Dear friends,
The most important issue facing the US right now is whether we will secure voting rights. Heather Cox Richardson has written a cogent, detailed summary of the content of the two voting rights measures before Congress.
Richardson ended her post yesterday by explaining the Democrats’ strategy to pass the legislation, since Senators Sinema and Manchin apparently won’t budge on changing the filibuster. Fittingly, the strategy depends on another exploiting another legislative rule, with which I was not familiar.
When the House and Senate disagree on a bill (which is almost always), they send it back and forth with revisions until they reach a final version. According to Democracy Docket, after it has gone back and forth three times, a motion to proceed on it cannot be filibustered. So, Democrats in the House are going to take a bill that has already hit the three-trip mark and substitute for that bill the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. They’ll pass the combined bill and send it to the Senate, where debate over it can’t be filibustered.
And so, Republican senators will have to explain to the people why they oppose what appear to be common-sense voting rules.
Mitch McConnell should admire this slick move. There’s no action we need to take in New York, although if your Congressional rep is a Republican, it would be great to call their office and remind them that voting rights should be a non-partisan issue.
If you live in a state with a Republican senator, call this morning to urge them to support the passage of voting rights.
Tuesday’s student walk-out got the attention of the new schools chancellor. The Chancellor tweeted:
We understand the concerns of our school communities during this crisis. The best decisions are made when everyone has a seat at the table—I’m inviting student leaders to meet with me so we can work together for safe and open schools.
The response on Twitter is divided; hundreds of people have liked the post and at least one young person graciously accepted the invitation, which was made with no particulars. A number of people expressed skepticism that any meeting will result in Banks heeding student concerns. Parents and students asked that Banks direct schools not to punish students for walking out nor to mark students absent when children have legitimate concerns for their own health or that of family members. Teachers also want to be heard.
Brad Lander, our new Comptroller, may have found the mayor’s listening ear on the question of parental opt-out for COVID testing. Right now, parents must opt in to allow their kids to be tested at school, which has sharply limited the number of students who can be tested. If the mayor indeed accepts Lander’s proposal, parents would still have a choice, but they would have to actively exercise it. This would lead to a larger pool of students for testing and a more accurate indication of infection rates at schools.
Contact the mayor and your city council rep to let them know what you think about a short-term remote option for the public schools. Updated messages are included.
On the weekend, about 200 people detained at Rikers began a hunger strike to protest conditions. An attorney with the New York County Defender Services, Christopher Boyle, raised the issue on Tuesday at a meeting of the Board of Correction.
“If you’ve got 200 men that are committed to a hunger strike, you know that some of those guys are ill or diabetic — what do you think is going to happen in the next 24 hours when they’re not eating?” Boyle asked. “I just don’t know what you are all doing when this is going on and you are not doing anything about it.”
Other hunger strikers complained of the cold inside their jail dorms as temperatures plunged below freezing this week.
Lack of medical care appears to be the most significant issue for people incarcerated on the island. Council member Tiffany Cabán, whose district includes Rikers, told the Board of Correction that she met a detainee on an unannounced visit last week who told her the only way he could see a mental health professional was if he cut himself and was placed on suicide watch.
A spokesperson from the Department of Corrections is telling a different story, insisting that there is no hunger strike and that folks are choosing commissary food over regular meals and that their complaints are really about the restrictions of Covid lockdowns.
We know that the conditions at Rikers are dangerous and that 15 people died while incarcerated there in 2021. It’s time to take a new tack.
Contact Public Advocate Jumaane Williams to ask him to advocate on behalf of people being held at Rikers to insure that they receive proper medical care and humane treatment.
A reliable work-from-homer (wiffijista?!) sent me the link to this excellent opinion video about the need to pass the Good Cause Eviction bill to protect NYS tenants. The video provides a clear explanation of the purpose of the bill, S3082/A5573, which protects renters from facing rent hikes out of scale with inflation or eviction except for good cause. This means that the landlord cannot refuse to renew the lease for no good reason.
Landlords can still displace people if they need the unit for themselves or a family member or if the tenant is using the unit for an illegal purpose, or denying the landlord reasonable access to make necessary repairs.
Call on your legislators to pass the Right to Remain aka Good Cause Eviction law. This ready-made action comes from Democratic Socialists of America.
On Tuesday, I attended a virtual press conference for Fair Pay for Home Care (A06329A/S05374A). A caregiver named Lilieth Clacken told the legislators and journalists assembled:
Home is where the heart is. My job is difficult. My job requires skill, patience, training, and commitment as an aid to clients of different backgrounds. For the dedication and commitment to what I do each and every day, as a home health aide, a monetary value cannot be placed. I know for sure that every person values and loves their parents and want the best care for them in their home.
I am a fighter for a decent living wage. I represent hundreds of Black, Brown, and white women and men who perform these duties. . . . I advocate here today, once again, to champion the cry to our elected leaders to give us what we deserve. . . .We particularly ask that each aide be given hazard pay, compensating us for the risk we took leaving our families, turning up for your families, just to be with them and take care of them.
Clacken also spoke passionately about the challenges that make her work interesting. I know that the women who care for my mom are constantly challenged to find things my mom has put away (or thrown away or hidden) and to plumb the mysteries of her behavior so that they can make her feel safe and comfortable. The work requires resourcefulness and good humor, and no one who has tried to do it will tell you that it is unskilled work.
Use Caring Majority’s social media toolkit to amplify the call for #FairPay4HomeCare.
Join the call-in day today to tell Governor Hochul to include a living wage for caregivers in her executive budget! NY Caring Majority organized this action.
And finally, a little call back to the giant task of saving democracy:
provide matching funds to political campaigns, a provision aimed at increasing the power of small contributions.
Ironically, the Congresswoman has used thousands of dollars in government funds to pay for ads that look an awful lot like campaign ads.
She took out $13,356 in ads that ran on 1010 WINS from Dec. 7 — a day after Democratic former Rep. Max Rose announced he’s challenging her for his old seat — through Jan. 2. She also spent $13,290 of her office’s funds on ads on 106.7 FM that ran starting on the same date.
The radio spots highlighted her conservative stances on issues from the defense budget to “election integrity.”
As one of the 147 members of Congress who voted not to certify legitimate election results from several states last January, Malliotakis has no business informing us about election integrity.
Support Brittany Ramos DeBarros to unseat Nicole Malliotakis. Consider volunteering for her campaign.
Have a great day!
with love,
L