This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“More oil and gas leasing is insane policy in light of the climate crisis,” said one critic.
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As the White House prepares for a U.S. Supreme Court order that could invalidate the new federal eviction moratorium, data released Wednesday revealed that state and local governments have disbursed just 11% of the funds that Congress allocated to help pay off debts accrued by renters during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, only $1.7 billion was distributed in July. The New York Times reported that last month’s amount “was a modest increase from the prior month, bringing the total aid disbursed thus far to about $5.1 billion.” That’s a small fraction of the $46.5 billion that Congress appropriated for rental assistance in two coronavirus relief packages passed in the last year.
“This is unacceptable,” Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) said in response to the new figures. “We fought to extend the eviction moratorium to give states a chance to distribute these funds, but time is of the essence.”
Just weeks ago, a group of progressive lawmakers led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) held overnight rallies outside the Capitol to pressure President Joe Biden to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium. While Biden let the previous CDC order lapse on July 31, sustained direct action pushed his administration to implement on August 3 a new, more limited 60-day ban on evictions to give state and local governments more time to distribute rent relief.
Jones said Wednesday that “states… must immediately get these funds to renters with the urgency this crisis demands.”
The Times noted that the new data came as the Biden administration “mapped out policy contingencies if the Supreme Court strikes down the moratorium, which is the administration’s principal safeguard for hundreds of thousands of low-income and working class tenants hit hardest by the pandemic.” The White House anticipates a decision as soon as this week.
According to the Times, Treasury Department and White House officials said during a Tuesday night conference call that while some progress has been made this month, states are delivering rental aid at such a slow pace that an eviction surge is likely even if the high court allows the new ban to continue until its scheduled October 2 expiration date.
The newspaper added:
On Wednesday, the Treasury Department rolled out a slate of incremental changes intended to pressure states to move more quickly. But administration officials continue to blame the program’s struggles on local officials, many of whom are reluctant to take advantage of the program’s new fast-track application process, which allows tenants to self-certify their financial information.
In recent weeks, local officials have complained that moving too fast on aid applications could lead to errors, fraud, and audits; the White House has countered by telling them those risks are insignificant compared with a wave of evictions hitting tenants who did not get their aid quickly enough to keep a roof over their heads.
Journalist Brian Goldstone argued that the unwillingness of local agencies to expedite the allocation of funds, including by giving money directly to renters, means that “they trust landlords — but not tenants — to tell the truth.”
The program's failure is being "blamed on local officials, many of whom are reluctant to take advantage of the fast-track application process, which allows tenants to self-certify their financial information."
Translation: They trust landlords—but not tenants—to tell the truth. https://t.co/So2V8Il1Pj
— Brian Goldstone (@brian_goldstone) August 25, 2021
The Times noted that many landlords “have rejected the federal aid, arguing that evicting nonpaying tenants is not only their right but the most effective way of ensuring their revenue is not interrupted in the future.”
Matt Ford of The New Republic called the situation “a colossal failure of governance.”
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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A major report on climate says both greenhouse gas concentrations and global sea levels hit record highs in 2020.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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As the White House prepares for a U.S. Supreme Court order that could invalidate the new federal eviction moratorium, data released Wednesday revealed that state and local governments have disbursed just 11% of the funds that Congress allocated to help pay off debts accrued by renters during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“States… must immediately get these funds to renters with the urgency this crisis demands.”
—Rep. Mondaire JonesAccording to the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, only $1.7 billion was distributed in July. The New York Times reported that last month’s amount “was a modest increase from the prior month, bringing the total aid disbursed thus far to about $5.1 billion.” That’s a small fraction of the $46.5 billion that Congress appropriated for rental assistance in two coronavirus relief packages passed in the last year.
“This is unacceptable,” Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) said in response to the new figures. “We fought to extend the eviction moratorium to give states a chance to distribute these funds, but time is of the essence.”
Just weeks ago, a group of progressive lawmakers led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) held overnight rallies outside the Capitol to pressure President Joe Biden to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium. While Biden let the previous CDC order lapse on July 31, sustained direct action pushed his administration to implement on August 3 a new, more limited 60-day ban on evictions to give state and local governments more time to distribute rent relief.
Jones said Wednesday that “states… must immediately get these funds to renters with the urgency this crisis demands.”
The Times noted that the new data came as the Biden administration “mapped out policy contingencies if the Supreme Court strikes down the moratorium, which is the administration’s principal safeguard for hundreds of thousands of low-income and working class tenants hit hardest by the pandemic.” The White House anticipates a decision as soon as this week.
