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Last Wednesday's collapse of the Rana Plaza on the outskirts of Dhaka over 400 people dead, mostly young women, and the death toll may rise as more bodies are pulled from the building's mangled wreckage.
Last Wednesday's collapse of the Rana Plaza on the outskirts of Dhaka over 400 people dead, mostly young women, and the death toll may rise as more bodies are pulled from the building's mangled wreckage. Over a thousand workers have been injured, some gravely, in what is the garment industry's deadliest accident to date. The incident sparked violent protests in Bangladesh, and arrests have been made, but whether there will be real accountability and subsequent reforms to avoid future calamities remains to be seen.
After temporary closure of the complex on the preceding Tuesday, the owners re-opened the factory the next morning despite warnings that the building was structurally compromised. At the sight of obvious danger, including cracks in the building, and on the advice of union leaders and safety experts, garment workers balked at entering the building. Perhaps the workers believed the false reassurances that the building was safe to enter. But many of the workers who returned to work despite their apprehension were told that if the factory failed to produce and delivers its wares, cash flow would be interrupted and the owners would not be able to pay the workers their wages for the month. With no other source of income, desperate workers had no real choice, although shop and bank employees working on the building did not report to work on Wednesday.
This tragedy could have been prevented if Bangladesh exercised adequate regulatory oversight over its 5000 factories, or if Bangladesh had a strong history of collective bargaining, but none of the workers in the Rana Plaza Building belonged to a union. Although Bangladesh provides some legal protections for workers, the climate for trade union rights remains appalling, andharassment of those attempting to organize unions is widespread. In April of 2012, tireless and politically targeted labor activistAminul Islam was tortured and murdered, and no arrests have been made, sending an ominous signal to others fighting the uphill battle for the protection of workers in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is now the world's second largest exporter of garments, which comprise 80% of the country's exports. Enjoying a competitive advantage over other countries paying lowest wages, Bangladesh's garment workers make between 17 and 26 cents an hour. Working conditions in many factories are abysmal. Since 1990, industrial accidents in Bangladesh have resulted in 1,071 fatalities and 3,127 injuries in 279 separate incidents, not including the most recent calamity. This tragedy sparked global outrage, especially coming closely on the heels of a November fire in the Tazreen factory in Savar that killed 112 workers and injured scores of others who were unable to flee the burning building, in part because emergency exits were locked. Already rickety buildings reach toward the sky to add floors that can accommodate yet more businesses that generate increased profits, with no attention to safety. Several of the upper floors in the Rana building were constructed without permits. In the wake of the November fire, labor advocates proposed comprehensive reform for safety standards through the Bangladesh Building and Fire Safety Agreement, though the response has been tepid thus far.
Although Walmart was reportedly the Tazreen factory's largest purchaser, the company refused to provide compensation to the victims, claiming it was unaware that a subcontractor procured services there. Walmart has since announced a "zero tolerance policy" for subcontractors, though its efficacy remains untested. However, one report noted that some Bangladeshi business with higher standards subcontract to those with abysmal conditions. The mechanics of the global supply chain leads some analysts to argue that the system of subcontracting provides large retailers with political cover and plausible deniability, so that in the wake of such tragedies, companies can respond with incredulity about factory conditions. As long as retailers are focused on cost and speed and impervious to the appalling conditions under which garments are produced, more tragedies are likely.
Bangladesh has made strides in alleviating poverty, though many challenges remain. The current development orthodoxy is underpinned by an unquestioned faith that the potential of unbridled capitalism will inure to the benefit of the world's poor. The underlying premise is that free markets will generate economic development that will ultimately lift poor countries out of poverty. Countries desperate for economic development face understandable tension in balancing the need to protect impoverished workers with the incentives that lure large retailers or their subcontractors to take advantage of lax safety standards and other sweatshop conditions. The Bangladeshi government claims it wants to improve conditions but is mindful of the potential economic impact of heightened standards for millions who rely on those jobs. Those considerations are real, but the government cannot sacrifice safety at the altar of economic development. Further impeding efforts to improve working conditions is that many factory owners are either members of Parliament or of political parties. Theories of economic development are inseparable from those who are enriched by them.
The Rana calamity, which occurs against the backdrop of the global sweatshop industry, highlights the importance of fostering solidarity among social movements challenging the structure of low wage markets and advocating for accountability for the conditions of work on an international scale. One progressive commentator elicited derision for suggesting that it was entirely appropriate for poor countries to embrace lower safety and labor standards, arguing that workers in the developing world individually an collectively engage in a cost-benefit calculus and voluntarily accept the risks attendant to garment industry factories in order to earn enough to fend off starvation. Critics counter that countries in the global south must avoid a race to the bottom, in which countries are pitted against each other in every decreasing wages and safety standards.
The economically, geographically and socially disenfranchised garment workers in Bangladesh need multi-stakeholder support. The US government can play a role. The US-based labor organization AFL-CIO filed a petition asking the US government to consider withdrawing, suspending or limiting Bangladesh's benefits under the Generalized System of Preference, over concerns about workers' rights and safety issues. A delegation from Bangladesh argued its case on March 28, 2013, and the US can use this opportunity to demand enhanced protections for Bangladesh's vulnerable workforce. Free trade agreements can include protections for vulnerable workers instead of just focusing on capital and markets. Retailers can be pressured to ensure the integrity of their global supply chain by consumers demanding that garments are produced in humane conditions. Social movements can identify the ways in which their interests are intertwined and work in solidarity across borders. Various international workers' rights initiatives can help create a floor of decent standards across the globe to protect the next country targeted for its exploitable labor force, and create a floor below which the race to the bottom cannot descend. Hopefully, the horrifying carnage surrounding this tragedy will galvanize a coordinated international response to the treacherous conditions on which the supply chain for the garment industry is often predicated.
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Last Wednesday's collapse of the Rana Plaza on the outskirts of Dhaka over 400 people dead, mostly young women, and the death toll may rise as more bodies are pulled from the building's mangled wreckage. Over a thousand workers have been injured, some gravely, in what is the garment industry's deadliest accident to date. The incident sparked violent protests in Bangladesh, and arrests have been made, but whether there will be real accountability and subsequent reforms to avoid future calamities remains to be seen.
After temporary closure of the complex on the preceding Tuesday, the owners re-opened the factory the next morning despite warnings that the building was structurally compromised. At the sight of obvious danger, including cracks in the building, and on the advice of union leaders and safety experts, garment workers balked at entering the building. Perhaps the workers believed the false reassurances that the building was safe to enter. But many of the workers who returned to work despite their apprehension were told that if the factory failed to produce and delivers its wares, cash flow would be interrupted and the owners would not be able to pay the workers their wages for the month. With no other source of income, desperate workers had no real choice, although shop and bank employees working on the building did not report to work on Wednesday.
This tragedy could have been prevented if Bangladesh exercised adequate regulatory oversight over its 5000 factories, or if Bangladesh had a strong history of collective bargaining, but none of the workers in the Rana Plaza Building belonged to a union. Although Bangladesh provides some legal protections for workers, the climate for trade union rights remains appalling, andharassment of those attempting to organize unions is widespread. In April of 2012, tireless and politically targeted labor activistAminul Islam was tortured and murdered, and no arrests have been made, sending an ominous signal to others fighting the uphill battle for the protection of workers in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is now the world's second largest exporter of garments, which comprise 80% of the country's exports. Enjoying a competitive advantage over other countries paying lowest wages, Bangladesh's garment workers make between 17 and 26 cents an hour. Working conditions in many factories are abysmal. Since 1990, industrial accidents in Bangladesh have resulted in 1,071 fatalities and 3,127 injuries in 279 separate incidents, not including the most recent calamity. This tragedy sparked global outrage, especially coming closely on the heels of a November fire in the Tazreen factory in Savar that killed 112 workers and injured scores of others who were unable to flee the burning building, in part because emergency exits were locked. Already rickety buildings reach toward the sky to add floors that can accommodate yet more businesses that generate increased profits, with no attention to safety. Several of the upper floors in the Rana building were constructed without permits. In the wake of the November fire, labor advocates proposed comprehensive reform for safety standards through the Bangladesh Building and Fire Safety Agreement, though the response has been tepid thus far.
Although Walmart was reportedly the Tazreen factory's largest purchaser, the company refused to provide compensation to the victims, claiming it was unaware that a subcontractor procured services there. Walmart has since announced a "zero tolerance policy" for subcontractors, though its efficacy remains untested. However, one report noted that some Bangladeshi business with higher standards subcontract to those with abysmal conditions. The mechanics of the global supply chain leads some analysts to argue that the system of subcontracting provides large retailers with political cover and plausible deniability, so that in the wake of such tragedies, companies can respond with incredulity about factory conditions. As long as retailers are focused on cost and speed and impervious to the appalling conditions under which garments are produced, more tragedies are likely.
Bangladesh has made strides in alleviating poverty, though many challenges remain. The current development orthodoxy is underpinned by an unquestioned faith that the potential of unbridled capitalism will inure to the benefit of the world's poor. The underlying premise is that free markets will generate economic development that will ultimately lift poor countries out of poverty. Countries desperate for economic development face understandable tension in balancing the need to protect impoverished workers with the incentives that lure large retailers or their subcontractors to take advantage of lax safety standards and other sweatshop conditions. The Bangladeshi government claims it wants to improve conditions but is mindful of the potential economic impact of heightened standards for millions who rely on those jobs. Those considerations are real, but the government cannot sacrifice safety at the altar of economic development. Further impeding efforts to improve working conditions is that many factory owners are either members of Parliament or of political parties. Theories of economic development are inseparable from those who are enriched by them.
The Rana calamity, which occurs against the backdrop of the global sweatshop industry, highlights the importance of fostering solidarity among social movements challenging the structure of low wage markets and advocating for accountability for the conditions of work on an international scale. One progressive commentator elicited derision for suggesting that it was entirely appropriate for poor countries to embrace lower safety and labor standards, arguing that workers in the developing world individually an collectively engage in a cost-benefit calculus and voluntarily accept the risks attendant to garment industry factories in order to earn enough to fend off starvation. Critics counter that countries in the global south must avoid a race to the bottom, in which countries are pitted against each other in every decreasing wages and safety standards.
The economically, geographically and socially disenfranchised garment workers in Bangladesh need multi-stakeholder support. The US government can play a role. The US-based labor organization AFL-CIO filed a petition asking the US government to consider withdrawing, suspending or limiting Bangladesh's benefits under the Generalized System of Preference, over concerns about workers' rights and safety issues. A delegation from Bangladesh argued its case on March 28, 2013, and the US can use this opportunity to demand enhanced protections for Bangladesh's vulnerable workforce. Free trade agreements can include protections for vulnerable workers instead of just focusing on capital and markets. Retailers can be pressured to ensure the integrity of their global supply chain by consumers demanding that garments are produced in humane conditions. Social movements can identify the ways in which their interests are intertwined and work in solidarity across borders. Various international workers' rights initiatives can help create a floor of decent standards across the globe to protect the next country targeted for its exploitable labor force, and create a floor below which the race to the bottom cannot descend. Hopefully, the horrifying carnage surrounding this tragedy will galvanize a coordinated international response to the treacherous conditions on which the supply chain for the garment industry is often predicated.
Last Wednesday's collapse of the Rana Plaza on the outskirts of Dhaka over 400 people dead, mostly young women, and the death toll may rise as more bodies are pulled from the building's mangled wreckage. Over a thousand workers have been injured, some gravely, in what is the garment industry's deadliest accident to date. The incident sparked violent protests in Bangladesh, and arrests have been made, but whether there will be real accountability and subsequent reforms to avoid future calamities remains to be seen.
After temporary closure of the complex on the preceding Tuesday, the owners re-opened the factory the next morning despite warnings that the building was structurally compromised. At the sight of obvious danger, including cracks in the building, and on the advice of union leaders and safety experts, garment workers balked at entering the building. Perhaps the workers believed the false reassurances that the building was safe to enter. But many of the workers who returned to work despite their apprehension were told that if the factory failed to produce and delivers its wares, cash flow would be interrupted and the owners would not be able to pay the workers their wages for the month. With no other source of income, desperate workers had no real choice, although shop and bank employees working on the building did not report to work on Wednesday.
This tragedy could have been prevented if Bangladesh exercised adequate regulatory oversight over its 5000 factories, or if Bangladesh had a strong history of collective bargaining, but none of the workers in the Rana Plaza Building belonged to a union. Although Bangladesh provides some legal protections for workers, the climate for trade union rights remains appalling, andharassment of those attempting to organize unions is widespread. In April of 2012, tireless and politically targeted labor activistAminul Islam was tortured and murdered, and no arrests have been made, sending an ominous signal to others fighting the uphill battle for the protection of workers in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is now the world's second largest exporter of garments, which comprise 80% of the country's exports. Enjoying a competitive advantage over other countries paying lowest wages, Bangladesh's garment workers make between 17 and 26 cents an hour. Working conditions in many factories are abysmal. Since 1990, industrial accidents in Bangladesh have resulted in 1,071 fatalities and 3,127 injuries in 279 separate incidents, not including the most recent calamity. This tragedy sparked global outrage, especially coming closely on the heels of a November fire in the Tazreen factory in Savar that killed 112 workers and injured scores of others who were unable to flee the burning building, in part because emergency exits were locked. Already rickety buildings reach toward the sky to add floors that can accommodate yet more businesses that generate increased profits, with no attention to safety. Several of the upper floors in the Rana building were constructed without permits. In the wake of the November fire, labor advocates proposed comprehensive reform for safety standards through the Bangladesh Building and Fire Safety Agreement, though the response has been tepid thus far.
Although Walmart was reportedly the Tazreen factory's largest purchaser, the company refused to provide compensation to the victims, claiming it was unaware that a subcontractor procured services there. Walmart has since announced a "zero tolerance policy" for subcontractors, though its efficacy remains untested. However, one report noted that some Bangladeshi business with higher standards subcontract to those with abysmal conditions. The mechanics of the global supply chain leads some analysts to argue that the system of subcontracting provides large retailers with political cover and plausible deniability, so that in the wake of such tragedies, companies can respond with incredulity about factory conditions. As long as retailers are focused on cost and speed and impervious to the appalling conditions under which garments are produced, more tragedies are likely.
Bangladesh has made strides in alleviating poverty, though many challenges remain. The current development orthodoxy is underpinned by an unquestioned faith that the potential of unbridled capitalism will inure to the benefit of the world's poor. The underlying premise is that free markets will generate economic development that will ultimately lift poor countries out of poverty. Countries desperate for economic development face understandable tension in balancing the need to protect impoverished workers with the incentives that lure large retailers or their subcontractors to take advantage of lax safety standards and other sweatshop conditions. The Bangladeshi government claims it wants to improve conditions but is mindful of the potential economic impact of heightened standards for millions who rely on those jobs. Those considerations are real, but the government cannot sacrifice safety at the altar of economic development. Further impeding efforts to improve working conditions is that many factory owners are either members of Parliament or of political parties. Theories of economic development are inseparable from those who are enriched by them.
The Rana calamity, which occurs against the backdrop of the global sweatshop industry, highlights the importance of fostering solidarity among social movements challenging the structure of low wage markets and advocating for accountability for the conditions of work on an international scale. One progressive commentator elicited derision for suggesting that it was entirely appropriate for poor countries to embrace lower safety and labor standards, arguing that workers in the developing world individually an collectively engage in a cost-benefit calculus and voluntarily accept the risks attendant to garment industry factories in order to earn enough to fend off starvation. Critics counter that countries in the global south must avoid a race to the bottom, in which countries are pitted against each other in every decreasing wages and safety standards.
The economically, geographically and socially disenfranchised garment workers in Bangladesh need multi-stakeholder support. The US government can play a role. The US-based labor organization AFL-CIO filed a petition asking the US government to consider withdrawing, suspending or limiting Bangladesh's benefits under the Generalized System of Preference, over concerns about workers' rights and safety issues. A delegation from Bangladesh argued its case on March 28, 2013, and the US can use this opportunity to demand enhanced protections for Bangladesh's vulnerable workforce. Free trade agreements can include protections for vulnerable workers instead of just focusing on capital and markets. Retailers can be pressured to ensure the integrity of their global supply chain by consumers demanding that garments are produced in humane conditions. Social movements can identify the ways in which their interests are intertwined and work in solidarity across borders. Various international workers' rights initiatives can help create a floor of decent standards across the globe to protect the next country targeted for its exploitable labor force, and create a floor below which the race to the bottom cannot descend. Hopefully, the horrifying carnage surrounding this tragedy will galvanize a coordinated international response to the treacherous conditions on which the supply chain for the garment industry is often predicated.
"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away," said the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde.
The inaugural interfaith service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday proceeded with the usual prayers and music, but after delivering her sermon, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde appeared to go off-script and made a direct appeal to President Donald Trump.
Recalling the Republican president's assertion on Monday that he was "saved by God" after a bullet hit his ear in an assassination attempt in July, Budde asked Trump, who was seated in the church, "in the name of our God... to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now."
"There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families," said Budde, "some who fear for their lives. And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals."
"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here," said Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C.
Budde's appeal followed Trump's signing of 26 executive orders in his first day in office, with dozens more expected in the first days of his second term. The president signed orders ending birthright citizenship—provoking legal challenges from immigrant rights groups and state attorneys general—and pausing refugee admissions, leading to devastation among people who had been waiting for asylum appointments at ports of entry. Official proclamations declared a national emergency at the southern border and asserted that the entry of migrants there is an "invasion."
Trump also took executive action to declare that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female.
"May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world," said Budde in her address to Trump.
The president kept his eyes on Budde for much of her speech, at one point looking annoyed and casting his eyes downward. Vice President JD Vance leaned over and spoke to his wife, Usha Vance, as Budde talked about undocumented immigrants, and raised his eyebrows when she said the majority of immigrants are not criminals.
Trump later told reporters that the service was "not too exciting."
"I didn't think it was a good service," he said. "They can do much better."
Democratic strategist Keith Edwards applauded Budde's decision to speak directly to the president, calling her "incredibly brave."
Budde "confronted Trump's fascism to his face," he said on the social media platform Bluesky.
The study was published as President Donald Trump was blasted for an executive order that one critic said shows he wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the "the world's largest gas station."
For thousands of years, the land areas of the Arctic have served as a "carbon sink," storing potential carbon emissions in the permafrost. But according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change Tuesday, more than 34% of the Arctic is now a source of carbon to the atmosphere, as permafrost melts and the Arctic becomes greener.
"When emissions from fire were added, the percentage grew to 40%," according to the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which led the international team that conducted the research.
The study, which was first reported on by The Guardian, was released the day after President Donald Trump issued multiple presidential actions influencing the United States' ability to confront the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by fossil fuel emissions, including one directly impacting resource extraction in Alaska, a section of which is within the Arctic Circle.
Sue Natali, one of the researchers who worked on the study published in Nature Climate Change, told NPR in December (in reference to similar research) that the Arctic's warming "is not an issue of what party you support."
"This is something that impacts everyone," she said.
As the permafrost—ground that remains frozen for two or more years—holds less carbon, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere that could "considerably exacerbate climate change," according to the study.
"There is a load of carbon in the Arctic soils. It's close to half of the Earth's soil carbon pool. That's much more than there is in the atmosphere. There's a huge potential reservoir that should ideally stay in the ground," said Anna Virkkala, the lead author of the study, in an interview with The Guardian.
The dire warning was released on the heels of Trump's executive order titled "Unleashing the Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential" that calls for expedited "permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska," as well as for the prioritization of "development of Alaska's liquefied natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region."
The order also rolls back a number of Biden-era restrictions on drilling and extraction in Alaska, which included protecting areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing.
"Alaska is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, a trend that is wreaking havoc on communities, ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and ways of life that depend on healthy lands and waters," said Carole Holley, managing attorney for the Alaska Office of the environmental group Earthjustice, in a statement Monday.
"Earthjustice and its clients will not stand idly by while Trump once again forces a harmful industry-driven agenda on our state for political gain and the benefit of a wealthy few," she added.
Trump wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the "the world's largest gas station," said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, in a statement Monday. "Make no mistake, Trump's rushed and sloppy actions today are an existential threat to these lands and waters, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them."
The U.N. ambassador nominee also shrugged off the Nazi salutes made by Elon Musk on Inauguration Day.
As U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik faced questioning by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday regarding her nomination for a top diplomatic position, the rights group Jewish Voice for Peace Action called on lawmakers to consider her "record of antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-immigrant, and anti-democracy rhetoric and policy" and block her confirmation.
Stefanik's (R-N.Y.) record was reinforced at the hearing as she was asked about her views on Palestine, expressions of antisemitism in the United States, and far-right Israeli leaders' political agenda, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) recalling a meeting he had with the congresswoman after President Donald Trump nominated her to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
At the meeting, Van Hollen said, Stefanik had expressed support for the idea that Israel has a Biblical right to control the entire West Bank—a position that is held by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but runs counter to the two-state solution that the U.S. government has long supported.
"Is that your view today?" asked Van Hollen, to which Stefanik replied, "Yes."
Van Hollen noted that Stefanik's viewpoint also flies in the face of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions and international consensus about the Middle East conflict.
"If the president is going to succeed at bringing peace and stability to the Middle East, we're going to have to look at the U.N. Security Council resolutions," said the senator. "And it's going to be very difficult to achieve that if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed, which is a view that was not held by the founders of the state of Israel."
Stefanik also refused to answer a direct question from Van Hollen regarding whether Palestinian people have the right to self-determination, saying only that she supports "human rights for all" and pivoting to a call for Israeli hostages to be released by Hamas.
Jenin Younes, litigation counsel with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, said Stefanik expressed "religious fanaticism, pure and simple" at the confirmation hearing—which was held as Israeli settlers and soldiers ramped up attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
"That [Stefanik] will now play a major role with respect to our foreign policy in the region is terrifying," said Younes.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action noted that in addition to supporting "the Israeli government's brutal genocide of Palestinians," Stefanik has also "amplified the antisemitic Great Replacement theory"—which claims the influence and power of white Christian Americans is being deliberately diminished by Jewish Americans and immigration policy.
Despite her support for the debunked conspiracy theory, Stefanik made headlines last year for her accusations against college students, faculty, and administrators over the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that exploded across campuses as Americans spoke out against Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza. The congresswoman said the protests were expressions of antisemitism and pushed for the resignation of university leaders who declined to discipline students who spoke out against Israel.
The hearings where Stefanik lambasted college leaders "were part of a broader campaign to silence anti-war activism and dissent on college campuses while forwarding the MAGA culture war campaign against [diversity, equity, and inclusion], critical race theory, and LGBTQ+ rights," said JVP Action.
An exchange between Stefanik and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday also raised questions over Stefanik's views on antisemitism. Murphy asked the nominee about the Nazi salute twice displayed by billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk—whom the president has named to lead his proposed Department of Government Efficiency—at an event Monday night.
" Elon Musk did not do those salutes," Stefanik asserted.
Murphy countered by reading several comments from right-wing commentators who applauded Musk's "Heil Hitler" salute.
"Over and over again last night, white supremacist groups and neo-Nazi groups in this country rallied around that visual," said Murphy.
JVP Action said Stefanik has "deeply embraced Trump's anti-democratic agenda."
"Her nomination must be blocked," said the group.