Dear ones,
What a week!
The times are unprecedented and the damage done by the unnatural disaster of the last Administration is too enormous to measure at this proximity. If we are to truly work for justice, we need to align behind bold moves. There’s been a good deal of discussion on the left about the importance of delivering meaningfully on the vision of care and unity and renewed hope. Senator Bernie Sanders named a number of formerly unthinkable policies — direct payments of thousands of dollars to families, increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour, universal healthcare, pre-K, and childcare — and then he told an important truth:
Despite what you may have heard, there is no reason why we cannot do all of these things. Through budget reconciliation, a process that only requires a majority vote in the Senate, we can act quickly and pass this emergency legislation.
Meanwhile, McConnell has been applying pressure to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in hopes of keeping the filibuster in place (requiring 60 votes to end debate on most legislation and move to a vote). Let’s tell Schumer to remind McConnell that the fifty Democratic Senators represent 41 million more Americans than the 50 Republicans, and that he cannot pretend otherwise.
Contact Chuck Schumer and tell him that we expect him to represent the majority of Americans and pass progressive legislation.
The President used his executive authority to extend an existing pause on student loan payments for eight months. The real excitement came when AOC tweeted a challenge to Biden to cancel federal student loan debts.
Before becoming president, Biden indicated that he didn’t think an executive order to cancel student debt would necessarily be legal. Instead, he talked of legislation that would cancel $10,000 of debt for each student borrower.
Alexis Goldstein, a senior policy analyst with Americans for Financial Reform, said [that] “even the Trump administration used executive authority to cancel student loan interest payments, twice.”
Just ahead of Biden’s inauguration Wednesday, The Debt Collective union launched the Biden Jubilee 100, an initiative that consists of “100 student debt strikers refusing to pay back their student loans until President Biden cancels all student debt — which he has the power to do immediately!”
Join the Debt Collective, a union of debtors fighting to defend their interests and promote a more equitable society.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor and professor of public policy, has articulated the danger of attempting to lead from the center:
Biden must boldly and unreservedly speak truth, refuse to compromise with violent Trumpism and ceaselessly fight for democracy and inclusion.
Refusing to compromise … means convicting Trump of impeachable offenses and ensuring he can never again hold public office – not as a “distraction” from Biden’s agenda but as a central means of re-establishing civility, which must be a cornerstone of that agenda.
Strengthening democracy means getting big money out of politics, strengthening voting rights and fighting voter suppression in all its forms.
It means boldly advancing the needs of average people…[and] embracing the ongoing struggle for racial justice and the struggle of blue-collar workers whose fortunes have been declining for decades.
The moment calls for public investment on a scale far greater than necessary for Covid relief or “stimulus” – large enough to begin the restructuring of the economy.
At a time when millions of our fellow citizens are threatened imminently by eviction or foreclosure, a coalition that includes The Frontline, Right To The City, Mijente, Homes Guarantee Campaign by People's Action, and Housing Justice for All is demanding bold action by the Biden-Harris administration to cancel rent, mortgages, deportations and student debt. The new Administration needs to hear from us.
Sign the petition to demand bold action from the new Administration.
Finally, let us pause to celebrate that Dr. Fauci, our public health daddy, is BACK!
Have a restful weekend!
with love,
L