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For Immediate Release
August, 14 2024, 11:54am EDT
Contact:
David Blank: dblank@retiredamericans.org
Retirees Mark Social Security’s 89th Anniversary with Events Across the Country
Recognizing the essential role that Social Security has played in helping older Americans retire with dignity and live more financially secure lives, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans are hosting more than 40 events this week to celebrate and educate the public about the importance of the program on its 89th birthday.
From Connecticut to California and Michigan to Arizona, the events range fromrallies and birthday parties with cake and music to policy discussions with members of Congress.
“Sixty-eight millionAmericans receive Social Security benefits each month, including retirees, surviving family members and people with disabilities. These benefits are earned over a lifetime of work and help ensure older Americans have financial security in retirement,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “We’re encouraging our retiree members to speak out to make sure that Social Security is strengthened so it will continue to be there for our children and grandchildren.”
In Warren, Michigan retirees discussed the importance of strengthening Social Security with Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Carl Marlinga, Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District. Nevada Alliance members celebrated at two events, one with Rep. Susie Lee and one with Rep. Dina Titus.
At several events, Alliance members presented their members of Congress with the Alliance’s “Retiree Hero” award for their 100% pro-retiree score in the Alliance’s annual Congressional Voting Record. Pennsylvania Alliance members honored Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Brendan Boyle at a Philadelphia labor hall with Retiree Hero awards for their perfect scores.
In Florida, Sen. Rick Scott was presented with the Alliance’s “Retiree Zero” recognizing his 0% score in the Alliance’s Congressional Voting Record.
The Social Security anniversary comes with less than 90 days until Election Day. “It is critical that older Americans pay attention to the candidates’ records,” Fiesta added. “Vice President Harris has always voted to strengthen and protect Social Security while Donald Trump’s proposed budgets slashed Social Security’s budgets. Trump also tried to cut Social Security’s dedicated funding source while he was in office.”
The Alliance for Retired Americans is a national organization with 4.4 million members that advocates for retirement security for all Americans.
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Harris to Target Predatory Wall Street Landlords With Four-Year Housing Plan
The Democratic nominee is expected to endorse a crackdown on algorithmic price-setting by big landlords and an end to tax breaks for corporate investors that buy up single-family homes.
Aug 16, 2024
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Friday is set to outline a four-year housing plan that would promote the construction of 3 million new housing units, provide substantial down-payment aid to first-time homebuyers, and strip away tax incentives for corporate investors that
purchase single-family homes and drive up prices to pad their bottom lines.
Harris'
proposals to tackle the nation's worsening housing crisis are part of a broader economic agenda that the vice president will lay out in a speech Friday afternoon in North Carolina.
Harris, who recently pledged to "take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases," is expected to urge Congress to pass a pair of bills that would crack down on algorithmic price-setting by big landlords and bar corporate investors who buy up 50 or more single-family rental homes from taking advantage of tax breaks, building on President Joe Biden's push for corporate landlords to cap rent hikes.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that just 32 institutional investors owned a combined 450,000 single-family homes in the U.S. and the five largest investors owned nearly 300,000 homes. Institutional investors control 25% of the single-family rental housing market in Atlanta, Georgia, according to the GAO.
Another major component of Harris' housing plan calls for providing up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to "working families who have paid their rent on time for two years and are buying their first home."
Harris' campaign said the plan would "expand the reach of down-payment assistance, allowing over 4 million first-time buyers over four years to get significant down-payment assistance."
"Trump likes to talk about being a builder, but when he was president, he simply never got it done. Now, his Project 2025 agenda will make it more expensive to rent or buy a home," the Harris campaign said Thursday. "Year after year during his presidency, Trump tried to gut rental assistance programs. New home construction slowed while Trump was in office—tightening the housing crunch and enabling his wealthy friends to profit."
Housing justice advocates applauded the emerging details of Harris' plan, arguing that persistent tenant organizing has helped elevate the hardships of renters to the top of the Democratic Party's priority list for 2024 and beyond.
