MAGA Republicans are still threatening to shut down the government unless they get the deep spending cuts they sought during the debt-ceiling standoff. But now, they’re also seeking passage of a wish list of hot-button positions and put more energy into kowtowing to Trump’s demand that Biden be investigated than in actually governing. As all this clearly demonstrates, MAGA Republicans want chaos, while Democrats want to pass legislation that protects working Americans.

The world is facing an unprecedented global environmental crisis and the Biden Administration must do much more to mitigate this existential threat. Declaring a Climate Emergency should just be the beginning.

Republicans do not love America. They attack our core principles while calling themselves freedom-loving patriots. We should attack their phony claims and call out their hypocrisy. We defend the rule of law, democracy, and free elections. Not them.

Record heat waves in the South and Midwest? Deadly wildfires Maui and Canada? Catastrophic storms in Texas and California? Smog-covered cities all over? The Inflation Reduction Act, passed with only Democratic votes, is incentivizing green-energy projects that will rein in greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

To protect the Supreme Court’s legitimacy, the egregious corruption of Clarence Thomas and the other MAGA Justices demands immediate Congressional action

“Voting is the heart of our democracy, yet Americans continue to face voter suppression efforts that make it harder to vote or intentionally keep voters from the ballot box. . . .Democracy doesn’t exist unless every eligible voter can vote and have their vote counted.” Senator Jeff Merkley, at the Democrats’ reintroduction of the Freedom to Vote Act, July 18, 2023

We stand at the forefront of a technological sea change that will impact work and life significantly. Artificial Intelligence is here but our legislators are not yet having an adequate “informed civil discourse with its innovators that could help us to make wise policy decisions on its regulation.”

What kind of nation keeps out asylum seekers with treacherous razor wire that can kill those it ensnares? Or sets up insurmountable barriers to prevent them from claiming asylum in violation of US and international law? Until Congress reforms our dysfunctional immigration system, the answer is “America.”

The world is facing an unprecedented global environmental crisis, but MAGA Republican policies and, sometimes, even those of the Biden administration are exacerbating the crisis.

Our MoCs must continue pushing Biden’s agenda in Congress. In the Senate, that means ending blue slips so Biden can appoint district court judges in red states and supporting or improving on the Biden-McCarthy budget agreement. In the House, it means preventing MAGA Republicans from successfully ignoring that agreement.

In a series of Supreme Court decisions about affirmative action, student loan forgiveness, and LGBTQ discrimination, SCOTUS’ MAGA Supermajority has pushed a personal agenda in defiance of the rule of law, the other branches of government, the Constitution, and expert opinions. We must expand the Court now.

“After a multi-decade, special interest-funded effort. . ., the fanatical MAGA right have captured the Supreme Court and achieved dangerous, regressive policies that they could never attain at the ballot box. This MAGA-captured Supreme Court feels free to accept lavish gifts and vacations from their powerful, big-monied friends, all while they refuse to help everyday Americans. The ill-founded and disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court are a stark reminder that it will take a sustained effort to rebalance our federal courts and restore the values that have made the United States a beacon for freedom, democracy, equality, and opportunity.”

—Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

The brutal war in Ukraine is at a critical stage. Although Ukraine’s new counteroffensive is off to a slow start, the Wagner Group’s attempted coup has clearly weakened Putin. Promptly providing Ukraine with the additional weapons requested will help its forces take advantage of this opportunity.

The “suffocating conditions” now being experienced by much of the Northwest “that have become a regular occurrence in the West, [are] yet another stark reminder that the climate crisis is here. . . .We ought to treat it like the emergency it is.” 

--Representative Earl Blumenauer

The acceleration of attacks on the legitimacy of federal institutions over the past decade should alarm anyone concerned with the health of our democracy. We need to defend and uphold the FBI’s legitimacy and authority.