Dear friends,
Today is the first day of classes in the NYC public schools. For the first time in my adult life, I will not be in school this September — not even on Zoom, not in an after-school program, not even as a mentor. So I am feeling a little left out today.
It is important, however, to be where we are. Luckily for me, I am here with you. Each Thursday, we revisit some of the issues that need our constant attention.
To understand what a pivotal moment this is, we must first appreciate just how profoundly the moral decks are usually stacked against regular debtors. Even the seemingly innocuous phrase “loan forgiveness” implies culpability and blame, when in reality the majority of debtors are simply struggling to make ends meet — a problem likely to be most acute for Black and brown people, who tend to lack family wealth and access to credit on fair terms.
As Taylor points out, failing corporations and individual members of the capitalist class regularly take advantage of bankruptcy laws to walk away from their debts.
Tell the president to be bolder. No matter what happens in the midterms, he should cancel $50k of student debt. This ready-made action is from Daily Kos.
Taylor’s argument that debt burdens — when the debtors are not wealthy — are too frequently freighted with shame. This is certainly true when we’re talking about children whose families owe student lunch debt.
For much of the pandemic, federal funds made school meals free. That ended in June. One school district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania canceled student lunch debt.
Roughly 10% of Americans are food insecure. Last year, pandemic programs helped hundreds of thousands of families with children eat regularly. But the child tax credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan expired, and did not make it into the Inflation Reduction Act.
It’s time to bring back the expanded child tax credit (CTC). Stanley B. Greenberg, the political strategist, has written about the efficacy of the expanded CTC:
The expanded Child Tax Credit is expensive, but it is an investment. Economists have found that taxpayers get 84 cents back for every dollar spent in children being healthier with decreased health care costs, less costs for child protection and foster care, and higher wages and taxes paid. The investment pays off tenfold, as children get more education and training, there is less crime, parents earn more money and pay more taxes, and people are healthier and live longer.
And because he is a pollster, Greenberg has examined the political viability of the CTC. In short, it is a winner.
Republicans have realized that their forced-birth policies call attention to their failure to support families whose children are already born. So Mitt Romney has revived his Family Security Act (FSA).
Romney’s new bill tacks a work requirement onto a child allowance policy, something that Joe Manchin and the Republicans like because it ensures that the people who receive it are made to show that they need it.
( Had she not died last week, Barbara Ehrenreich would be sick over this bullshit.)
The FSA 2.0 would increase the maximum annual child tax credit from $2,000 to $4,200 for each child under age 6 and $3,000 for each child ages 6 through 17, paid out in monthly installments. Expecting parents could also qualify for an additional $2,800 credit during the final four months of pregnancy.
The Romney Child Tax Credit plan would leave a quarter of children worse off compared to current law and help half as many low-income children as the 2021 expansion of the credit.
Contact your Congressional delegation and let them know that we need the expanded CTC. This action is ready-made!
The last president placed more than 200 federal judges on the bench, and this tipped the court to the right. That imbalance has already had alarming implications and threatens climate action, reproductive rights, and so much more.
President Biden has had more federal judges confirmed at this point in his presidency than anyone since JFK. He is working to redressing a troubling partisan imbalance.
Contact Chuck Schumer and tell him to push the pace on judicial confirmations! This 30-second action has been updated!
I’m going to keep putting climate action in front of you, because action — like climate change itself — is cumulative. Here are some repeats:
Contact the Federal Reserve and let them know that banks are endangering the planet and their own stability when they invest in fossil fuel projects. This quick action comes from Chop Wood, Carry Water!
Send a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today to demand to a meaningful Environmental Impact Statement. This action is from EarthJustice.
Governments across the globe increased their fossil fuel subsidies significantly last year. We know this is backward.
A surge in investment in clean energy technologies and infrastructure is the only lasting solution to today’s global energy crisis and the best way to reduce the exposure of consumers to high fuel costs.
Here in New York, ConEd rate hikes are being used to build fracked gas infrastructure. Let’s turn that around.
Send a comment to Governor Hochul and the Public Service Commission: we should not pay more for electricity in order to fund fossil fuel projects. This quick action comes from Sane Energy Project.
Here’s something we can do in NYS to make sure that our governor prioritizes funding to implement the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act:
Sign up to participate in today’s call relay, organized by NY Renews; there’s a phone number, a simple script, and you choose a time for your call! There are plenty of time slots remaining this afternoon.
If you’re feeling dire about democracy, check out this list of candidates for Secretary of State. These are the folks who are vying to certify elections at the state level. If you want to target your donations at the state level, supporting pro-democracy candidates for Secretary of State is the way to go.
Support Democrats running for Secretary of State in five key states! This action comes from Chop Wood, Carry Water.
Civic action is a long game, and we need to play every day. Thanks for playing!
with love,
L