Family of John Lewis Join National Progressive Groups & Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to Deliver Petition to White House Calling On Biden to Urge Senate to End Filibuster & Pass Voting Rights Legislation
400,000 Signers Tell Biden: It’s Time to Support Ending the Filibuster
"The Jim Crow filibuster is indefensible, and it is time to end it. There is simply no good reason why a majority vote in the Senate is enough for trillions of dollars in government investment or for a lifetime confirmation to our nation's highest court, but it's not enough to protect our freedom to vote," said Sean Eldridge, President & Founder of Stand Up America. "It's time to change that. The President of the United States has the largest soap box and the biggest bully pulpit on the planet. We are asking him to use it to end the filibuster and protect our freedom to vote now."
"I'm proud to be joining Stand Up America at their press conference calling on President Biden to use the full weight of his office to eliminate the filibuster," Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said. "Throughout the 20th century, the filibuster has been used first and foremost to block civil rights legislation, and now the threat of the filibuster is being abused today to obstruct D.C. statehood--full local self-government and voting representation in Congress--for residents of the nation's capital. President Biden, do everything you can to end the filibuster."
"All these petition signatures represent voters across the political spectrum who want to see Congress pass the 'For the People Act.' At the grassroots level, Americans are united behind this bill--with some of its provisions receiving 90 to 95% support from voters. The fact that this legislation has been languishing in the Senate since 2019 says everything about what's wrong with our country's politics right now," said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn. "Earlier this summer, 50 senators voted to begin debate on the legislation, and the Senate Republicans who filibustered it must not have the final say. Voters across America want our government to represent us--We the People--and not whatever special interest has been holding up this bill for years."
"Voting rights are still under attack and that means democracy is at risk for every American. More than a dozen states have passed 30 laws restricting the freedom to vote, but senators in Washington have delayed action in Congress to protect our most sacred privilege," said President of People For the American Way Ben Jealous. "President Biden should use all the powers of his office to ensure that the Senate takes whatever steps are necessary to overcome the filibuster and pass the For the People Act/S.1. Otherwise, states will not have enough time to implement guidelines and regulations before the 2022 midterm elections and as a result, restrictive laws could keep millions of people from voting. Now is our best chance to seize the moment and demand a democracy where people shape our nation's government, not dark money PACs and wealthy corporations."
"We can maintain the filibuster untouched or we can protect our democracy. That's the simple choice the nation now faces--and it's no choice at all. America needs President Biden to use his voice and power, now, to ensure the Senate finds a workaround to the filibuster so it can pass the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and other democracy reforms," said Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen. "President Biden, with the country on the brink of a true democracy crisis, we need your leadership now."
"President Biden told Black voters that we've always had his back and that he'd have ours. Now is the time to prove it," said Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter. "He must use the full force of his bully pulpit to protect our voting rights, and those of other voters who are under attack. And this includes sending an unequivocal message to Senate Majority Leader Schumer and the rest of the Senate Democrats that they must pass voting rights legislation immediately--even if it means eliminating the Senate filibuster altogether."
"We're in a five alarm fire with the widespread attacks from Republicans on our right to vote and hold free and fair elections. Tens of thousands of MoveOn members are demanding President Biden use all his power to end the racist Jim Crow filibuster to pass the For the People Act to stop the GOP from rigging the rules in their favor," said Emma Einhorn, Campaign Director at MoveOn. "The right to vote, the cornerstone of our democracy, should not be subject to Mitch McConnell's political obstruction. There is no time to lose, and nothing less than our democracy is at stake."
"Our nation--already in a state of upheaval--continues to be seriously threatened by the Jim Crow-era filibuster and other voter suppression tactics tearing at the fabric of our democracy. Republicans' flagrant use of the filibuster is not just an impediment to progress--it is silencing our collective voice and holding us hostage to this rogue governing party," said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Co-Executive Director at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action. "We deserve a government that represents Black, Brown, Indigenous, and all other communities equally and cannot allow our democracy to further unravel because of this outdated tool. President Biden must take action to ensure the filibuster is finally eliminated in order to protect our rights, safeguard our freedoms, and show this democracy belongs to the people."
"In many states across the country our democracy is under attack. Republicans in the US Senate are protecting the Governors and state legislators undermining the right to vote by using the Jim Crow Filibuster to block federal legislation that would roll back the most harmful restrictions in new voter suppression laws," said Scott Roberts, Senior Director of Criminal Justice and Democracy Campaigns at Color of Change. "Black people cannot afford to wait for a supermajority of senators to agree on key pieces of legislation, and Senate Republicans should not be allowed to stand in the way of important voting rights protections. That's why tens of thousands of Color of Change members have called on their Senators to reform the Jim Crow Filibuster and protect our democracy from these racist attacks."
