July, 14 2020, 12:00am EDT
Ahead of Hearing, Ocasio-Cortez Condemns the Real Estate Industry's Request to Use Federal Bailout Funds to Enrich Shareholders
Today, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and six Members of the House released a letter calling on the Trump administration to reject the real estate industry's request to use federal 'bailout' funds to enrich their shareholders. Though the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act explicitly prohibits corporate recipients from using the $4 trillion in available federal stimulus funding for dividends, NAREIT, the industry representative of real estate investment trusts (REITs), is actively lobbying the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to grant them a waiver.
WASHINGTON
Today, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and six Members of the House released a letter calling on the Trump administration to reject the real estate industry's request to use federal 'bailout' funds to enrich their shareholders. Though the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act explicitly prohibits corporate recipients from using the $4 trillion in available federal stimulus funding for dividends, NAREIT, the industry representative of real estate investment trusts (REITs), is actively lobbying the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to grant them a waiver.
"It is imperative that during a national moment of hardship we hold entities using public funds accountable and ensure every cent doled out by the Treasury or the Federal Reserve is appropriately used. Therefore, we strongly urge you to reject NAREIT's request for a waiver under sections 4003(b)(4) and 4003(c)(3)(D) of the CARES Act," reads the letter. "It was the intent of Congress in including those provisions to reign in irresponsible corporate behavior and to prohibit federal dollars from being used to artificially inflate stock prices, enrich shareholders, or compensate executives with exorbitant pay packages when so many hard-working, ordinary Americans do not know where their next paycheck will come from and in too many cases are ineligible for stimulus checks or unemployment benefits."
The full letter is available here. Other co-signers include Representatives Chuy Garcia, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Jan Schakowsky and Ilhan Omar. The letter was also supported by UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents workers at hotels owned by REITs that are currently seeking a waiver to the CARES Act provision.
"It is unconscionable that Park Hotels & Resorts paid a $105 million dividend to wealthy shareholders during the pandemic while workers at its 60 hotels around the U.S. and Puerto Rico were laid off. If REITs like Park want stimulus funds, they must use taxpayer aid to keep workers employed," said UNITE HERE Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen.
The release of this letter comes ahead of a virtual hearing hosted by the House Financial Services Committee on "Capital Markets and Worker Protections in the COVID-19 Era," in which the Congresswoman will be participating. The hearing will include discussion of four bills the Congresswoman has previously introduced, including one that would prohibit companies who accept a federal bailout from laying-off workers.
Brief descriptions and links to the Congresswoman's bills that are being discussed in today's hearing follow.
H.R. 6778: To amend the Coronavirus Economic Stabilization Act of 2020 to place certain requirements on corporations receiving Federal aid related to COVID-19, (Ocasio-Cortez): this bill prohibits corporations that receive specified federal aid related to the COVID-19 pandemic from reducing workforce levels, employee benefits, or wages; or from altering any existing collective bargaining agreements until the later of either the termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency or until the aid has been repaid.
H.R. 6827, Corporate Accountability Act (Ocasio-Cortez): this bill requires corporations that receive federal aid related to COVID-19 to provide at least 14 days of fully paid leave to all workers; pay each employee a wage of not less than $15 an hour; and limit CEO executive compensation.
H.R. 6851, To require major corporations receiving Federal aid related to COVID-19 to make annual payments of equity to employees of the corporation while such aid is outstanding, and for other purposes (Ocasio-Cortez): This bill requires major corporations that receive federal aid related to COVID-19 to make an annual grant of equity to employees until such federal aid is repaid.
H.R. 6852, To prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from waiving the requirements on stock buybacks, paying out dividends, and capping executive compensation, related to COVID-19 emergency relief and taxpayer protections to such relief. (Ocasio-Cortez)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district.
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X Suspends Journalist Ken Klippenstein Over Publication of JD Vance Dossier
"The 'free speech absolutist' has once again silenced a journalist he didn't like," said one observer.
Sep 26, 2024
X—the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—suspended Ken Klippenstein's account Thursday after the investigative journalist posted an article containing a link to a dossier on Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate JD Vance that allegedly came from an Iranian hack of former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
Klippenstein, who formerly worked at The Intercept, said on his paid Substack Thursday that his X account was suspended for violating the platform's ban on posting private information.
"I know that it is general practice to delete 'private' information from leaks and classified documents, but in this case, not only is Vance an elected official and vice presidential candidate, but the information is readily available for anyone to buy," he wrote. Vance is also the junior U.S. senator from Ohio.
Klippenstein continued:
We should be honest about so-called private information contained in the dossier and "private" information in general. It is readily available to anyone who can buy it. The campaign purchased this information from commercial information brokers. Those dealers make huge profits from selling this data. And the media knows it, because they buy the data for reporting purposes, just like the campaign. They don't like to mention that though.
According to Klippenstein, the corporate media has "been sitting on" the dossier since June, "declining to publish in fear of finding itself at odds with the government's campaign against 'foreign malign influence.'"
"If the document had been hacked by some 'Anonymous'-like hacker group, the news media would be all over it," he contended. "I'm just not a believer of the news media as an arm of the government, doing its work combatting foreign influence. Nor should it be a gatekeeper of what the public should know."
Klippenstein shared a general overview of the contents of the dossier, which he described as "a 271-page research paper the Trump campaign prepared to vet" Vance, pulling out select quotes from the document:
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- "Vance criticized public health experts and elected officials for supporting Black Lives Matter protests while condemning anti-lockdown [Covid] protests."
- "Vance 'embraced non-interventionism."
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"While the news media has paraphrased some of the contents of the dossier, what they haven't done is provide the American people with the underlying document, in the language in which it appeared, so they can decide for themselves what they think," Klippenstein said. "You decide for yourself."
An X spokesperson toldZeteo's Justin Baragona that "Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance's physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Trump campaign's claim of an Iranian hack. Iran's government denies any such action.
Numerous observers accused Musk—a self-described "free speech absolutist"—of hypocrisy over X's suspension of Klippenstein's account, although it is not known if the billionaire owner had any role in the decision. Other users also reported punitive action against their accounts over the dossier post.
"I'm old enough to remember when free speech zealot Elon Musk was outraged by Twitter's censorship," journalist Seth Hettena said on X.
Jacobin writer Branko Marcetic posted that "this scenario is actually a good preview of the future none of us want, but that we're heading to currently: A major story breaks, establishment press refuses to cover it, and the indy media that does is throttled by tech censors."
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Florida already has one of the nation's largest shares of homeowners "who don't have meaningful insurance."
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"The Air Force Hurricane Hunters found that the maximum sustained winds have increased to near 120 mph," the National Hurricane Center said Thursday afternoon. "This makes Helene a dangerous Category 3 major hurricane. Additional strengthening is expected before Helene makes landfall in the Florida Big Bend this evening."
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell said during a White House briefing that forecasts suggest Helene will make a "dead-on hit to Tallahassee" and "this is going to be a multistate event with the potential for significant impacts from Florida all the way to Tennessee."
Although this Atlantic hurricane season hasn't yet been as intense as U.S. scientists expected, trends in extreme weather disasters have led some insurance companies to exit the Florida market in recent years. Farmers Insurance announced last year that it would stop covering property in the state, in an effort to "effectively manage risk exposure."
While the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, said in May that "legislative reforms passed in 2022 and 2023 have created a pathway to a stable Florida market," reporting from this week shows that residents—who aren't ultrarich—are still struggling to get and keep coverage.
"Florida ranks sixth among states with the largest shares of homeowners who don't have meaningful insurance. About 18% of homeowners across the state—about 1 in 6—are without it," NBC Newsnoted Wednesday. "Nearly 20% of Florida homeowners pay $4,000 or more a year for homeowners insurance—the largest share in the country, according to the Census Bureau."
According toThe Palm Beach Post, the global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re said in a Wednesday analysis that "landfall in the Big Bend or Panhandle region of Florida as a major hurricane (Category 3, 4, or 5) has historically translated to insured losses in the low single-digit billions."
"But Helene is not a typical storm," the firm explained. "Given Helene's very large wind radius, this would still bring hurricane-force wind gusts and high storm surge to coastal areas in the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, tropical storm force winds across most of the Florida peninsula, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and southern Appalachia."
Gallagher Re suggested that "Helene's private insurance market losses should be expected to land in the range" of $3 billion to $6 billion, but if the hurricane "unexpectedly" moves toward Tampa, it could be over $10 billion.
Florida isn't the only state facing insurance trouble thanks to climate chaos. Voxreported last year that "insuring property in California has been a dicey proposition," pointing to torrential rainfall that "caused as much as $1.5 billion in insured losses" and "the costliest wildfires in U.S. history, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which led to more than $10 billion in losses."
Amid the intertwined climate and insurance crises, scientists, campaigners, and homeowners have demanded policy action—and elevated criticism of right-wing attacks on crucial programs.
In a June blog post, Rachel Cleetus, policy director with the Union of Concerned Scientists' Climate and Energy program, wrote that "Congress and regulators need to ensure more transparency in the insurance market on how companies are evaluating risks as they make decisions about premiums. There also needs to be better information on what kinds of incentives companies are providing for adaptation measures that would help reduce risks."
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The Climate & Community Institute on Wednesday also shared recommendations in a new report—Shared Fates: A Housing Resilience Policy Vision for the Home Insurance Crisis—using case studies from California, Florida, and Minnesota.
"We propose the creation of Housing Resilience Agencies (HRAs), either by states or the federal government," the institute said. These agencies would:
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"Imagine once being dubbed 'America's Mayor' and having an illustrious legal and political career, and throwing it all away for Donald Trump," said one observer.
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Former Republican New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani can no longer practice law in the nation's capital after a federal appeals court on Thursday concurred with a disciplinary committee's recommendation for permanent disbarment over his efforts to "undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election" in service of then-President Donald Trump's "Big Lie."
In a one-page ruling, the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals permanently revoked Giuliani's law license, finding that the former federal prosecutor and personal attorney for Trump failed to explain why he should not be subject to reciprocal punishment after the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division disbarred him in July for lying about the 2020 election.
The New York tribunal found that Giuliani "repeatedly and intentionally made false statements, some of which were perjurious, to the federal court, state lawmakers, the public... and this court concerning the 2020 presidential election, in which he baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country's electoral process."
Giuliani is also facing criminal charges related to alleged election subversion in Arizona and Georgia. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last December following a $148 million defamation judgment for falsely accusing two former Georgia election workers of engaging in a nonexistent conspiracy to "steal" the 2020 election.
These blows, culminating in Thursday's D.C. disbarment, mark a stunning fall from grace for Giuliani, who, as "America's Mayor" in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, was named Time's "Person of the Year." Giuliani parlayed his popularity into a 2008 run for president in which he was an early GOP front-runner.
Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman slammed the D.C. court's ruling as a "miscarriage of justice."
"Members of the legal community who want to protect the integrity of our justice system should immediately speak out against this partisan, politically motivated decision," Goodman said in a statement.
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"Tough day for New York City mayors,"
quippedDemocracy Docket founder Marc Elias.
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