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For Immediate Release
January, 14 2016, 02:30pm EDT
Thursday January, 14 2016, 02:30pm EDT
Contact:
Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch, (202) 683-4905, kfried@fwwatch.org
Is Flint Water Also Causing Legionnaire's Disease?
Statement of Lynna Kaucheck, Senior Organizer, Food & Water Watch
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - "The Flint water crisis reached disturbing new heights this week with revelations that cases of Legionnaires' Disease there have spiked since it switched its water source to the Flint river. There were 87 cases in Genesee County from June 2014 to November 2015, 10 of which resulted in death. According to a national water quality expert, it's possible that improper treatment of the river's water is responsible for the outbreak.
"The water crisis in Flint is a total abomination. Governor Snyder and his administration could have protected Flint residents, but instead they turned a blind eye, even assuring residents that their water was safe. The situation in Flint is the very definition of a man-made public health crisis. It's a human rights violation, and it's beyond unacceptable.
"Since it's clear that the Snyder administration cannot adequately address this crisis, it's time the federal government stepped in. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should declare a state of emergency to give Flint residents the resources they so desperately need."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Democrats Follow Van Hollen's Lead, Planning El Salvador Trip to Bring Abrego Garcia Home
"A massive congressional delegation should join him with international human rights lawyers," said one state lawmaker. "This moment absolutely requires this."
Apr 15, 2025
With two presidents insisting there's nothing they can do to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland sheet metal worker who was sent to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador despite a court order barring his deportation there, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday detailed his plans to go to the Central American country to demand his constituent's safe return—and several other Democrats indicated they would follow his lead.
Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced his intention on Monday in a letter to El Salvador's ambassador to the U.S., saying he wanted to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his visit to Washington, D.C. this week and that if Abrego Garcia is not home "by midweek," the senator would travel to El Salvador.
On Tuesday, he told CNN that he had not heard back from Bukele regarding his request.
"I hope to meet with officials of the government of El Salvador," he said, adding that it wasn't clear whether Bukele would be in the country during his visit. "I also hope to visit this notorious prison to see Abrego Garcia... I think the situation for both the Trump administration and the president of El Salvador is unsustainable."
Van Hollen pointed to the meeting Bukele had with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, in which Bukele insisted he did not have the power to release Abrego Garcia and repeatedly claimed he is a "terrorist" who can't be released into the country.
Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. in 2011, and was accused by a police informant of being a member of the gang MS-13 in 2019. He has denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime, and a judge found in 2019 that he should not be deported to his home country of El Salvador because he had a credible fear of persecution and torture there.
As The New Republicreported Tuesday, the police officer who formally accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13 was later suspended for disclosing confidential information about another case.
"All this raises more questions about the integrity of the process by which Abrego Garcia has been deemed a gang member, even as Trump and his minions have been extraordinarily cavalier in throwing around the MS-13 smear," wrote Greg Sargent.
Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen and the father of a five-year-old, and had been living and working in Maryland for almost 15 years when he was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last month, sent to a detention center in Texas, and then expelled to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center.
The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 last week that the Trump administration, which has said Abrego Garcia was expelled due to an "administrative error," is required to facilitate the man's return.
"This is an administration that has lied about Mr. Abrego Garcia," said Van Hollen on Monday. "The vice president of the United States tweeted out that he had a criminal record. That was a lie. They're just lying. They've gotten caught lying, they don't want to admit it, and they have an obligation to bring him home."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on claims that Abrego Garcia "is a foreign terrorist and an MS-13 gang member" on Tuesday and said that if he is returned to the U.S., the administration will ultimately deport him back to El Salvador.
On Monday, Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fl.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) indicated that they would join Van Hollen on his trip to El Salvador. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is also planning to travel to the country, Axiosreported Tuesday.
"We are in a constitutional crisis," said Garcia. "The president is illegally sending people to foreign prisons. He's defying a unanimous Supreme Court decision. Congress cannot be business as usual. We need to go to El Salvador and demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia."
Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97) was among those applauding Van Hollen's plan, and said that "a massive congressional delegation should join him with international human rights lawyers."
The Trump administration said Tuesday in its daily status update on Abrego Garcia, required by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, that it was "prepared to facilitate Abrego Garcia's presence in the United States in accordance with those processes if he presents at a port of entry"—but continued to claim it cannot force Bukele, who has a $6 million deal with the White House to detain suspected gang members expelled from the U.S., to release him.
Progressive commentator Hasan Piker said Van Hollen's planned trip was "absolutely the right thing to do."
"More Democrats should do things like this," he said. "Other senators should also join him."
Ready to Punish the Poor in Their Districts, 7 Out of 10 GOP Lawmakers Set to Benefit From Trump Tax Scam
"Put simply: at a time when costs continue to rise for everyday Americans, this tax day, Congressional Republicans aren't focused on making their constituents' lives better," said one watchdog.
Apr 15, 2025
To honor Tax Day, a watchdog group is highlighting research showing how 70% of congressional Republicans may see personal financial benefit from the party's tax plan, now making its way through Congress, which would likely be paid for in part by deep cuts to Medicaid and through cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
According to Accountable.US, a progressive research and advocacy group, "270,000 households in many of the lowest-income Republican congressional districts could lose SNAP benefits while their representatives potentially save millions."
"While millions prepare their returns, the Trump administration and their lackeys in Congress are eagerly seeking a way to rob their constituents of vital services and pay for tax giveaways to themselves, their billionaire donors, and mega corporations," Tony Carrk, the group's executive director, said in a statement Tuesday.
"Put simply: at a time when costs continue to rise for everyday Americans, this tax day, Congressional Republicans aren't focused on making their constituents' lives better; instead they’re focused on gutting programs Americans rely on and cutting taxes for those doing just fine."
As part of its spending and tax plan, Republicans are aiming to extend expiring provisions of Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a move that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
The provisions set to expire include a 20% deduction for "pass-through" businesses—whose owners report their share of profits as taxable income under the individual income tax—and the current estate tax exemption amount. If the estate tax TCJA exemption were to expire, the exemption would drop down to $7 million per individual, meaning more millionaires would be forced to pay federal estate tax.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D) also recently endorsed a full repeal of the estate tax, which is a tax applied to assets inherited by others when a wealthy person dies.
The pass-through deduction and estate tax are two benefits that are tilted toward the wealthy, according to Accountable.US, which focused on these two benefits when building their "Cash in Congress" database.
To compile the data, the group looked at lawmakers' most recent federal annual disclosure, and counted them within the 70% of lawmakers set to gain from the tax plan if they are set to benefit from the pass-through deduction.
Some lawmakers are also poised to benefit from keeping the TCJA estate tax exemption amount in place. According to Accountable.US, 18% of Republican House members and 28% of Senate Republicans are wealthy enough that they are currently subject to the estate tax. They would also pay even less in estate taxes if the provision was fully repealed.
Specifically, the 10 wealthiest House Republicans are threatening Medicaid access for 1.7 million of their own constituents, among the poorest in their districts, according to a statement from the group when they launched the database last week.
Accountable.US also highlights the situation of individual members who may benefit.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is tasked with coming up with spending cuts that will likely impact Medicaid. Per Accountable.US, she could benefit from the repeal of the estate tax after reporting over $40 million in assets on her most recent annual financial disclosure.
Meanwhile, according to the group, her district has a median household income that is over 20,000 below the U.S. median household income, and 14.3% of adults have income below the poverty line. Over 35,000 of the households she represents receive SNAP benefits.
Report Details Who Will Pay the Highest Price for Trump's Postal Service Privatization Push
"Without competition from our public Postal Service, for-profit firms would jack up delivery fees on as many customers as possible."
Apr 15, 2025
As U.S. President Donald Trump and his centi-billionaire ally Elon Musk revive the right-wing dream to privatize the public mail system, an analysis released Tuesday details how the pain already inflicted on over 100 million Americans by the for-profit delivery industry will only get worse if Trump's plan succeeds.
Americans already have the option of using private companies like FedEx and UPS to mail packages, and in about 25,000 ZIP codes where 102 million people live—about a third of the U.S. population—the corporations already pile on extra charges for deliveries, according to the report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
Some of the ZIP codes lie in Alaska and Hawaii, where sending mail from the contiguous U.S. is predictably more expensive.
But private carriers also charge "remote surcharges" to about 8% of all U.S. ZIP codes because they are in mountain communities, ranchlands, and other remote areas that are home to nearly 4 million people. According to IPS, people pay up to $15.50 for deliveries in these regions when they use FedEx or UPS, but with the USPS universal service obligation, they pay nothing if they use the public mail carrier.
Thirty-five percent of U.S. ZIP codes are in rural areas where 35 million people pay up to $8.30 in "extended area surcharges" when they use a private delivery company. The companies also charge up to $6.20 for deliveries to certain suburban areas and smaller towns that are home to 19 million.
"Today's higher FedEx and UPS delivery rates are just a taste of what would come if the Trump administration succeeds in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service," said report author Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at IPS. "Without competition from our public Postal Service, for-profit firms would jack up delivery fees on as many customers as possible."
Without USPS, the companies could also add to the various extra charges they already impose on customers for Saturday deliveries, fuel, and residential deliveries.
The rural communities that are currently served by USPS at no cost to residents would face a wide range of impacts if Trump moves forward with a reported plan to disband the Postal Board of Governors and place the service under the control of the Department of Commerce—a likely first step toward privatizing the agency.
"Today's higher FedEx and UPS delivery rates are just a taste of what would come if the Trump administration succeeds in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service."
On top of higher costs, these communities would lose postal jobs that pay decent wages with benefits as rural post offices would close. Military veterans, who use USPS to get 84% of their prescriptions and more than 25% of whom live in rural areas, would face potential disruption of essential services, and rural residents would could lose the ability to vote by mail.
Small businesses could face higher shipping costs, leading to lower profits or higher prices for their customers.
Privatizing USPS "could jeopardize our entire system of universal postal service," said Anderson.
The report was published weeks after Musk told a group of Wall Street bankers that USPS is a top target as he seeks to privatize the federal government "as much as possible," and after a Wells Fargo report laid out a five-step plan for privatizing the service.
The bank included in its framework raising USPS parcel service prices by as much as 30%-140%, to "generate economic parcel profits on a standalone basis," selling the service's parcel business to private investors, selling postal real estate to commercial bidders, imposing mass layoffs on USPS' 600,000 workforce, and repealing the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which converted the USPS into an independent agency.
IPS warned that postal privatization would "destroy a vital and truly democratic public service."
"This extensive, centuries-old network helped build up America's democracy and economy by spreading information and goods to every corner of the country," said IPS. "Over its 250-year history, USPS has continually reinvented itself in response to changes in technology and the evolving needs of our society. Rather than selling this public treasure off to the highest bidder, we should explore opportunities for strengthening the Postal Service to deliver even better services to the American public in the 21st century."
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