FRIDAY RECAP: NOV. 12, 2021
This week displayed the power of big money in Congress and our lives. As wildly popular as lowering drug cost, pharmaceutical companies’ legislators are winning the fight in the Build Back Better legislation. Our Gollum report on disinformation was about Facebook using dangerous health information and promoting political divisiveness all for profit, according to a whistleblower and documents. So, you ask, why is anything begin done to fight for the majority of Americans? The answer is that Republicans used the filibuster loophole to block any action. So who owns them? Time to act!
Has The Internet Become Our Gollum?
A Facebook whistleblower recently revealed documents demonstrating that Facebook allowed misinformation about Covid to linger with deadly consequences. The documents also revealed that Facebook regularly promotes political divisiveness for monetary gain through carefully constructed algorithms.
BIG PHARMA IS WINNING THE FIGHT TO MAINTAIN HIGH DRUG PRICES
Nearly 1 in 4 Americans struggle to pay for their prescription drugs. That’s because the government is prohibited from negotiating for lower drug prices for its programs, like Medicare. Doing so would save the government hundreds of billions. The situation could change if a strengthened proposal in Build Back Better is passed. But drug companies are fighting to maintain their profits, and they are winning.
DITCH THE FILIBUSTER LOOPHOLE
Rather than legislating with the support of the majority, the Senate’s filibuster loophole is subverting the will of the American people, and it has brought Washington to a standstill. The time for agonizing is over. Democrats must act now to protect our democracy, deal with the debt ceiling, and pass the actions Americans want and need.
FRIDAY RECAP: NOV. 5, 2021
This week displayed the power of big money in Congress. For something as wildly popular as lowering drug cost, its clear the pharmaceutical companies are using their legislators to shape the outcome to their benefit of the Build Back Better legislation. Our Gollum report was about using disinformation and promoting political divisiveness all for profit is Facebook’s business plan, according to a whistleblower and documents.. So, you ask, why is anything begin done to fight for the majority of Americans The answer is that Republicans bought Democrats used the filibuster loophole to block any action. So who owns them, do you suppose? Time to act!
BIDEN’S BUILD BACK BETTER AGENDA IS A CLIMATE MILESTONE
The Build Back Better (BBB) bill is a roadmap for the kind of bold and broad climate action that is long overdue. And it’s on the threshold of passing. Panicked, the fossil fuel industry, which thrives on billions in government subsidies, has its paid-for politicians fighting to eviscerate it, although the legislation is supported by the vast majority of the American people.
REPUBLICANS KILL VOTING PROTECTIONS SIMPLY TO PROTECT THEIR POWER
Elections are supposed to be competitions of ideas with the majority deciding what’s best for them and the country. That’s the theory. Faced with a shrinking voter base, Republicans are going all out to pass laws that exclude Democratic voters. Dems are fighting to protect the right to vote and fair vote counting. But the GOP is blocking those efforts too.
PASS BUILD BACK BETTER ASAP
Despite uniform GOP obstruction, Democrats have devised pro-family, politically popular legislation. Now they must pass Build Back Better as soon as possible to show Americans Democrats deliver on their promises.
FRIDAY RECAP: Oct. 29, 2021
While Congress was busy this week, it actually resolved nothing. Despite accelerating state gerrymandering, voting rights bills still languish in the Senate. Bloated defense budgets pass easily, but Democrats are cutting funding for desperately needed family infrastructural and climate programs. And, it’s not clear Big Oil will be held accountable for decades of lying about climate change. Nevertheless, at least Democrats are trying to govern. Let’s call and remind them what we need.
THE DAY FOR CLIMATE RECKONING AND ACTION HAS COME
Big Oil has known that climate change is real for decades but has employed every trick in the book to support climate denialism, foster uncertainty about the science, and cover up its role in the climate catastrophe. It’s time to hold Big Oil to account and pass meaningful climate legislation.
INVEST IN PEOPLE NOT WEAPONS
“The annual Pentagon budget hovers over $750 billion annually, twice that of the much debated Build Back Better Act that costs about $350 billion annually. . . .And the Build Back Better Act is PAID for, unlike the Pentagon’s budget (which we don’t even audit!)” Rep. Mark Pocan’s tweet, Oct. 3, 2021
THE GOP IS RIGGING ELECTIONS TO SOLIDIFY WHITE SUPREMACY
In state after state, the GOP is sabotaging future elections by blocking non-white citizens from the voting booth and rigging the vote-counting system. In Congress, bills to overturn those unconstitutional laws are blocked by the GOP using the filibuster loophole to thwart the Senate majority. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court continues its 20-year effort to maintain white supremacy.
FRIDAY RECAP: Oct. 22, 2021
This week, as Democrats begin negotiating with themselves about what belongs in Build Back Better, we identified the questions we need to answer in telling our MoCs what needs to be included in the final product. We also called on our Senators to pass voting rights legislation, with a filibuster carve-out if necessary, and we called out the Senator who, with his corporate donors, is trying to destroy the planet. To ensure these bills pass, we must continue calling Congress.
THE CARBON POLLUTERS’ SENATOR (D-WV) IS SINGLE-HANDEDLY KILLING THE PLANET
Sen. Joe Manchin, drenched in fossil fuel money, is intent on blocking the most significant climate change bill in history and our last, best chance to slow the coming devastation. We cannot sit back and let him and industry donors destroy the planet.
The GOP is blocking millions from voting in 2022
The John Lewis Voting Rights Bill and Freedom to Vote Act will go a long way to protect our democracy and blunt Republican efforts to block Democratic voters. Thoughtful conservative Republicans, such as Bill Krystal and Governor Christine Whitman have spoken out loudly against these authoritarian tactics. By contrast, Democrats in the Senate have been paralyzed. They must push our Senators to pass both bills.