Dear friends,
Last week, I suggested that we should work around Congress, focusing on executive action and state-level initiatives. But I’ve thought about this and realized that it is a mistake to sit back and accept that folks on the public payroll refuse to do their jobs.
Will the current Congress pass voting rights protections? Probably not. Is it valuable to remind them that their constituents support these protections? Absolutely.
Seven out of 10 voters supported The Freedom to Vote Act, including 54 percent of Republican voters. The bill was introduced in the Senate in September 2021, and
retain[ed] many of the main provisions of the For the People Act, the House voting rights bill. It set national standards for early voting periods, mail-in voting, and various forms of voter registration, as well as measures for campaign finance transparency and fair districting. The new bill also incorporate[d] new measures to protect local election officials from partisan interference, and to protect voters from forms of voter intimidation.
Write to your Senators and ask what they are doing to defend voting rights. I made it easy.
As futurologists, we can’t give up on the improbable-but-possible changes that will create a more just society.
This logic extends to all the other nice things that we want for ourselves and each other. For example, the expanded Child Tax Credit, which is no longer available, has broad support from the public.
By wide margins, voters favor the Child Tax Credit – 75% favor to 19% oppose. Over half (52%) strongly favor it.
Support for the Child Tax Credit crosses party lines – 86% of Democrats, 77% of Independents, and 64% of Republicans favor the Child Tax Credit.
Voters agree by a nearly six to one margin (80% agree to 14% disagree) that Congress shouldn’t pass any more tax breaks for big corporations unless there’s support for families, too.
The expanded CTC expired in December 2021 because Republicans would not support it. What if — improbable as it seems — they got the message that ordinary people want sensible policies instead of cultural warfare?
A minority of all voters — including 47 percent of Republican voters — oppose an assault weapons ban. But still we don’t have a national assault weapons ban.
Join Moms Rising in calling on Congress to take action on the policies that American families support. This is a 15-second action!
The argument for rejecting the suit brought against Biden’s policy is that the plaintiffs in the case do not have standing to bring the suit. The brief’s authors believe that this suit follows a dangerous trend that gives states too much latitude to challenge a federal action they disagree with.
If the justices side with the states and overlook their shaky legal standing, the professors write, the Supreme Court risks sitting “in constant judgment of every major executive action — which is not its constitutional role.”
One doesn’t often see citizen petitions to the Supreme Court, but if SCOTUS is going to hear cases brought by plaintiffs who have not suffered harm, it may as well hear from everyday people who have to live with their decisions.
Tell the Supreme Court to defend student debt cancelation. This quick action is from the Student Debt Crisis Center.
I know a lot of you come here on Tuesdays for the good news — not just my wild-eyed futurology. Here’s some actual good news.
In Regulators Prevented a Crypto-Fueled Economic Downturn, David Dayen makes the case that the Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made a timely and effective statement to large banks to say that heavy investment in cryptocurrencies is not a sound banking process.
After detailing the numerous risks from crypto—including fraud and scams, misrepresentations and poor risk management from crypto companies, high volatility, legal uncertainties, and the potential for digital versions of old-time bank runs—the regulators stated: “It is important that risks related to the crypto-asset sector that cannot be mitigated or controlled do not migrate to the banking system.”
Yay for sound regulatory action. Sometimes the good news is the bad shit that gets prevented.
While this order is more than 157 years overdue, it is most welcome. Invariably, the second part of the order will be easier to achieve than the first, even though there are bronze plaques, stone busts, and carved quotations to remove. The removals began in mid-December.
Last week, Illinois enacted an assault weapons ban, effective immediately. The new law
caps the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, bans “switches” that allow handguns to fire rounds automatically and extends the ability of courts to prevent dangerous individuals from possessing a gun through firearm restraining orders.
More than 70 sheriff’s departments in Illinois have indicated that they will not be enforcing the law. The governor’s response to this nonsense was sound:
members of law enforcement who fail to "do their job… won't be in their job."
Emergency Risk Protection Orders, also known as Red Flags, have skyrocketed in New York ever since the state’s newest gun law went into effect. Prosecutors and police are now required
to request a red-flag order for anyone who they determine is likely to seriously harm themselves or others.
The purpose of the reform was to keep guns out of the hands of people who demonstrate that they are likely to use violence. Red flags are clearly not foolproof, but they were ineffective until the legislation stipulated action.
I learned this by noodling around on the Voting Rights Lab’s legislative tracker.
Check out the Comprehensive Bill Search tool from Voting Rights Lab!
The New York Harbor School, a small public high school located on Governors Island, runs an innovative maritime program that is teaching students to be stewards of the ocean.
Freshmen and sophomores climb the rocky waterfront with ladders and harnesses, collecting rubbish that has washed ashore. In the hour or so that the crew is out there, they can easily gather more than a half-dozen large garbage bags. Juniors and seniors serve as project leaders who process and analyze what comes in from the field.
Unsurprisingly, they collect a tremendous amount of plastic and styrofoam waste among the trash. Students monitor water quality and share their data publicly, including at public hearings about marine pollution.
There are now plans to double the size of the Harbor School’s campus and its enrollment in the next several years.
Bicycle ridership in the city more than doubled between 2011 and 2021. This is a small but important initiative and it gives us something to build on.
Here’s one more action, before I go, because McCarthy and his band of pirates are looking to manufacture a bonus existential crisis by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.
We are not having it. ‘Cousin’ Janet, the Treasury Secretary, has voiced full support for the abolition of the debt ceiling. (We are not really related.)
Here, Janet Yellen explains what the debt ceiling is and why it is not an appropriate place for negotiation:
“I believe when Congress legislates expenditures and puts in place tax policy that determines taxes, those are the crucial decisions Congress is making,” Ms. Yellen said. “And if to finance those spending and tax decisions it is necessary to issue additional debt, I believe it is very destructive to put the president and myself, as Treasury secretary, in a situation where we might be unable to pay the bills that result from those past decisions.”
Tell Biden not to negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling! This action is sponsored by Social Security Works.
with love,
L