COMMON DREAMS: Week in Review: The 'Dangerous' Dark-Money Plot to Boost Trump

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 ■ The Week in Review Canada, Sweden Restore UNRWA Funds as Report Accuses Israel of Torturing Agency Staff "The work that UNWRA does cannot be overstated," said Canadian lawmaker Salma Zahid. "It will save lives as we have seen the visuals of children dying of hunger in Gaza. The need for immediate aid is non-negotiable." By Jon Queally • Mar 9, 2024 No Labels Denounced for 'Dangerous' Dark-Money Ploy to Boost Trump in 2024 "Their decision to move forward with a dark-money, Trump donor-funded third-party fantasy bid is shameful and puts millions of Americans at risk," said one opponent. By Jessica Corbett • Mar 8, 2024 Florida GOP Passes 'Vicious' Bill Banning Mandatory Water Breaks for Workers "We will see fatalities, because of what Florida Republicans chose to do this week," said one workers' rights advocate. By Julia Conley • Mar 8, 2024 'Handmaid's Tale Coming to Life': Katie Britt's SOTU Response Sparks Alarm "As someone who covers the far-right and the Christian nationalist movement, Sen. Katie Britt's speech was the closest thing to porn they'll consume," wrote one journalist. By Jake Johnson • Mar 8, 2024 House GOP Advances 'Death Panel' for Social Security in Election Year "MAGA House Republicans are demonstrating their hostility to working Americans and retirees," said one critic. By Jessica Corbett • Mar 7, 2024 Sanders Rips 'Fiction' That There's Nothing US Can Do to End Gaza Carnage "Of course we have the leverage," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "We are funding the war." By Jake Johnson • Mar 7, 2024 'Unconscionable': Biden Has Approved 100+ Arms Sales to Israel in Just Five Months "When people ask, 'What do you want Joe Biden to do?' the answer is: Stop making these weapons deals," said one campaigner. By Jake Johnson • Mar 6, 2024 Bullets Found at Gaza Flour Massacre Site Belie Israel's 'Stampede' Claim A preliminary investigation by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor affirmed that bullets that killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians waiting for food aid are the same type fired by Israeli troops' guns. By Brett Wilkins • Mar 6, 2024 'Finish the Problem': Presumptive GOP Nominee Trump Endorses Gaza Genocide One commentator argued that while President Joe Biden has "bent over backward to support Israel," Donald Trump would "be even worse." By Jake Johnson • Mar 6, 2024 Progressives Cheer Senate Exit for 'Corrupt Egomaniac' Kyrsten Sinema Sinema's exit sets up an election between Rep. Ruben Gallego and former television anchor Kari Lake. By Thor Benson • Mar 5, 2024 VIEW ALL NEWS JOIN THE MOVEMENT As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. JOIN WITH US TODAY ■ Opinion Why I Don’t Rely on Hope I have gravitated toward projects for social justice and ecological sustainability because they have provided some meaning in my life, not because I imagined success. By Robert Jensen • Mar 9, 2024 With Genocide in Gaza, the Word 'Never' Has Been Stripped From 'Never Again' The Palestinians, facing down the most powerful countries in the world, left virtually alone even by their allies, have suffered immeasurably. But they have won this war. By Arundhati Roy • Mar 8, 2024 Supreme Court's Trump Ruling Reveals a Deep Weakness in Our Constitutional Democracy The 9-0 ruling by the Court has empowered MAGA Republicans to continue the lie that their assaults on democracy are done in the name of “election integrity” when we know full well the opposite is true. By Jeffrey C. Isaac • Mar 8, 2024 Warning: The Great GOP Voter Purge of 2024 Is Underway Using arcane laws and loopholes, Republican-affiliated groups are challenging the right to vote of thousands of mostly Democratic voters across the states most likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 election. By Thom Hartmann • Mar 7, 2024 Paul Krugman Remains Blind to Wall Street's War on Workers What the Nobel Prize-winning economist and prominent columnist fails to see again and again is that many, if not most, rural mass layoffs in the last four decades, are the result of out-and-out greed by corporate interests and the investor class. By Les Leopold • Mar 6, 2024 When the Big Oil CEO Blames You for the Climate Crisis His Industry Created We simply “waited too long,” said ExxonMobil's top executive last week. But never mind, the important thing is that we made “above-average returns.” By Bill Mckibben • Mar 5, 2024 VIEW ALL OPINION

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RSN: FOCUS: Leaked PAC Email Applauds Kyrsten Sinema's Attempts to Derail Reconciliation Bill

 

 

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FOCUS: Leaked PAC Email Applauds Kyrsten Sinema's Attempts to Derail Reconciliation Bill
Ryan Grim, The Intercept
Grim writes: "In a leaked email, No Labels' director praised Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her 'heroic efforts' on the infrastructure bill."

