January, 10 2021, 11:00pm EDT
Continued Delays to Confirmation Process of Biden Nominees Are A Threat to National Security and Public Safety
Democrats will officially take control of the Senate in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, President Trump and his allies in Congress have done everything in their power to slow down the transition and undermine President-elect Biden's ability to hit the ground running on day one. Senate Republicans must guarantee that the will of the American people is respected and the security of our country protected by ensuring a swift nomination process for the incoming Biden administration.
WASHINGTON
Democrats will officially take control of the Senate in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, President Trump and his allies in Congress have done everything in their power to slow down the transition and undermine President-elect Biden's ability to hit the ground running on day one. Senate Republicans must guarantee that the will of the American people is respected and the security of our country protected by ensuring a swift nomination process for the incoming Biden administration.
The Senate is already behind in the confirmation process
President-elect Biden has less than two weeks until he's officially sworn into office, and the Senate is already behind in the confirmation process for his incoming administration. Control of the Senate cannot be used as an excuse for delays; Republicans were always going to be in control of the Senate during the lame duck period and it was their responsibility to keep nomination processes moving forward. Right now, the Senate should be taking important steps to "advise and consent" on nominees: reviewing committee questionnaires, financial paperwork, and FBI background checks, as well as scheduling confirmation hearings. Senate Republicans must ensure a swift confirmation process for the Biden administration or risk putting our country and the safety of its citizens in jeopardy.
Yet a recent Washington Post report shows that Biden is at risk of entering office without a single confirmed Cabinet position, making this the first time a new administration would not have at least part of its national security team in place since the Cold War. By comparison, four years ago, hearings for President Trump's national security nominees were well under way: Homeland Security (1/10/17), State (1/11/17), Attorney General (1/11/17), and Defense (1/12/17). Many of President Obama's national security nominees had hearings on a similar timeline: State (1/13/09), Homeland Security (1/15/09), and Attorney General (1/15, 1/16/09).
So far, just one of President-elect Biden's nominees has a hearing scheduled ahead of Inauguration Day. Meanwhile, Antony Blinken, President-elect Biden's pick for Secretary of State, completed his paperwork before the new year but has reached a standstill with Senate Republicans as they attempt to obstruct a speedy confirmation process for the nominee. There has seemingly been no action in moving forward on Biden's Homeland Security nominee, Alejandro Mayorkas, despite both a massive Russian cybersecurity attack and domestic insurrectionist at the U.S. Capitol in the span of weeks. Additionally, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a "messy" vaccine rollout, it has never been more critical for an incoming administration to have a Health and Human Services Secretary ready to tackle our nation's biggest public health challenges.
Delays mean irrevocable loss of time and American lives
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues killing thousands of Americans daily, and as we approach 400,000 deaths, American lives remain at risk if Republican senators continue to delay the confirmation process for President-elect Biden's nominees. Hospitals are reaching capacity daily, forced to use make-shift morgues to store the overflow of bodies, and vaccine distribution is at a standstill with the potential to waste thousands of life-saving doses before they can be administered. Delays in vaccine distribution will have much larger implications than just public health: kids will be delayed from returning to safe, in-person learning and small businesses will be forced to remain closed, further risking the possibility they never reopen their doors, and so much more.
The new administration must also be prepared to inherit routine national security matters, whether it concern the safety of Americans abroad, threats from adversaries foreign and domestic, managing the National Guard, or the ever-growing threat of cyber attacks. Just weeks ago, the United States was victim to what is being deemed the "worst cyberespionage failure to date," originating from Russia. As Trump's reign ends, the response to this attack will likely fall on President-elect Biden and his administration, who must be ready to act on day one. Additionally, Biden's national security team will have to investigate the massive security failure that allowed pro-Trump insurrectionists to take over the U.S. Capitol with seemingly relative ease, resulting in multiple deaths. There are still many unanswered questions, including details about the explosive devices left around our nation's capital. Delaying the hearings for Biden's Cabinet puts the safety of our entire country at risk. It is time for Republican senators to stop the foot-dragging and fulfill their Constitutional oath by moving forward with hearings for members of the new administration.