According to the Times, Treasury Department and White House officials said during a Tuesday night conference call that while some progress has been made this month, states are delivering rental aid at such a slow pace that an eviction surge is likely even if the high court allows the new ban to continue until its scheduled October 2 expiration date.
The newspaper added:
On Wednesday, the Treasury Department rolled out a slate of incremental changes intended to pressure states to move more quickly. But administration officials continue to blame the program’s struggles on local officials, many of whom are reluctant to take advantage of the program’s new fast-track application process, which allows tenants to self-certify their financial information.
In recent weeks, local officials have complained that moving too fast on aid applications could lead to errors, fraud, and audits; the White House has countered by telling them those risks are insignificant compared with a wave of evictions hitting tenants who did not get their aid quickly enough to keep a roof over their heads.
Journalist Brian Goldstone argued that the unwillingness of local agencies to expedite the allocation of funds, including by giving money directly to renters, means that “they trust landlords—but not tenants—to tell the truth.”
The Times noted that many landlords “have rejected the federal aid, arguing that evicting nonpaying tenants is not only their right but the most effective way of ensuring their revenue is not interrupted in the future.”
Matt Ford of The New Republic called the situation “a colossal failure of governance.”
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Kenny Stancil.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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“This is a win for wildlife and communities along the border, where the government has behaved as if the laws don’t apply,” said one environmental lawyer.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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More than two dozen advocacy groups launched “extreme weather ads” in five state newspapers on Monday to pressure right-wing Senate Democrats to stop giving taxpayer money to the oil, gas, and coal companies most responsible for the climate emergency.
Full page ads — featuring artwork from Hannah Rothstein’s 50 States of Change Collection, which depicts some of the detrimental effects U.S. residents can expect if lawmakers refuse to swiftly enact robust climate mitigation measures — have been placed in The Arizona Republic, The Dover Post, The Billings Gazette, The Union Leader, and The Charleston Gazette-Mail, to mark the beginning of a week of action against fossil fuel subsidies.
Those five publications were chosen because they are the home-state newspapers of Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Chris Coons (Del.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), and Joe Manchin (W.Va.).
The coalition is targeting the six senators because of their close ties with Big Oil, which were exposed in late June when Greenpeace U.K. and the British Channel 4 News teamed up to release secretly recorded videos, wherein ExxonMobil lobbyists admitted that the company deliberately sowed doubt about climate science to protect fossil fuel profits and worked with several GOP lawmakers as well as conservative Democrats to undermine climate legislation.
According to the investigation, Coons, Manchin, Sinema, and Tester, along with Republican Sens. John Barrasso (Wyo.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), John Cornyn (Texas), Steve Daines (Mont.), and Marco Rubio (Fla.), have taken tens of thousands of dollars from Exxon.
The 25 groups behind the ad campaign — including Greenpeace USA, Our Revolution, Public Citizen, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, Food & Water Watch, and the Sunrise Movement — noted that the federal government gives more than $15 billion in public funding to fossil fuel corporations every year.
Moreover, the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill includes up to $25 billion in potential new subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. The key author of the energy-related measures in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is Manchin, who has made more than $4.5 million from his family’s coal business since joining the Senate in 2010.
The ad campaign comes just weeks after the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report, which, in the words of Greenpeace USA climate campaign manager Anusha Narayanan, “showed the continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels will kill us all.”
“Everyone saw the video where a Big Oil lobbyist named these six Democratic senators as key to their plan to delay climate action,” Narayanan said Monday in a statement. “Members of Congress like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have the fossil fuel industry on speed dial, while they keep the rest of us on hold. That’s a disaster for the future of the planet and its people.”
“It’s time for Congress to stop taking over $15 billion from hardworking Americans and giving it to billionaire fossil fuel CEOs,” she continued. “Despite what these companies say, subsidies don’t actually lead to jobs and most subsidies go to profits.”
Narayanan added that an amended infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which Democratic Party leaders hope to pass through the reconciliation process, present a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for Sens. Kelly, Sinema, Coons, Tester, Hassan, and Manchin “to invest in a just transition to renewable energy, racial and economic justice, and working-class communities.”
The new ads also come as the U.S. West is suffering from an increasingly severe drought and 93 active wildfires, while the Northeast is battered by Tropical Storm Henri, and parts of the South, including North Carolina and Tennessee, are grappling with deadly flooding after being pummeled by record-breaking rainfall.