In a leaked email, No Labels’ director praised Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her “heroic efforts” on the infrastructure bill.

The dark-money group No Labels remains optimistic that it has been able to delink the bipartisan infrastructure bill away from the larger reconciliation package that includes the bulk of the Biden agenda, with the possibility of outright killing the bigger bill still in play, according to a note sent by the group’s executive director to its donors.

“It is now clear that the reconciliation package will be delinked in time from the infrastructure bill and will be less than $3.5 trillion (if it passes at all), in theory making support from House Republicans for the infrastructure bill more likely,” the email from Margaret White reads.

The message goes on to applaud Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for her relentless fight on their behalf.

The reconciliation package includes major investments in combating climate change, support for child care and elder care, and expansion of Medicaid and Medicare, among a host of other policy advances. But major donors to No Labels stand to see significant tax hikes to offset those costs if the reconciliation package becomes law. The House Ways and Means Committee approved $2.9 trillion in new taxes on the rich over the next decade.

Progressives have insisted that both packages go together so that centrists don’t simply notch a victory on the bipartisan bill and then turn around and kill the more expansive piece of legislation. Centrists have claimed that progressive fears of such a betrayal are unfounded and that while they also support the Biden agenda, they simply want to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill as quickly as possible. Those assurances lose credibility each time the financial backers of the centrist Democrats celebrate the possibility they may be able to kill reconciliation, even if they do so in semi-private.

In White’s email, she acknowledged that her group was short of the votes needed to pass the bipartisan legislation on Monday, because progressives have vowed to oppose it until the reconciliation package is on President Joe Biden’s desk. “The biggest warning sign is on the left, where the Progressive Caucus leadership continues to object to the delinkage and claims they have the votes to kill the infrastructure bill, leading them to suggest Speaker Pelosi should cancel the vote or risk embarrassment,” White wrote. “In the post-Brexit, post-Trump, free-agent, populist era in which we live now, don’t assume that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden can definitely deliver the votes on the left.”

“This only reinforces that No Labels is not only No Values but now also No Clue,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.

Biden hosted multiple groups of Democrats at the White House on Wednesday, meeting with an ideological range of his party colleagues. “The best way to help the American people is by passing the President’s Build Back Better Agenda, which includes the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure agreement,” said Pocan, who was present for the meeting. “The President agreed and reiterated his position that we need to pass both to move America forward. The debates we’re having are not about progressives versus moderates, but it’s a fight between the special interests who don’t want to pay their fair share and making sure we build back better for the American people.” White did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted that she told the president during the meeting that a majority of her members — enough to sink the bill — would vote no if both pieces of his agenda were not finished.

The full text of the email from White is below.

Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 12:03 p.m.
Subject: State of Play Update

I wanted to share this note to provide both a state of play update on the critical infrastructure negotiations but also as a call to action for our community to reach out to Senator Sinema’s office and thank her for her heroic efforts in working to get this bill over the finish line. Please see below:

Days to promised infrastructure vote: 5

Vote count: well short of 218 public commitments

Latest news:

Mostly good!

* The infrastructure vote has been reaffirmed by the Democratic leadership for Monday (or perhaps Tuesday or later next week if the debate goes long).

* Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer seem determined to whip the vote to get the bill passed and have begun the process, making a strong argument for the substance and politics of the measure.

* The President is scheduled to meet in person at the White House today with House members to get them on board. Josh Gottheimer is expected to be among those there.

* It is now clear that the reconciliation package will be delinked in time from the infrastructure bill and will be less than $3.5 trillion (if it passes at all), in theory making support from House Republicans for the infrastructure bill more likely.

The biggest warning sign is on the left, where the Progressive Caucus leadership continues to object to the delinkage and claims they have the votes to kill the infrastructure bill, leading them to suggest Speaker Pelosi should cancel the vote or risk embarrassment.

In the post-Brexit, post-Trump, free-agent, populist era in which we live now, don’t assume that Speaker Pelosi and President Biden can definitely deliver the votes on the left.

To get to 218 votes, the Speaker and the President are going to have to keep a very high percentage of House progressives on board, while House Republicans will likely have to deliver more “yes” votes than currently exist.

All of this remains tied up in what the media continues to pay more attention to, which is the partisan standoff over the debt ceiling and a potential government shutdown. How that will impact getting the majority vote for infrastructure remains a mystery

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