"Indivisibles all across the country have been looking for him to join us in this fight. They have always understood the threat the opposing party represents to our democracy. They understood this threat during Trump's presidency. That's why they worked throughout the pandemic to organize mail-in voting," said Ezra Levin, Co-Executive Director of Indivisible Project. "They showed up in November and delivered Biden the White House. But we have yet to see Biden match their commitment to protecting our democracy and ending the blatant obstructionism from the Republican party. Instead, he's continued to embrace them in hopes of passing watered down versions of his agenda while ignoring the calls of those who helped put him in the White House."
"Every single moment of progress in our country's civil rights movement has been met with resistance and required Americans to rise up to demand change," said Jana Morgan, director of Declaration for American Democracy. "Just as we rose up to vote in record numbers despite a pandemic last year, we will be raising our voices louder and louder. The filibuster rule is a relic of the Jim Crow era. It was designed and used for decades to thwart civil rights legislation, including blocking critical protections for voting rights and anti-lynching legislation. Senate Democrats and President Biden must let nothing stand in their way of protecting our freedom to vote and ensuring fair elections."
"In the last year, we've seen a full-scale assault on the democratic process--from propagation of the Big Lie, to the physical siege of the US Capitol, to an unrelenting barrage of state-level legislation intended to strip Americans of the freedom to vote and--in some cases--even hand politicians the power to overturn the will of the people if the vote doesn't go their way. Activists across the country are working around the clock to ensure that these incursions on our freedom to vote are stopped," said Nick Knudsen, Executive Director of DemCast. "But the clock is ticking, and time is running out. The U.S. Senate is in a uniquely powerful position to protect the American people by passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would go a long way to restoring our freedoms. We now ask that President Biden hear our call and lead. Do whatever is necessary to get voting rights legislation passed. The filibuster cannot allow millions of Americans to lose their freedom to vote."
President Biden faces a choice--clearer than ever before: Will he jump into this fight to address what he called 'the worst challenge to our democracy since the Civil War' or will he continue standing on the sidelines and protect the 'Jim Crow' filibuster," said Eli Zupnick, Spokesperson for Fix Our Senate. "He can't have it both ways. It's the filibuster or our democracy--only one will be left standing strong."
"Each day that goes by without federal action in defense of our democracy is another opportunity for partisan legislators to limit our freedom to vote," said Stephanie Gomez, Associate Director of Common Cause Texas. "We are in a critical moment in Texas and across our country where we have the opportunity to work towards a democracy that includes all of us. We urge President Biden to follow the lead of Texas' pro-voter legislators who left the state to block voter suppression bills in the Texas State House and do whatever it takes to ensure we pass the For the People Act without delay."
"In Philadelphia, President Biden said that our democracy faces its greatest challenge since the Civil War. Now, his actions must be commensurate with his words," said Adam Smith, Strategic Partnerships Director for End Citizens United. "He must use the power of his office, and the relationships he has forged as a former Senator, to call for a reform of the filibuster to protect our sacred right to vote. Too much is at stake for anything less."
"We must take action to protect and expand our democracy and ensure that every American has an equal voice and an equal vote," said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Campaign Director at Free Speech For People. "President Biden must take action to end the filibuster, a relic of the Jim Crow era, and pass the For The People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in the Senate."
"In normal times, I wouldn't have considered ending the filibuster because I've always believed that it's important for everyone to have their voices heard. Unfortunately, we are not in normal times and a handful of Senators have exploited their power and the use of the filibuster. Republican Senators have shown us that they are more concerned with obtaining power for their personal interest than improving the lives of their constituents and their communities," said Maria Reynoso, Deputy Director, Blue Future. "It's safe to say that no matter what we look like or who we vote for, most of us believe that our elected leaders should deliver for us. Right now, we are at a turning point where elected officials are choosing personal power over the interest of the nation. By ending the filibuster, we can have accessible voting rights for all, ensure affordable healthcare and education, protect the rights of those most denied, and much more! Our leaders must exercise their majority, eliminate the filibuster, and pass laws that protect our lives, our rights and our freedoms."
"Americans made their voices clearly heard this past election cycle. Yet Republican senators are now using the filibuster as a cudgel to retain power, bending our government and policy to the will of the minority party. Not only is this fundamentally undemocratic, but it is also especially harmful to communities of color," said Dorothy He, Associate Communications Director for Daily Kos. "We cannot stand idle as these elected officials shamelessly cling to a parliamentary gimmick in an attempt to silence us. It is time to end the filibuster and ensure that all Americans can live with dignity."
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with over two million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to strengthen our democracy and oppose Trump's corrupt agenda, Stand Up America has driven over 600,000 phone calls to Congress and mobilized tens of thousands of protestors across the country.