That lawmakers continue to collaborate with oil, gas, and coal companies despite dire warnings from scientists and glaring real-time evidence that fossil fuel emissions are exacerbating extreme weather events prompted Rothstein to ask: “What is wrong with our politicians?”
“Why do they continue to support Big Oil and coal when it’s clear these industries are causing natural disasters that harm everyday Americans?” Rothstein asked Monday in a statement. “California’s increasingly rampant wildfires, Texas’ unprecedented February 2021 snowstorm, and the current water shortages in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico are only a few examples of the unshakably clear evidence that we need urgent climate action ASAP.”
“We can lessen, reverse, and prevent many of the issues depicted in 50 States of Change, but we need to act now, starting with an immediate and expedited shift away from burning fossil fuels,” she added. “This can’t be done solely on a consumer level. We need our elected officials on our side.”
In addition to being featured in the ad campaign, Rothstein’s artwork is also being used in an interactive story map, which will “underscore a state-by-state breakdown of current and future state-level impacts of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.” It is set to be published on Greenpeace USA’s website on Wednesday.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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“The unconscionable growth in billionaire wealth through the misery of the pandemic is the clearest case I can imagine for the progressive tax reform working its way through Congress.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Once again, Rep. Cuellar has made clear that his priorities are serving his corporate donors—not the people of South Texas,” said Jessica Cisneros, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Texas’ 28th district.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“What is wrong with our politicians?” asked the artist whose work is featured in the ads. “Why do they continue to support Big Oil and coal when it’s clear these industries are causing natural disasters that harm everyday Americans?”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“After pursuing 20 years of failed policies that have done incredible harm to Afghans, the United States and its NATO allies have a responsibility to accept every Afghan seeking refuge.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“The people of Texas need Gov. Abbot focused on putting an end to this pandemic—not our right to vote—so we can safely send our kids to school, re-open our small businesses, and get on with our lives.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The amended complaint shows that “the new leadership at the Federal Trade Commission is committed to pursuing economic fairness and meaningful competition, no matter how powerful the enemies it makes doing so,” said one anti-monopoly group.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“The federalization of protest-related charges was a deliberate and cynical effort to target and discourage those who protested in defense of Black lives.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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GOP-appointed judges sided with Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and right-wing lawmakers in the state, who are seeking to secure a quorum to pass legislation attacking voting rights.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“With kids going back to school and cases surging, we need to know when children under 12 will be able to get vaccinated,” said Rep. Katie Porter.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We cannot stand idly by as the lives of the Afghan people are treated with contempt, derision, and weariness,” said a group of special rapporteurs.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The USDA’s record 27% increase in food stamp benefits “is a large advance for poverty reduction, nutrition, and opportunity for children,” said one economist.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“If something happens to Congresswoman Omar both AIPAC and Facebook, for allowing the ads to run, will have blood on their hands.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“I would say the scientists have done their job and now policymakers have to do their own job,” said one climate researcher frustrated by the lack of serious action on the existential crisis.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“The situation is growing increasingly untenable for civilians, who are at an ever-increasing risk of being caught in the crossfire,” said the International Rescue Committee’s director for Afghanistan.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We’ve lost over 600,000 of our loved ones across this country,” said progressive challenger Charles Booker. “Rand Paul knew how bad it would be, and he decided to choose profits instead of protecting you.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Maybe instead of boosting oil production, President Biden should have pushed for more electric vehicle and transit spending in the infrastructure bill?”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The state health department’s request for 300 ventilators came as the Republican governor continued to fight to prevent school districts from requiring masks.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“For one one-hundredth of the proposed budget, the U.S. could make and deliver billions of vaccine doses and end this horrific pandemic.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“This is climate denial,” said 350 Canada. “From Canada’s Environment Minister no less.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We will bring undocumented people out of the shadows and provide them with a pathway to citizenship, including those who courageously kept our economy running in the middle of a deadly pandemic,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“A climate crisis demands emergency action.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“It’s time to break up Big Pharma,” said Our Revolution. “It’s time for Medicare for All.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Cutting methane is the biggest opportunity to slow warming between now and 2040,” says one leading scientist. “We need to face this emergency.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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Republicans “waging war on our right to vote failed to pass anti-democratic legislation in the regular session and the last special session,” said one advocate. “Texans are ready to make sure they fail again.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.