Here we are friends, still standing.
In New York City, we have a new mayor and new members of city council. We are going to put the new leadership to work and do our part to support their success. I’ll come back to local matters in a bit.
I hope you are well-rested, because we need to get to busy. Senators are due back in DC today, even though House members are in their districts for another week. Just as well, since the Senate is behind in its work.
The most pressing issue is to secure voting rights in the US, as democracy is under threat.
Over the past year, Republican lawmakers in 41 states have been trying to advance the goals of the Jan. 6 rioters — not by breaking laws but by making them. Hundreds of bills have been proposed and nearly three dozen laws have been passed that empower state legislatures to sabotage their own elections and overturn the will of their voters, according to a running tally by a nonpartisan consortium of pro-democracy organizations.
Phonebank with Common Cause to get West Virginia and Arizona voters on the phone with their senators.
DC statehood has already passed in the House. Statehood would address the critical matter of democratic representation for DC’s 714 million residents, in addition to redressing some of the gross imbalance in the US Senate, where the vast majority of American people are represented by the slimmest majority of senators.
It is conventional wisdom that the legislation will never come to a vote in the Senate as long as the filibuster remains in place. The admission of a state is not, strictly speaking a legislative matter, and the filibuster may be set aside here, just as it has been for judicial appointments.
Contact your US Senators and demand that they move on DC statehood. I’ve provided a sample message!
Teen Vogue published “Billionaires Should Not Exist — Here’s Why” a few days ago, and it is a bracing — if unsurprising — read.
In October 2021, there were 745 American billionaires, while around 11.5% of the population live below the poverty line. During the pandemic, their collective fortunes swelled by $2.1 trillion — just to frame that figure in real terms, that roughly equates to more than the total outstanding student debt and more than is being offered in Biden’s “once-in-a-generation” American Families Plan, which promises national investment for 10 years. Meanwhile, there’s not a single state in the U.S. in which even a $15 wage, which sits above the minimum in many states, would afford someone to rent a two-bedroom apartment. This report illustrates the scale of billionaires’ surging wealth in line with the precarious conditions of essential workers, many of whom have been denied hazard pay or substantial sick-leave benefits. There is no ethical way to justify this and there’s not an economic reason either. Jeff Bezos could give every single one of his 876,000 employees a $105,000 bonus and he’d still be as rich as he was at the start of the pandemic.
Ideally, we would address wealth inequality on a national level. Still, we do what we can. On Wednesday, the NYS legislature will be back in session. Please fill their inboxes.
Contact your NYS legislators and let them know that you support A4604/S2622, which would impose a progressive tax structure. I made it easy.
The Child Tax Credit will not be coming this month, as plans to extend it are linked to the larger fate of Build Back Better. This single policy, which was part of the American Rescue Plan passed last March, seems to have cut child poverty in the US by 30 percent.
Tell Joe Manchin to get back to the table on Build Back Better. This is a ready-made action from Moms Rising.
We continue to face the existential threat of climate catastrophe. Last week, 24 states were under warning for severe weather. There are wildfires in Colorado and tornados and flooding in southern states.
Again, Manchin and his ‘fellow’ Republicans are refusing to support Build Back Better because of short-sighted concerns about the cost of the legislation. Climate experts agree that a failure to act will contribute to increasing disasters and damaged infrastructure, which will entail far greater costs.
The legislation earmarked $555 billion for renewable energy and clean transportation incentives over a decade in the country's largest climate change investment ever.
Consider a trip to Albany on Jan 25 for the Climate Can’t Wait Mobilization!
No doubt, you have had many conversations about risk assessment during this new wave of Covid. A friend sent me this interview with Jonathan Eisen, “a professor at UC Davis with appointments in the department of medical microbiology and immunology, the department of evolution and ecology, and the Genome Center.”
Dr. Eisen confirmed for me that we should wear N95 or KN95 masks, avoid eating in proximity to others, skip large indoor events for a month (even if masked), and recognize that long Covid is a real danger. Do not be cavalier about getting Covid, even if omicron is milder.
Obviously, if you or your kids are headed back to a school or any sort of congregate setting today, some of this advice is tough to follow.
The staffing crisis at Rikers is an emergency; absenteeism hit 30 percent last week and
nearly 30 percent of people in the jail tested positive for COVID.
"Only 45% of our incarcerated population has received one shot of the vaccine, and only 38% is fully vaccinated," [DOC Commissioner Schiraldi] wrote, according to the Daily News. "The risks to the human beings in our custody are at a crisis level."
On Friday, the New York Times published an analysis of the deep dysfunction that has contributed to the violence and staffing problems at Rikers. Today is not the day to get into the details of how we got to where we are; today is a day for action.
Contact our new mayor to let him know that releasing all bail-eligible people is the right move. This is a ready-made action!
It’s a new year. Take in the beauty and strength of an old tree. As long as we’re still standing, we can stand up for what matters.
Have a great day!
with love,
L