- HEADLINE: US: Hack of federal agencies 'likely Russian in origin' [AP, 1/6/2021]
- HEADLINE: As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm [New York Times, 1/2/2021]
- HEADLINE: Four dead after pro-Trump rioters storm Capitol in violent attempt to stop confirmation of Biden's win [CNBC, 1/7/2021]
- HEADLINE: World Leaders Are Shocked, Worried by Trump Supporters' Actions at U.S. Capitol [Wall Street Journal, 1/7/2021]
- HEADLINE: Washington Post: "Riot in the Capitol is a nightmare scenario for cybersecurity professionals" [1/7/2021]
The stakes couldn't be higher, and our country cannot afford to wait until January 20 to begin this process. The American people resoundingly voted for President-elect Biden's vision of cleaning up President Trump's messes, getting the pandemic under control, and rebuilding our economy to prioritize working families. However, since the presidential election, the Trump administration and Senate Republicans have worked to obstruct or delay the incoming Biden administration's ability to tackle our country's biggest national security and public health challenges right out of the gate.
- HEADLINE: Washington Post: "Biden in danger of having no confirmed Cabinet secretaries on first day of presidency" [1/8/2021]
- HEADLINE: Reuters: "Biden: Trump aides setting 'roadblocks' for his transition team" [12/28/2020]
- HEADLINE: Washington Post: "Biden accuses Trump appointees of obstructing transition on national security issues" [12/28/2020]
- HEADLINE: NPR: "Biden's National Security Adviser: Pentagon Hasn't Granted Meetings Since Dec. 18" [12/29/2020]
- HEADLINE: Roll Call: "Budget process, COVID spending being undermined by OMB, Biden transition says." [Roll Call, 12/30/2020]
- HEADLINE: The Independent: "Senate GOP vows to block quick assembly of Biden's Cabinet..." [The Independent, 12/17/2020]
- HEADLINE: KHN: "Senate Republicans Throw the Brakes on Timing for Becerra Hearings." [KHN, 12/8/2020]
- HEADLINE: Bloomberg: "Republican threatens 'brawl' over Biden's EPA, Interior picks." [Bloomberg, 12/18/2020]
The American people have spoken. They overwhelmingly voted for President-elect Biden and they want him to implement his agenda of undoing the chaos and harm caused by President Trump. They want the new Administration to take the pandemic seriously and get this public health crisis under control, stop prioritizing special interests, and start building an economy that works for working families. That starts with a functioning government and Cabinet filled with experienced, highly qualified public servants. It's time for Republican senators to stop dragging their feet, accept the will of the people, and start working with their Democratic colleagues to schedule hearings for President-elect Biden's nominees in order to ensure a smooth transfer of power so the Biden administration can get to work for the American people on day one.
Watchdog group Accountable.US recently launched the Accountable Senate War Room to fight back against those lawmakers who seek to overturn the will of the people by standing in the way of the smooth transition of power and the swift approval of nominees to ensure that the government can function and deliver results for the American people.
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
LATEST NEWS
'My Child Is Human': Palestinian American Mother Disrupts Austin Testimony
"Secretary Austin, why are you denying Israel's genocide in Gaza?" advocates asked the defense secretary at a hearing.
Apr 17, 2024
A week after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that the U.S. has no "evidence of genocide being created" in Gaza, peace activists disrupted the Pentagon chief's testimony on the Biden administration's 2025 budget request and demanded he acknowledge the humanity of Palestinian children.
"My child is human!" said Nasbeebah Hajjaj, a Palestinian-American woman who held up her 16-month-old son, Hamza. "Stop killing Palestinian children!"
The anti-war group CodePink said Hajjaj immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was two months old, and has lost approximately 20 family members to Israel's bombardment of Gaza since October.
The group targeted Austin's testimony a month after the Biden administration released its 2025 budget request—a proposal that includes $1.1 trillion in military-related spending. Despite growing calls from U.S. lawmakers and rights advocates, the White House has not announced conditions for military aid to Israel, which has been widely accused of human rights violations as it has assaulted Gaza and blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians.
Israel's bombardment has killed at least 33,899 Palestinians so far, and more than two dozen people have died of starvation in recent months as international experts have warned parts of northern Gaza are facing famine.
At least 13,000 children have been killed, and the United Nations reported in February that 70% of those killed overall have been women and children—even as Israel and the U.S. have insisted Israeli forces are targeting Hamas.
The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in January saying Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza, and lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have expressed support for the ruling—but the U.S. has dismissed the court's findings, including at Austin's hearing last week.
While Hajjaj held up her son at Wednesday's hearing, another protester, identified by CodePink as Helen, addressed the defense secretary.
"Secretary Austin, why are you denying Israel's genocide in Gaza? Why are you denying genocide in Gaza?" said Helen, who was arrested after being led out of the hearing. "The whole world sees it! You know the laws of war! You know you have blood on your hands! You have blood on your hands! We have blood on our hands."
The advocates chanted, "Shame on you!" as they were led out of the hearing room.
Outside the hearing room, Hajjaj emphasized that the Biden administration has "the power to stop" Israel's attacks on Gaza by cutting off its military aid—of which the U.S. is the largest international supplier. The Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that the U.S. cannot provide military funding to countries that block American humanitarian aid.
"They just want to continue to arm death and destruction," said Hajjaj.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Report Sounds Alarm Over Growing Role of Big Tech in US Military-Industrial Complex
The paper's author found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
Apr 17, 2024
The center of the U.S. military-industrial complex has been shifting over the past decade from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to Northern California—a shift that is accelerating with the rise of artificial intelligence-based systems, according to a report published Wednesday.
The report—entitledHow Big Tech and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex—was authored by Roberto J. González, a professor of cultural anthropology at San José State University, for the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs.
The new paper comes amid the contentious rise of AI-powered lethal autonomous weapons systems, or killer robots; increasing reliance upon AI on battlefields from Gaza to Ukraine; and growing backlash from tech workers opposed to their companies' products and services being used to commit or enable war crimes.
"Although much of the Pentagon's $886 billion budget is spent on conventional weapon systems and goes to well-established
defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing, and BAE Systems, a new political economy is emerging, driven by the imperatives of big tech companies, venture capital (VC), and private equity firms," González wrote.
"As Defense Department officials have sought to adopt AI-enabled systems and secure cloud computing services, they have awarded large multibillion-dollar contracts to Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle," he added. "At the same time, the Pentagon has increased funding for smaller defense tech startups seeking to 'disrupt' existing markets and 'move fast and break things.'"
The report highlights the rise of a new class of billion-dollar military contractors, "a combination of gargantuan tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and hundreds of smaller, pre-IPO startup companies supported by VC firms."
"The use of drones and AI-enabled weapons systems in Ukraine and Gaza, and a feared AI arms race with China, have fueled the
Pentagon's heavy investment in advanced digital tech," González wrote.
A lack of transparency is obscuring the true value of some of the largest military contracts to tech companies.
"One estimate indicates that U.S. military and intelligence agencies awarded at least $28 billion to Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) between 2018 and 2022," the report states. "The actual value of these contracts is likely much higher, because many of the largest known contracts with U.S. tech companies are classified and withheld from public procurement databases."
González found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
"Major tech firms are also awarded large subcontracts from relatively obscure intermediaries or 'passthrough' companies that are granted primary contracts from the Pentagon—evading scrutiny and analysis," the paper adds.
González said that multi-year software-as-a-service contracts "could make the Pentagon and CIA more dependent than ever on the expertise of technical experts from the private sector."
The risk of conflicts of interest increases as military-dependent tech companies go public.
"As just one example, since going public, more than half of Palantir Technologies' revenue has come from the federal government," the report states. "Recent Palantir contracts with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the Air Force are worth more than $900 million. Palantir stock rose more than 170% in 2023."
