March, 12 2020, 12:00am EDT
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With 4th-Highest Water Shutoff Rate in the Country, New Orleans Must Act Fast to Stop Water Shutoffs Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic
WASHINGTON
The city of New Orleans should join the close to 20 cities across the country that have now suspended or are considering suspending water service shutoffs due to nonpayment in response to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Data obtained from the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans revealed a 17 percent shutoff rate in New Orleans - more than one out of every six homes - affecting 19,486 households, or an estimated 46,572 people in 2016. . The World Health Organization recommends 'frequent and proper hand hygiene' as one of the most important prevention measures for COVID-19, a strategy that relies on household access to water.
In response, Food & Water Action's Public Water for All Campaign Director Mary Grant issued the following statement:
"A moratorium on water shutoffs due to nonpayment during the coronavirus epidemic is common sense, especially in a city like New Orleans where shutoffs are common and rampant. Access to safe and affordable water should be a universal human right at all times, but at the very least our elected officials should ensure everyone has the ability to wash their hands to help stop the spread of the coronavirus disease.
"Until there is a national moratorium on water shutoffs, public officials in New Orleans must take the reins and join the cross country movement to end water shutoffs locally during this pandemic. We know that in 2016, more than one out of every six homes - affecting 19,486 households, or an estimated 46,572 people, in New Orleans experienced water shutoffs. It is imperative every single one of those people have access to water effective immediately."
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.
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Grassroots Latinx Group Says Local Organizing Is Key to Stopping Trump Agenda
"We can't endorse Biden or the Democratic Party, but we understand the threat that a Trump administration poses to our communities," said the director of Mijente.
Jul 18, 2024
The largest progressive Latinx political organization in the U.S., Mijente, said Thursday that it will not be officially endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 race—but emphasized that its non-endorsement doesn't mean it believes Latino voters should be disengaged from the election or the fights that will continue regardless of who wins.
In a video featuring organizers and community members from across the country, Mijente grapples with the reality that many Latino voters and rights advocates are "currently disillusioned with the Biden administration."
An Axios-Ipsos poll in April found that while Latino voters support the Democratic Party on issues such as abortion rights and immigration, support for President Joe Biden among the community had fallen precipitously to 41%, down from 55% in December 2021.
Biden, who is facing pressure to step aside in the presidential race, has recently cracked down on migrants' ability to seek asylum, and he expanded former President Donald Trump's Title 42 rule aimed at swiftly deporting immigrants.
"We can't endorse Biden or the Democratic Party, but we understand the threat that a Trump administration poses to our communities," said Marisa Franco, national director of Mijente. "Our video captures the urgency of this moment, calling for a mobilization of Latinx voters to defeat Trump. By participating in this election, we are making a strategic decision to give us the best chance to fight for a just future for our families."
The video was released ahead of Trump's planned speech accepting the party's nomination at the Republican National Convention. At the gathering, delegates have been seen holding signs reading, "Mass deportation now!" as speakers have pushed Trump's immigration agenda.
The former president intends to carry out the Republican Party's plan to "carry out the largest deportation operation in American history," and has proposed building huge detention camps to house undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation flights.
While warning Latinos of the danger posed by Trump and his vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), one Mjiente organizer said in the video that "Biden seeks to form the same anti-Trump coalition from 2020, often taking our communities for granted and the progressive movement as a given."
"The status quo will make us wonder, what is our future? What is our place in this country?" said one organizer.
Illinois-based Mijente member Corina Pedraza said that Trump and the Republicans, if elected, "will dismantle gains of generations past. They seek to send us back into the shadows, back into the closet, and to the back of the bus."
While Mijente made its first presidential endorsement in 2020, supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ramos explained that this year, "the choice lies beyond Trump versus Biden. The contrast between these candidates is what we can do."
The group said it has launched mobilization efforts in states including Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Arizona "to amplify Latino voices and shape the national conversation," including through El Chisme Tour 2024.
The tour gathers organizers, artists, elected representatives, and educators in 20 cities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, with the goal of broadening "the discussion of what's at stake in this election and engage audiences disillusioned with the current political discourse," said Franco.
"We need to reconnect at a local level with joy and strategic determination to push back the ultra-conservative agenda," she added.
Mijente's video ends with several members explaining why they plan to vote in the election and organize for justice—no matter who wins in November.
"I am voting in this election because this election is about us, not about them," said one organizer, referring to the two candidates.
"I'm organizing for my people, the present, and the future," said another.
A vote in the 2024 election, said another organizer, "is a tool that our movement can use to bring us closer to a country where we can thrive, without having to fight for everything we need to survive."
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Sunrise Warns Trump-Vance Would Cause 'Irreversible Damage' to Climate
"Vance, Trump, and their Wall Street allies have proven... that their priorities are with corporate polluters, not the people," an expert said.
Jul 18, 2024
The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate organization, warned on Thursday that former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, who take their place on the Republican presidential ticket this week at the party's convention in Milwaukee, would cause "catastrophic and irreversible damage" to the climate if elected.
Republicans were not speaking about climate at the convention nor even their plans to "drill, baby, drill," as per the party's platform, Stevie O'Hanlon, Sunrise's communications director, said in a statement issued from Milwaukee. O'Hanlon posited that this is because party leaders know that their approach to the climate is unpopular among Americans.
"The absence is glaring," O'Hanlon said. "Republicans are dodging talking about the climate because they side with oil and gas billionaires, not the vast majority of Americans who support the U.S. taking steps to reduce climate change."
Donald Trump was the worst president ever for clean air, clean water, and protecting a livable future. With the selection of JD Vance as his VP pick, that climate-denying legacy would only worsen in a second term.
Read my full statement here: https://t.co/IQSaDTi1lPÂ pic.twitter.com/hWf4MlGbXb
— Ben Jealous (@BenJealous) July 16, 2024
Other environmental groups have this week also issued warnings about the dangers of a Trump-Vance White House. The Sierra Club drew attention to the fact that one of Vance's main donors, the private equity firm the Blackstone Group, owns the "deadliest" coal plant in the country. Emissions from the Gavin coal plant in Ohio lead to 244 premature deaths per year, according to one estimate.
Sarah Burton, Sierra Club's national political director, highlighted Vance's approach to the dirty coal plant in a statement on Tuesday:
Anyone who wants a sneak preview of a Trump-Vance administration needs to look no further than the Gavin coal plant—a deadly disaster kept afloat to benefit Wall Street billionaires even as it makes everyone else sick. Gavin is the deadliest coal plant in America that has killed hundreds of Americans, but JD Vance spent his time in the Senate attacking safeguards that would clean it up while collecting checks directly from the plant's owner. Vance, Trump, and their Wall Street allies have proven over and over again that their priorities are with corporate polluters, not the people.
Media outlets have documented Vance's close ties to the fossil fuel industry—and even outright climate denialism—in the three days since Trump announced his vice presidential pick.
As recently as 2020, Vance acknowledged a "climate problem" caused by human emissions and voiced support for the use of clean energy. But during the Senate race in Ohio in 2022, his climate positions moved dramatically to the right, drawing an endorsement from Trump—and campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry.
As Politicoreported on Tuesday: "Vance changed his tune on climate change. Oil cash flowed."
The Washington Post on Thursday reported that a Republican sweep of the federal elections would "transform" U.S. climate policy by boosting fossil fuel use, rolling back clean air protections, and defunding or dismantling agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
In his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris agreement and The New York Timescalled "climate damage" possibly his "most profound legacy."
A recent analysis by Carbon Brief, a science publication, estimated that a second Trump term would add about 4 billion metric tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere by 2030.
Little of this has been mentioned in Milwaukee this week. Prime-time Republican speeches haven't so far highlighted climate or energy policy, according to O'Hanlon, who argued that this is because the party's platform is so out of step with public opinion. O'Hanlon cited a CBSpoll from April showing that a large majority of Americans favor taking climate action, with just over half supporting action "right now" and another 17% favoring action in the next few years.
Sunrise has also expressed discontent with the Democratic presidential ticket. Last week, the organization called for President Joe Biden to step aside, arguing it would improve the party's chances of defeating Trump in November.
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CFPB Aims to Protect Workers From Paycheck Advance Fees
"The CFPB's actions will help workers know what they are getting with these products and prevent race-to-the-bottom business practices," said the director of the bureau.
Jul 18, 2024
With inflation rising in recent years, driven by corporate greed according to numerous analyses, the number of people in the U.S. who have relied on paycheck advance products has skyrocketed—but a rule introduced Thursday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is aimed at ensuring that lenders who provide these products are transparent with financially struggling workers about the fees they can incur.
The CFPB proposed a rule clarifying that paycheck advances, sometimes marketed as "earned wage" products, are consumer loans and are therefore subject to the Truth in Lending Act.
The federal law requires lenders to disclose all fees, interest, and total costs consumers will incur before they use the product.
According to a study released by the CFPB as it announced the new proposed rule, the number of paycheck advance transactions processed by employer-partnered firms ballooned by 90% from 2021-22. More than 7 million workers used paycheck advances to access $22 million over that time period in order to pay for their housing, utilities, and other essentials.
The study notes that "the mismatch between when a family receives income and when a family must make payments for expenses" is a major driver of demand for consumer credit and other products like paycheck advances.
"To reduce their costs, employers have a strong incentive to delay the payment of compensation to workers, which drives demand for short-term credit," reads the analysis.
As such, said Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB, paycheck advances "are often marketed to and designed for employers, rather than employees."
"The CFPB's interpretive rule will level the playing field and promote competition among short-term small-dollar lenders."
"The CFPB's actions will help workers know what they are getting with these products and prevent race-to-the-bottom business practices," he said.
Th bureau's report focuses on employer-sponsored paycheck advances, which have been increasingly used over and over by the same workers. Employees took out an average of 27 paycheck advance loans per year, according to the CFPB, with the average transaction totaling $106.
"The share of workers in our sample using the product at least once a month increased from 41% in 2021 to nearly 50% in 2022," wrote the CFPB.
The bureau noted that while employers sometimes make paycheck advances fee-free for their employees, workers usually pay fees themselves, including expedited service fees and "tips" that the online services request when completing the transaction.
In the sample the CFPB reviewed, employers paid for less than 5% of the fees incurred by workers
"Across our sample of surveyed companies, in 2021 and 2022, roughly 90% of workers paid at least one earned wage product-related fee," said the bureau. "Among the companies in our sample that collect fees, the average cost per transaction ranged from $0.61 to $4.70. When workers paid a fee, the average size was approximately $3.18. Workers paid an average of $68.88 per year in fees."
Some services provide subscriptions for workers who used paycheck advances regularly; those who utilize them can pay as much as $14.99 per month in subscription fees, according to the CFPB.
"In recent years, workers have seen big increases in wages, but junk fees and high rates on financial products not only chip away at these gains—they take advantage of workers," acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement.
Adam Rust, director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, said the proposed rule shows that "an advance on wages is still a loan that has to be repaid, and no amount of hair-splitting can change it."
"Workers have always relied on wages to repay advances from lenders," said Rust. "Policymakers should be skeptical whenever lenders insist on regulatory exemptions from rules that apply to their competitors. The CFPB's interpretive rule will level the playing field and promote competition among short-term small-dollar lenders."
The CFPB is among several federal agencies that right-wing operatives, many of whom worked in the Trump administration, have pledged to abolish under the policy agenda Project 2025.
Under the Biden administration, in addition to taking aim at paycheck advances, the CFPB has proposed a rule to cap credit card late fees at $8, a move that would save Americans $10 billion per year; prevented discrimination by small business lenders; and fined Wells Fargo $3.7 billion for illegal activity.
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