With Media Enamored by US Presidential Race, Israeli Massacres in Gaza Get Even Deadlier
"We must not lose sight of what is happening in Gaza, where an unprecedented humanitarian crisis continues to get even worse," said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Israeli forces have massacred nearly 60 people in the Gaza Strip over just the past 24 hours, and the past week has been one of the deadliest since the war began more than nine months ago.
But you'd hardly know it by looking at the front pages of major newspapers in the United States, despite U.S. President Joe Biden fueling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assault with diplomatic support and billions of dollars worth of weaponry.
While outlets such as
Al Jazeera and Reuters have kept Israel's onslaught at or near the top of their pages, coverage of the relentless war on the Palestinian enclave has largely been supplanted in the U.S. by presidential politics, particularly in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday—the same day Israeli forces killed around 100 people in an attack on a southern Gaza town that was previously designated a "safe zone," as Common Dreamsreported.
Fresh Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Tuesday killed dozens of people—including children—but the massacres didn't receive mention on the front pages of the web versions of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, or USA Today, each of which heavily featured coverage of the high-stakes U.S. presidential contest between two candidates who have backed Israel's war on Gaza.
As of Tuesday morning, Gaza was entirely absent from the website landing pages of the Journal and USA Today. The Post's home page buried a story about the potential for an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, while the Times' home page contained a piece about surging settler violence in the West Bank amid Israel's ongoing atrocities in Gaza.
In recent weeks, U.S. corporate media coverage of developments in Gaza has not reflected the extent to which Israel has intensified its aerial and ground attacks, even as recent cease-fire talks have sparked some hope of a pause.
After a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, pictures of the former president's bloodied ear and raised fist were plastered across the front pages of major newspapers in the U.S. and around the world while the far more numerous images of child victims of Israeli bombs—many of them supplied by the United States—faded from view.
Israel does not allow journalists with major U.S.-based media outlets to enter the Gaza Strip unless they are embedded with Israeli forces and agree to let the military vet their coverage.
(Photo: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images)
Al Jazeera, a Qatari-funded outlet that Israel's far-right government has repeatedly targeted, reported Monday that "Israeli forces have attacked five separate schools in Gaza in just eight days, killing dozens of people sheltering in them."
One attack on Sunday, the outlet noted, "struck the United Nations-run Abu Oreiban school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 17 people and injuring about 80. Most of the victims were women and children, said Palestinian Civil Defense."
Reporting from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said he witnessed children "crying out in pain and agony" at the facility, which—like all of Gaza's remaining hospitals—is under-resourced and only partially functioning.
"This is the result of incinerating bombs," Mahmoud added.
The death toll from Israel's war on Gaza is nearing 40,000—likely a dramatic undercount, given how many bodies are missing under the rubble that now dominates the landscape of the enclave and could take 15 years to clear.
Those who have survived Israel's onslaught are now living amid sewage, decomposing bodies, and the ruins of their homes, shops, schools, and hospitals, with nowhere safe to flee. Famine and disease are spreading rapidly across the territory as the Israeli government continues to restrict the flow of humanitarian aid.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has urged the Biden administration to cut off all offensive weapons assistance to Israel, said in a statement late last week that "while much of the media is focused on the drama of the U.S. presidential election, we must not lose sight of what is happening in Gaza, where an unprecedented humanitarian crisis continues to get even worse."
"We must end our support for Netanyahu's war," said Sanders. "Not another nickel to make this horrific situation even worse. I intend to do everything I can to block further arms transfers to Israel, including through joint resolutions of disapproval of any arms sales. The United States must not help a right-wing extremist and war criminal continue this atrocity."
'A Corporate CEO's Dream': Labor Unions Blast Trump-Vance Ticket
"This ticket isn't pro-worker or pro-union. It's the billionaire ticket through and through," said one labor leader.
Leading U.S. unions warned voters on Monday not to be fooled by the pro-worker facade constructed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio who has opposed
congressional efforts to strengthen organizing rights, allowed corporate lobbyists to influence his legislating, and raked in donations from the elites he claims to despise.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO—the nation's largest federation of unions—said in a statement the combined records of Trump and Vance make clear that, if elected, they "would eviscerate unions and empty workers' pockets just to boost the profits of their corporate friends and donors."
"Donald Trump has a miserable record of breaking every promise he's made to working people—from failing to pay his workers and crossing a picket line to his disastrous four years in the White House," said Shuler. "That betrayal would continue if he is reelected—so it's no surprise Trump chose a vice president who will be nothing more than a rubber stamp for that anti-worker vision."
Shuler continued:
Sen. JD Vance likes to play union supporter on the picket line, but his record proves that to be a sham. He has introduced legislation to allow bosses to bypass their workers’ unions with phony corporate-run unions, disparaged striking UAW members while collecting hefty donations from one of the major auto companies, and opposed the landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would end union-busting "right to work" laws and make it easier for workers to form unions and win strong contracts.