There's also the danger of a "revolving door" between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon as many senior government officials "are now gravitating towards defense-related VC or private equity firms as executives or advisers after they retire from public service."
"The traditional 'revolving door' meant that a former defense official might accept an executive position with traditional weapons manufacturers; there are more lucrative options now," González wrote. "At least 50 former defense officials are working in VC and private equity, leveraging their connections with current officials or members of Congress to advance beneficial legislation for defense tech firms in their firms' investment portfolios."
"The implications are significant: The new 'revolving door' will accelerate military and intelligence agency funding for early-stage defense tech startups," the report states.
González details how "overblown, inaccurate, ideological talking points are driving defense funding for Big Tech," including "grandiose claims about the effectiveness of artificial intelligence; the overestimation of China's military and technological capabilities; the idea that America has the ability and duty to protect the world's democratic societies; and a steadfast belief that the best way to preserve U.S. dominance is through a free market that prioritizes corporate needs."
"These perspectives boost demand for military AI, and are promoted by a network of tech executives, venture capitalists, think tank analysts, academic researchers, journalists, and Pentagon leaders," he wrote.
Finally, the report warns that "aggressive Big Tech business models" can rush the development of weapons, endangering both combatants and civilians.
"Members of the armed services and civilians are in danger of being harmed by inadequately tested—or algorithmically flawed—AI-enabled technologies," the paper states. "By nature, VC firms seek rapid returns on investment by quickly bringing a product to market, and then 'cashing out' by either selling the startup or going public. This means that VC-funded defense tech companies are under pressure to produce prototypes quickly and then move to production before adequate testing has occurred."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'A Big, Big Deal': Chattanooga Volkswagen Workers Begin Voting in Key Union Election
"Looking back, you could see this being the first domino in something that changes the entire South," said one labor journalist.
Apr 17, 2024
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee began voting Wednesday on whether to join the United Auto Workers, a closely watched election seen as a critical test for the emboldened union's ability to organize in the U.S. South.
The election kicked off a month after workers at the Chattanooga plant filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) formally requesting an election to join the UAW, which secured record-breaking contracts at the Big Three U.S. automakers last year after a historic six-week strike.
Following the hard-fought contract victories, the UAW launched what's been described as the largest union organizing drive in modern U.S. history, targeting nonunion car manufacturers such as Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
The Chattanooga election marks the third time in a decade that the UAW has tried to organize the Volkswagen plant, which currently has around 4,300 workers. Voting concludes on Friday.
"This election is a big, big deal—probably the most important union election that this country has seen in years," labor journalist Hamilton Nolan said in a Democracy Now! appearance on Wednesday. "Looking back, you could see this being the first domino in something that changes the entire South."
About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
Chattanooga workers voiced confidence that this election will be different than 2014 and 2019, when Volkswagen employees voted against joining the UAW by narrow margins.
"We're going to win," Lisa Elliott, a quality control worker at Volkswagen, toldThe Guardian's Steven Greenhouse. "We have the momentum. I know this will be a historic event."
In addition to the Chattanooga effort, the UAW is trying to organize Mercedes-Benz workers in Vance, Alabama. Earlier this month, a supermajority of Mercedes workers in Vance submitted a petition to the NLRB requesting an election to join the UAW.
UAW's organizing efforts have drawn national attention—and ire from anti-union politicians, including the Republican governors of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and other states in the U.S. South.
Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, told Greenhouse that "a victory at Volkswagen would make a victory at Mercedes much more likely."
"Victories at both Volkswagen and Mercedes would be nothing less than an earthquake," McCartin added. "This would be the biggest breakthrough in private-sector organizing in decades. It would mean that the anti-union citadel [in the South] that has repulsed effort after organizing effort has been breached."
University of California, Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken echoed that assessment in an interview with The New York Times.
"It would be a revolution for the UAW and for the auto industry," Shaiken said of a UAW win. "It would break the glass ceiling for unions in the South, and would mean more purchasing power for working-class people in that region."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular