SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
moveon.org
160+ Groups Decry GOP Plan to Defund Communities Nationwide
"The bill threatens a system of checks and balances that is crucial to ensuring our government serves the people—not the president's personal goals and interests."
Feb 19, 2025
More than 160 civil society groups on Wednesday urged U.S. congressional leaders to vote against proposed legislation that would "cut critical funding to hundreds of communities in 32 states across the country for programs that American communities depend on," if their officials refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration's mass deportation and detention program.
The groups—including the ACLU, American Federation of Teachers, League of Women Voters, MoveOn, NAACP, National Education Association (NEA), Planned Parenthood, Service Employees International Union, and others—are united in opposition to H.R. 32, which would withhold federal funding from municipalities that don't help with immigration enforcement.
The bill's Republican sponsors call it the "No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act." The rights groups have dubbed it the "Defund Our Communities Act."
"Congress should not pass legislation handing the Trump administration vast and vaguely worded authority it may use to further intimidate, coerce, and inflict chaos on schools, hospitals, local police, and other institutions that our communities rely on," the groups wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
"Nor should Congress, through this legislation, concede its 'power of the purse'—a vital aspect of our constitutional balance of powers that is perhaps more important than ever," the groups added.
This bill would blackmail sanctuary cities and states into carrying out Trump's mass deportations or risk losing funding for schools, hospitals, and housing. Tell your representatives to vote NO on the Defund Our Communities Act.
[image or embed]
— ACLU (@aclu.org) February 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
The letter continues:
H.R. 32 would allow the administration to strip a state or local government of federal funds it "intends to use for the benefit" of undocumented immigrants. While couched in terms of immigration, we fear the actual result of this bill would be a funding cut off across the board, putting critical services to all our community members at risk. As you well know, state and local agencies do not generally segregate their funding allocations for citizens versus noncitizens, let alone noncitizens without legal status versus all others...
The Trump administration could weaponize H.R. 32 to freeze vast amounts of federal funding to hundreds of cities and dozens of states—simply because state and local agencies choose or are legally obligated not to fully participate in President [Donald] Trump's unprecedented mass deportation drive, or because they lack the resources to do so and are unable to meet the Trump administration's latest demands. Congress should not put the vast array of services that your constituents rely on at the whim and mercy of the Trump administration.
"This bill would undermine our constitutional balance of powers in two ways: escalating federal intimidation of state and local governments; and undermining Congress' power of the purse," the letter's signers argued. "In both cases, the bill threatens a system of checks and balances that is crucial to ensuring our government serves the people—not the president's personal goals and interests."
Deirdre Schifeling, the ACLU's chief political and advocacy officer, said in a statement Wednesday that "the 'Defund Our Communities Act' is a gross violation of the constitutional balance of powers that our democracy depends on."
"Congress should not hand the Trump administration the authority to threaten, intimidate, and coerce local governments across the country—doing so would set a dangerous precedent," Schifeling added.
NEA president Becky Pringle said that "most of us believe every student deserves the opportunity, resources, and support to reach their full potential no matter where they live, the color of their skin, or place of birth."
"As educators, we have accepted the sacred responsibility to protect students—regardless of their immigration status—and to protect families, schools, and communities," she continued. "The 'Defund Our Communities Act' would trample on these basic principles and, devastatingly, have a lasting, harmful effect on our most vulnerable students by taking away critical funding for school breakfast, lunch programs, and other essential services."
"All across America," Pringle added, "as educators encounter students terrified by threats of mass deportation, we will continue to protect students from the reckless agenda and actions from politicians who want to play dangerous games with the lives of our students."
The groups' letter comes as local officials, school districts, healthcare professionals, religious institutions, and others across the United States vow to resist Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, including his order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest undocumented immigrants in or around "sensitive" locations like schools, places of worship, hospitals, and shelters.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'If We Elect Clowns, We Get a Circus': Congress Narrowly Avoids Shutdown, For Now
Despite Saturday's reprieve, Sen. John Fetterman warned that "pushing the snooze button solves nothing, because these same losers will try to pull the same shit in 45 days."
Sep 30, 2023
A government shutdown was averted Saturday night after the Senate voted 89 to 9 to approve a stopgap spending measure passed by the House of Representatives that afternoon.
The agreement funds the government for 45 days and includes an additional $16 billion in disaster funding as New York City mops up from flash flooding following an extreme rain storm. It does not include aid for Ukraine.
"It has been a day full of twists and turns, but the American people can breathe a sigh of relief," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor. "There will be no government shutdown."
"This is not entertainment, it’s governance. We must not allow the Freedom Caucus to turn our government into The Steve Wilkos Show."
The bill now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.
"This is good news for the American people," Biden said in a statement. "But I want to be clear: We never should have been in this position in the first place."
Biden criticized far-right Republicans in the House for demanding cuts beyond what the president had negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a deal that progressives had already criticized for slashing programs for needy Americans and pushing through the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline.
"They failed," Biden said of the far-right bloc.
MoveOn executive director Rahna Epting pointed out on social media that "this entire crisis was a GOP manufactured one."
"The Republican controlled House of Reps couldn’t get their act together, and their endless infighting only transpired into bare minimum alignment at the 11th hour," Epting said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) celebrated the fact that the far-right bid to enshrine even steeper cuts to the social safety net did not succeed.
"I’m delighted that Congress was able to avoid a painful and unnecessary shutdown," he tweeted. "I'm also pleased that programs working families need were not cut and that there was a good increase in funds for disaster relief which will help Vermonters rebuild from July’s terrible flooding."
Sen John Fetterman (D-Pa.), however, pointed out that the Republicans could force a similar crisis again on November 17 when the stopgap agreement expires.
"I voted at 8:30 pm on a Saturday night, that’s my job. But the American people should never have to worry about their government shutting down," Fetterman posted on social media. "Pushing the snooze button solves nothing, because these same losers will try to pull the same shit in 45 days."
"I voted yes tonight to keep the government open, but I’m done normalizing this dysfunction," he continued. "This is not entertainment, it’s governance. We must not allow the Freedom Caucus to turn our government into The Steve Wilkos Show."
Epting also expressed concern about what would happen when the deal expired.
"We do this all over again in 45 days, and Republicans will shut the government down then," Epting said. "This likely leads to more instability and extremism in the House as the far right will try to remove McCarthy over this. If we elect clowns, we get a circus."
Before the larger budget fight, Congress is now poised to take up the question of additional funding for Ukraine, something Biden, Schumer, and Sanders all flagged as a priority.
House Democratic leadership also said they expected a House vote on Ukraine funding soon in a statement reported by Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Petition Demanding Clarence Thomas Impeachment Reaches 1.2 Million
Clarence Thomas, says a MoveOn petition, "has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court."
Jul 28, 2022
U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar joined progressive groups outside the Supreme Court on Thursday to deliver over 1.2 million petition signatures demanding the impeachment of Justice Clarence Thomas.
"This issue is even bigger than impeaching Thomas. We need to reform this broken court."
Hosted by MoveOn, the petition highlights that in his concurring opinion for the June decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and denied the constitutional right to abortion, Thomas "made it clear what's next: to overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights."
Thomas was the only justice who opposed the court's decision to compel the release of former President Donald Trump's records regarding his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election, and "it has become clear that his wife--longtime conservative activist Virginia Thomas--was actively urging the White House to overturn election results both leading up to January 6 and after the deadly insurrection," the petition states.
"Thomas' failure to recuse himself warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm," it continues. "And it's only the latest in a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his conservative political activism."
The petition concludes that Thomas "has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court. He must resign--or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach."
\u201cClarence Thomas covered for insurrectionists like his wife, & he wants to remove protections for contraception and LGBTQ+ people.\n\nJoin MoveOn members as they deliver 1.2 MILLION+ Impeach Clarence Thomas petition signatures to @IlhanMN & @JamaalBowmanNY! https://t.co/VrwitUIS7A\u201d— MoveOn (@MoveOn) 1659017395
Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Omar (D-Minn.), along with members of MoveOn and Demand Progress, echoed that message in their speeches Thursday.
"Let me be clear: Clarence Thomas is a corrupt jurist and should have no place on our highest court," said Omar. "Our failure to hold him accountable will further delegitimize the court, and will embolden other justices to act in lockstep with his actions."
"But this issue is even bigger than impeaching Thomas. We need to reform this broken court," the congresswoman continued, echoing her recent opinion piece in The Nation. "We cannot wait for this extremist, radical, religious right court to strip our rights away one by one."
Omar is calling for term limits and ethics rules for justices, and for expanding the court. Bowman made clear that he also supports those reforms.
\u201cWe spent the morning outside the Supreme Court with @MoveOn, @Ilhan, and @RepBowman with a clear message: hold Clarence Thomas accountable, and #ExpandTheCourt.\u201d— Demand Justice (@Demand Justice) 1659019732
"You cannot have a democracy without accountability, and we cannot uphold the ideals of our Constitution without freedom, justice, equality, and opportunity for everyone," Bowman said, sharing that his constituents tell him "they have lost faith in all of our institutions," including the Supreme Court.
Citing the right-wing majority's recent decisions on not only abortion but also Miranda rights, regulation of fossil fuel companies, and state-level gun laws, Bowman declared that the high court "has lost its legitimacy."
"And regarding Clarence Thomas specifically, I cannot believe that we have a sitting member of the Supreme Court whose wife was directly involved not only in the insurrection but trying to overturn the election results right after Donald Trump lost the election," he said.
Bowman argued that "because of his history, because of his wife's involvement, because in his opinions he's crystal clear: he is not about upholding precedent, he is not about interpreting the Constitution, he is about making laws," Congress must take action to "restore faith and hope and trust in our institutions."
"We have to start first and foremost with impeachment proceedings of Clarence Thomas," he stressed. "That will show the American people that we are paying attention and listening, and we know what our job is--the job that they have sent us here to do."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular