December 12, 2022
Hi friends,
The so-called ‘lame duck’ session needs a new name. In addition to including a problematic ableist term, the phrase implicates ducks as somehow ineffective just when lots of ducks are very much on-the-move. I am awaiting your suggestions.
The idea that Congress can’t get anything done between an election and the new session seems to be dated. In fact, some important business is ongoing.
Though its prospects are slim, the priority is making the credit more refundable so more of the lowest-income families can qualify, as they did last year thanks to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan’s temporary expansion of the credit. Nearly 19 million kids won’t receive the full $2,000 benefit this year because their parents earn too little, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate.
Tell Congress to restore the expanded CTC. This quick action is co-sponsored by lots of progressive groups.
Tomorrow morning at 11 AM, New Yorkers on the frontlines of the home care crisis, legislators and organizational leaders are gathering at events all over NYS to relaunch the campaign to pass Fair Pay for Home Care legislation. You can be part of the movement to end our state's worst-in-the-nation home care shortage.
The event in midtown will be live-streamed and include ASL interpretation.
Join JFREJ and NY Caring Majority to relaunch Fair Pay for Home Care!
Two close friends in are down with Covid. This is unsurprising, given the alarming uptick of cases in New York City:
Covid cases in the city have risen by 50 percent since Thanksgiving, averaging 3,551 daily infections as of Friday (a significant undercount, since most tests are done at home and not included in the stats). All five boroughs are now at high community virus levels under CDC guidelines. The number of people hospitalized has doubled since September. Hospitals are strained, and children have been particularly hard-hit by RSV, leading to bed shortages at children’s hospitals. In addition to masks, the Health Department advises Covid testing before holiday get-togethers.
Please put your masks on. This isn’t just my advice.
When I fear for my life and the lives of my loved ones, my first thought is not about illness but about road safety. So it was pretty upsetting to read that a 2020 law that requires reckless drivers to take a mandated safety course or have their vehicles seized is not being enforced.
“The glaring discrepancy between the number of people who failed to take the course, the number of warrants issued, and the number of vehicles ultimately impounded significantly weakens the [Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program]’s enforcement mechanisms — which lets reckless drivers off the hook,’’ city Comptroller Brad Lander wrote last week to the city Department of Transportation in a letter obtained by The Post.
Here’s how glaring it is: 16,000 drivers have been caught repeatedly speeding and/or running red lights. Just over 1,000 of them have been notified that they need to take the mandated safety course. Only 12 of the 370 drivers who have failed to take the course have had their cars seized.
Contact the mayor and remind him that traffic violence kills hundreds of New Yorkers each year and we expect action.
There is no wiffij gift guide, but if there were, here are the two gifts I would recommend.
You can give the gift of trees through Climate Action Now. They have a detailed explainer of how their program works, as some of you may be wary of tree-planting-as-a-colonial-scheme.
My other favorite gift, which is good for any budget, is to purchase medical debt in honor of a loved one from RIP Medical Debt. While we work for system change, we can still celebrate a generous, wonderful friend in a generous, wonderful way.
RIP Medical Debt identify folks most in need of medical debt relief based on their income and the size of their debts. Because the organization purchases bundles of debt at a huge discount,
[each] donation relieves about 100x its value in medical debt.
People across the country receive letters that their debt has been erased. They have no tax consequences or penalties to consider. Just like that, they’re free of medical debt.
Uh-oh. There is now a wiffij gift guide. Do with it as you will.
with love,
L