"How did these get on the agenda? Organized renters making good trouble," the Alliance for Housing Justice wrote on social media.
In recent months, progressives and tenant organizers have worked to make housing central to the 2024 campaign as renters across the U.S. struggle to make their monthly payments and as sky-high prices, elevated interest rates, and supply shortages box out first-time homebuyers. Housing costs accounted for roughly 90% of the overall increase in the Consumer Price Index last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A recent research brief by Russell Weaver of Cornell University stressed that tenants impacted by the nation's housing affordability crisis are a "large, untapped political base—especially for Democrats and progressives."
"Candidates who campaign on housing affordability and tenant protections have the potential to significantly boost renter turnout, which could be decisive in tightly contested races," Weaver said.
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Immigrant Rights Group Gives Harris Its First-Ever Presidential Endorsement
"Former President Trump and extremist politicians have promised mass deportations, the erosion of fundamental rights, and four more years of white supremacist ideology," said the head of Make the Road Action.
Aug 15, 2024
Facing the specter of draconian policies including mass deportations of undocumented immigrants under a potential second term for former U.S. President Donald Trump, a major progressive Latine-led advocacy group on Thursday announced its first-ever general election presidential endorsement, for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Our democracy is at a crossroads. Former President Trump and extremist politicians have promised mass deportations, the erosion of fundamental rights, and four more years of white supremacist ideology," said Theo Oshiro, executive director of Make the Road Action, in a statement announcing the group's endorsement.
"In the face of this assault on freedom, equality, and dignity, Vice President Kamala Harris is the clear choice for voters this November," Oshiro continued. "This election is about our collective vision of what this country can become. We are working toward a future where all people have the freedom to stay with their loved ones, the freedom to transform their lives, and the freedom to thrive."
"That vision is only possible under a President Harris," he stressed. "We will fight to ensure that she is elected and will hold her accountable to deliver for immigrant and working-class communities."
Latine Americans could play a decisive role in key swing states including Nevada, where they make up nearly 1 in 5 of all voters, and Pennsylvania, where an estimated 615,000 Latine residents are eligible to vote. President Joe Biden won Nevada by fewer than 50,000 votes in 2020 and Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes.
Human rights defenders fear a second Trump term could be even more harmful to undocumented immigrants than his previous White House tenure, during which the Republican president—who launched his 2016 campaign by calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers—enacted policies including ramped-up deportations; migrant family separation; imprisonment of children in cages; and banning people from several Muslim countries, Venezuela, and North Korea from entering the United States.
"I firmly believe this endorsement marks a pivotal moment for our membership," said Antonio Garcia of Make the Road Action Nevada. "The stakes couldn't be higher as we endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, signifying a bold step forward."
"This election isn't merely about individuals; it's a watershed moment in history that will profoundly influence our community's future," Garcia continued. "It compels us to choose unity over division, to take a stand on the right side of history."
"Electing the first woman of color as president of the United States fills me with immense pride, knowing my vote contributes to this historic change," he added. "More than responding to the times, being part of this movement means we are actively forging a better future. We are committed to holding our leaders accountable, ensuring they uphold their promises to our immigrant and working-class communities."
In an effort to blunt attacks by Trump and other Republicans over what they falsely claim are the Biden administration's "open borders" policies, Harris has positioned herself as a border hawk. The narrator of a new Harris campaign ad titled "Tougher" says that "as vice president, she backed the toughest border control bill in decades, and as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking. Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris."
According to a YouGov-Statista Research poll published last month, immigration is the second-most important issue to U.S. voters after inflation and prices.
Last week, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's largest and oldest Latine civil rights organization, endorsed Harris—the first time the group has endorsed a presidential candidate since its founding in 1929.
Harris has also been endorsed by Latine advocacy groups including Mi Familia Vota, Voto Latino, and UnidosUS Action Fund.
Another group making its first-ever presidential endorsement for Harris is the youth-led gun control campaign March for Our Lives.
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Pro-Democracy Coalition Urges Media to 'Rise to the Occasion' to Defeat Autocratic Threats
"Now is the time to refuse to cover politics with soundbites that place profit over people's understanding of the stakes. Media must be a watchdog for the people right now."
Aug 15, 2024
Pushing back against calls for the media to "refrain from covering mounting authoritarianism" in the United States since the Republican nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt, a coalition on Thursday urged news outlets "to wholeheartedly reject such a dereliction of journalistic duty, and to rigorously report threats to our democracy."
"Media coverage shapes both public discourse and people's understanding of events of the day," states the coalition's open letter. "This is particularly critical during contentious and extreme times such as these. Media coverage can invite public engagement and robust participation in the democratic process. It can also be manipulated to promote falsehoods for political gain, to silence dissent, and stoke racism."
Since Trump launched his current presidential bid nearly two years ago, critics—including Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the November election—have highlighted concerns about his political track record, ongoing criminal cases, promises to those funding his effort to reclaim the White House, fascistic language on the campaign trail, and the Project 2025 agenda crafted by his allies.
The media was accused of helping Trump reach the White House for his first term. One study from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy found that major U.S. news outlets covered his 2016 presidential campaign in "a way that was unusual given his initial polling numbers."
As the new letter—signed by over three dozen groups and individuals—details:
We have witnessed the resurgence of white supremacist values on social media and in real-life events like the tragedy in Charlottesville in 2017. We have seen the rise of political figures who fan the flames of bigotry and reject the rule of law. And in the run-up to January 6, 2021, the right-wing media spread disinformation that played a role in disrupting the peaceful transition of power.
In these moments, media coverage has routinely failed to adequately expose these dangers for audiences. Too often, extremist values and coverage have made their way into mainstream media reporting, shifting what is considered "normal" or "acceptable" in public discourse—with devastating impacts on people of color, women, immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other vulnerable populations. Media companies should not make false equivalencies between those who are trying to protect democracy and those who are seeking to overthrow it.
"Democratic backsliding is rising around the world and the media must take the related threats seriously and place protection of democracy over their own bottom lines," the letter argues. "We urge media executives to pledge that their news companies will adopt the following best practices in covering contentious times—and to safeguard information integrity during moments of crisis, violence, and threats to U.S. democracy."
The coalition's six proposed best practices are: identify and name authoritarian and autocratic rhetoric; cross-check, fact-check, double-check; take seriously and report rigorously on threats to the rule of law and institutions; always give more context for audiences; and provide civic information.
"It's only August. We have months of news coverage and unanticipated events that will unfold before the U.S. elections in November," the letter notes. "Now is the time to refuse to cover politics with soundbites that place profit over people's understanding of the stakes. Media must be a watchdog for the people right now. Media must hold itself to the highest pro-democracy standards."
Coalition members include the Abortion Care Network, Center on Race & Digital Justice, Free Press, Friends of the Earth Action, GLAAD, Media Matters for America, PEN America, the Sparrow Project, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, United We Dream, and over 20 other groups. The individual signatories are journalist Joe Amditis, activist Andrea Figueroa, journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, columnist Brian Karem, writer Elad Nehorai, and editor Damaso Reyes.
"Now is the time for news outlets to rise to the occasion," said Free Press senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights Nora Benavidez in a statement Thursday. "Left unchecked by the press, the rhetoric and actions of authoritarian leaders delegitimize the democratic process."
"Political leaders are dehumanizing minority groups, flouting the rule of law, and supporting violence or retribution against critics," Benavidez stressed. "Communities deserve to learn about the stakes facing our country and the implications of rising autocracy on all of our lives."
"As so many hardworking journalists cover the threats to our democracy this election season, all news outlets must hold themselves to the highest pro-democracy standards," she added. "Clearly call a lie a lie. If a political candidate, party, or other influential platform applauds illegal activity or rejects the rule of law, reporters and other media professionals must take these threats seriously as they are overt attacks on a functional democracy."
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