"A Trump-Vance White House," she added, "is a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare."
Service Employees International Union president April Verrett offered a similar assessment of the Trump-Vance ticket, saying that while Vance "may portray himself as a working-class hero," his "record tells another story."
"The truth is that Senator Vance's loyalties lie with the Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley billionaires who have bankrolled his political career," said Verrett. "Together, Donald Trump and JD Vance will seek to protect the wealthy and corporations while enacting their insidious Project 2025 agenda. There's a stark contrast between Biden-Harris, who have backed workers and taken action to lower prices and raise wages, and Trump-Vance, who side with price-gouging, union-busting corporations."
BREAKING: Donald Trump has selected JD Vance as his running mate.
Vance claims that he's all about taking on elites.
But the donor list from his Senate campaign tells another story. His top donor occupation was CEO. pic.twitter.com/zFrEx9vMKY
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) July 15, 2024
The unions' statements came as Republican delegates at the party's convention in Wisconsin—a state that's been
described as a "laboratory" for the GOP's anti-union agenda—formally nominated Trump as their presidential candidate, shortly after an assassination attempt.
GOP delegates also approved their party's platform, which includes the vague promise to put "American workers first" but does not mention the word "union." The nation's union membership rate fell to an all-time low last year thanks to a long-running war on labor rights waged by corporate America and its GOP allies.
The Republican platform contains an ostensibly pro-worker pledge to exempt tips from taxation, a vow that—according to one critic—"appears to be a way for Republicans to change the subject if anyone questions their opposition to raising the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 for the past two decades."
Despite backlash from within his union, Teamsters president Sean O'Brien delivered a primetime address to the Republican convention Monday night, praising Trump for his supposed willingness to "hear from new, loud, and often critical voices."
But other union leaders expressed a much harsher view of the former president, given that during his first term he stacked federal agencies and courts with opponents of organized labor and worked to gut worker protections. Trump's reelection campaign is backed by at least a dozen billionaires, including the world's richest man, Elon Musk.
"This ticket isn't pro-worker or pro-union," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, urging workers not to buy the "slick rhetoric" of Trump's running mate.
"It's the billionaire ticket through and through," Nelson added.
The Wall Street Journalreported Monday that Musk intends to commit "around $45 million a month" to a new pro-Trump super PAC. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, seemed to deny the report by posting a meme on his social media platform.
Climate Movement Sounds Alarm on Trump Picking 'Big Oil Sellout' JD Vance for VP
"JD Vance will sell out to the highest bidder, whether that's Trump or the fossil fuel industry," said one Sunrise Movement campaigner. "That makes him dangerous."
Climate campaigners reacted to former U.S. President Donald Trump's selection of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate Monday by highlighting the Ohio Republican's climate denial and strong support for the fossil fuel industry—one of his top campaign contributors.
"Like Donald Trump, JD Vance has proven that he will make it a top priority to roll back climate protections while answering to the demands of oil and gas CEOs," Sunrise Movement communications director Stevie O'Hanlon said in a statement. "Vance is one of Congress' biggest recipients of donations from oil companies."
"JD Vance not only flip-flopped on supporting Trump, he flip-flopped on climate," she continued. "He went from expressing concern about climate change before running for the Senate, to voting to gut [Environmentl Protection Agency] protections and denying that there even is a climate change crisis."
O'Hanlon added: "JD Vance will sell out to the highest bidder, whether that's Trump or the fossil fuel industry. That makes him dangerous. Donald Trump was the worst president for climate in U.S. history. JD Vance will empower Donald Trump to enact even worse damage on our planet in a second Trump administration."
Some of Trump's key first-term Cabinet appointees—including Rex Tillerson, his first secretary of state, and Ryan Zinke, who headed the Interior Department—were former fossil fuel executives or had track records of supporting the oil, gas, and coal industries.
Trump's White House tenure was also marked by an
aggressive rollback of climate and environmental regulations and protections.
Food & Water Watch Action deputy director Mitch Jones said that "just like Trump himself, JD Vance is a fossil fuel backer and climate change denier that poses a serious risk to public health and our environment."
"Among the countless reasons that Trump and Vance shouldn't be elected to lead our country, the duo represents an existential threat to a livable climate future for all Americans and people around the globe," Jones added.
JL Andrepont of 350 Action asserted that "we are facing a dire need to ward off further climate catastrophe and injustice, so let's be clear: JD Vance is another climate-denying authoritarian who poses massive danger to this country."
"He has praised the horrific Project 2025 plan and said there are 'good ideas in there,'" they continued. "He says he would be totally fine with a federal ban on abortion. And as the effects of climate change accelerate at an alarming pace right in front of our eyes, Vance is a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry who claims that climate change is not a threat."
"We must reject him and all climate deniers at the polls," Andrepont stressed.