin and Norman Mailer have noted) would be an incredibly sweet place with many fewer cars."
Sunrise Movement NYC suggested Hochul's decision was the result of $100,000 in donations to her campaigns from the auto industry, which is hosting a fundraiser for the governor next week with tickets costing $5,000 and up.
"Congestion pricing would save countless lives through reduced traffic across the city, cleaner air, and faster response times by first responders," said the group. "Gov. Hochul cannot usurp congestion pricing unilaterally... We call on the Legislature and the MTA to remain steadfast in the implementation of congestion pricing."
A Dutch study published last year found that although congestion pricing was unpopular when it was first implemented in cities including London, Stockholm, Singapore, and Edinburgh, support grew after the policies went into effect.
"In terms of what's best for the largest number of people, congestion pricing is it, because it brings air quality benefits, it brings lower traffic benefits, and it brings transit improvements to the entire city," Kate Slevin, executive director of the Regional Plan Association in New York, toldHuffPost.
Journalist Robinson Meyer said that in terms of the generational climate impact it will have, Hochul's reversal on congestion pricing would ultimately be "worse than the Mountain Valley pipeline, worse than Alaska's Willow project," because of the lost opportunity to bring similar policies to other U.S. cities.
"New York was bushwhacking a trail for everyone else to follow," wrote Meyer. "If congestion policy was a success there, then other American cities could experiment with it in some form... By shuttering the policy in New York, she has poisoned pro-climate urban policies everywhere."
Keep ReadingShow Less
NAACP Joins Growing Chorus Demanding Biden Halt Arms Shipments to Israel
"The NAACP calls on President Biden to draw the red line and indefinitely end the shipment of weapons and artillery to the state of Israel," said Derrick Johnson, the civil rights group's CEO.
Jun 06, 2024
Citing Israel's killing of over 36,000 Palestinians in Gaza and its defiance of a World Court order to stop attacking Rafah, the NAACP on Wednesday joined the hundreds of human rights and civil society organizations urging the Biden administration to halt weapons transfers to Israel.
The leading U.S. civil rights group noted Israel's defiance of the International Court of Justice's May 24 order to stop attacking the southern Gaza city of Rafah and the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) May 26 bombing of a refugee encampment there that killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians, including many women and children.
"The total death toll of Gazans has reached over 36,000 with another 81,000 injured," the NAACP said. "Nearly 500 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 117 children, have also been killed."
NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson acknowledged the "tragedy" of October 7, when an attack by Hamas-led militants left more than 1,100 Israelis and others dead—at least some of whom were killed by Israeli fire—and over 240 others taken as hostages.
"It is our hope that those with loved ones still in captivity are reunited as expeditiously as possible," he said in a statement, adding that "Hamas must return the hostages and stop all terrorist activity."
"The Middle East conflict will only be resolved when the U.S. government and international community take action, including limiting access to weapons used against civilians," Johnson stressed. "The NAACP calls on President [Joe] Biden to draw the red line and indefinitely end the shipment of weapons and artillery to the state of Israel and other states that supply weapons to Hamas and other terrorist organizations."
That red line has repeatedly shifted. In March, Biden agreed that any Israeli invasion of Rafah—where around 1.5 million Palestinians forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza were sheltering alongside local residents at the time—would constitute a "red line."
Last month, as Israeli forces invaded Rafah, Biden qualified his red line by saying it would only be crossed in the event of a "major" assault on the city. Israeli forces have blasted their way to the heart of the city since then, killing and wounding at least hundreds of civilians. More than 1 million people have fled Rafah, according to United Nations officials.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken then denied that Biden had drawn any red line in Rafah, tellingNBC News "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker on May 12 that "we don't talk about red lines when it comes to Israel."
Democratic strategists are worried about Biden losing Black votes over his complicity in the Gaza carnage. Polling shows Biden's support among Black Americans has dropped significantly since 2020, as it has among Muslim Americans and others concerned about Palestine. According to a Zeteo/Data for Progress survey published last month, a majority of Democratic voters of all races believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Citing an interview it conducted with Johnson, Reutersreported Thursday that "the NAACP's decision to speak out was driven in part by young Black Americans horrified by the images of dead Palestinian civilians."
"It's raising a lot of questions around why our tax dollars are being used to harm civilians," Johnson said.
The NAACP joins at least hundreds of other organizations calling on Biden to suspend U.S. arms shipments or military aid to Israel. More than 1,000 Black pastors representing hundreds of thousands of congregants from coast to coast have also demanded that Biden push Israel for a cease-fire.
On Tuesday, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a group that has not historically taken a stand on the Israel-Palestine issue, implored Biden to immediately "stop providing offensive weapons to the Israeli military."
"Not acting on your own red lines, combined with the Israeli government's promise to continue to violate them, will further erode your viability as a candidate in a race where every vote will matter," asserted Jamie Beran, the group's CEO.
Palestine defenders welcomed the NAACP's call—even if it came so late.
"Glad to see NAACP and Derrick Johnson join our demand for Biden to halt all arms transfers to Israel," said Mohammed Khader, policy manager at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. "Israel is using U.S. weapons to commit grave atrocities in Gaza, including on Black/Afro-Palestinians. Hope to see more legacy institutions and other civil rights groups join us."
Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American human rights attorney who co-organized and took part in the 2008 and 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotillas—the latter of which was attacked by Israeli forces, who killed 10 activists—lamented in a social media post that "the NAACP has been shamefully silent for [the] last eight months."
But welcoming the group's call to halt arms shipments, Arraf added that "this should be a stark message to Biden that support for Israel may hurt him among Black voters" come November.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular