October, 31 2019, 12:00am EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Don Owens, dowens@citizen.org, (202) 588-7767
Laurie Kinney, lkinney@pfaw.org, (202) 467-2307
Ryan Thomas, ryan@standupamerica.com, (763) 954-0470
Anna Zuccaro, press@moveon.org
'Nobody Is Above the Law' Mobilizations Build Mass Momentum As Impeachment Inquiry Vote Hits Capitol Hill
The U.S. House Approved an Impeachment Framework As 200 Rallies Are Planned Nationwide in 39 States and Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON
The hundreds of thousands of activists who are mobilizing across the country in anticipation of a House vote on articles of impeachment came a step closer today to protesting in the streets to declare that no one is above the law after the U.S. House voted to approve the framework and rules for moving forward with the impeachment inquiry. And momentum continued to build for the Nov. 2-12 Congressional recess activities in support of impeachment.
Leaders in the House of Representatives released the text of the resolution explaining procedures and key provisions as the House proceeds with the process. As the president and his allies continue to criticize the push for impeachment, holding Trump accountable for abusing the powers of his office for his own political gain becomes increasingly urgent.
The night before the House of Representatives votes on whether to impeach the president, hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists nationwide are expected to take to the streets to demand that accountability and declare that no one, including the president and his administration - is above the law.
Since the grassroots push launched last week, momentum to organize to support the impeachment inquiry has continued to flourish. To date, nearly 200 events and counting have been mobilized nationwide in less than a week. The mass actions are being coordinated by the "Nobody Is Above the Law" coalition, which also helped organize protests in nearly 1,000 cities two days after the 2018 election to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.
This mobilization is part of a much larger grassroots effort to ensure Congress fulfills its duty to make sure the president follows the law, including nationwide actions and town halls during the November congressional recess to help amplify calls for an inquiry of impeachment, and removal from office.
Before the House impeachment vote, protesters will gather in front of the district offices of House members as the lawmakers finalize their positions and at U.S. Senate offices as senators prepare for a likely trial. Protesters will call on their representatives to uphold the Constitution and their oaths of office by supporting Trump's impeachment and removal.
The activists will coordinate their work using #NotAboveTheLaw on social media and via the event hub hosted at impeach.org, where anyone can sign up to host or attend an event.
"If politicians in DC allow the President of the United States to use public resources for his personal gain like he did with the Ukraine, they are creating two permanent standards: one for the rich and powerful, and one for the rest of us," said Diane Russell a cohost of the Portland, Maine event. "If we are truly to be a country of laws then Susan Collins must impeach and remove Trump to show the world that no one is above the law."
"This is an incredibly important time and a momentous decision to be made by our representatives. It is, indeed time to impeach and remove this dangerous man from our highest office," said Geof Cahoon, a member of Indivisible Front Range Resistance and a co-host of the planned Boulder, Colo. event. "And it's way past time for Cory Gardner to listen to his conscience and his constituents and remove this corrupt leader."
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
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The left-leaning think tank behind the new analysis, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), warned Friday that even though Trump officials within the SSA have claimed that the policy shift is designed to reduce fraud, "the agency's own figures show that direct deposit fraud is a very small problem—less than one-hundredth of one percent of benefits are misdirected."
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"The new PIN code requirement will be impossible for many beneficiaries to meet," according to the analysis from CBPP released Friday. "Many seniors and people with disabilities lack internet service, computers or smartphones, or the technological savvy to navigate SSA's online services."
What's more, the analysis states, "the PIN requirement expects callers to complete a multi-step, multifactor authentication and generate a PIN code while on the phone with an agent. Or if they don't have an account, they must hang up, establish an online account, then call back—a not-insignificant inconvenience when most callers to SSA do not reach an agent on the first try, and the wait time for a call back from SSA averages 2.5 hours."
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The sentence was handed down three months after Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty of murdering the Palestinian-American kindergartner, who lived with his family in two bedrooms they rented from Czuba in Plainfield Township, Illinois.
Prosecutors found that Czuba became "paranoid and violent" after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and as Israel's bombardment of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians began in retaliation.
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"Together, we must build a society where no one lives in fear because of who they are, and no family mourns a loved one lost to hate."
"That's more than just hate, that went way beyond that," Yousef said of the murder. "We're talking about a 6-year-old kid whose father had plans for him."
Yousef also looked directly at Czuba and demanded that he say something to the family "for peace of mind," but Czuba did not speak during the hearing.
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Green groups on Friday decried U.S. House Republicans' proposed text for the upcoming reconciliation bill, which the Natural Resources Defense Council said "contains an unprecedented slate of direct attacks on the environment and public lands and waters."
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee submitted their proposed section of the massive GOP energy, tax, and national security bill, which is scheduled for a markup on Tuesday.
"The sprawling proposal, released in the dead of night, includes dozens of provisions that would benefit the oil and gas industry and other corporations, at the expense of American families," said the Sierra Club.
"The only way it could be friendlier to Big Oil CEOs would be if they wrote it themselves."
The draft's proposals include fast-tracked and expanded fossil fuel extraction on public lands, mandated oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ending protections for Minnesota's pristine Boundary Waters watershed, reinstating canceled leases for the proposed Twin Metals mine in Minnesota, rolling back fossil fuel royalties, and more.
"This proposal is a corporate polluter's wish list," warned Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program. "The only way it could be friendlier to Big Oil CEOs would be if they wrote it themselves."
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Defenders of Wildlife warned that "this egregious legislation would undermine critical wildlife protections and destroy or degrade large swaths of wildlife habitats through destructive mandates for increased logging and massive oil and gas lease sales on American public land, including portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
Robert Dewey, the group's vice president of government relations, said that "this bill would be devastating for American wildlife and the habitats they depend on."
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