Yesterday, House and Senate Democrats unveiled “A Better Deal for Our Democracy,” a new anti-corruption policy package focused on clear, strong democracy solutions, including:
- Stripping power from special interests, with particular emphasis on strengthening ethics laws and fixing the broken campaign finance system facilitated by Citizens United, and including a CAP proposal to ban lobbyist fundraising.
- Dismantling the #CultureOfCorruption in which Trump and his Cabinet are mired.
- Protecting voting rights, combatting gerrymandering, and working to “safeguard our election infrastructure from hostile actors.”
In a presidency and political era rife with corruption and owned by powerful special interests, this reform package is focused on ensuring that the voices of American voters are heard loud and clear again. The push by the minority in Congress not only supports CAP Action’s core critique of the Trump Administration’s corruption, it also embraces some of the core solutions of the Center for American Progress’ Democracy team—you can read more here and here.
ACTION OF THE DAY: ANOTHER ATTACK ON WOMEN
#NoGagRule. Tonight at the Susan B. Anthony List anti-abortion gala, Trump and Pence are preparing to push a “domestic gag rule” that will strip funding from Title X-funded clinics that discuss abortion as a family planning option. The devastating impacts include restricted access to contraception, safe abortion, STI screenings, and other crucial health services. Join @CAPAction on Twitter today from 3:00-4:00p using the hashtag #NoGagRule, and join Planned Parenthood’s rally tomorrow at 5:30p.
THE SYSTEM IS MORE RIGGED THAN EVER
Epic Fail. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored a 5-4 Supreme Court opinion yesterday in Epic Systems v. Lewis, a decision which essentially “gives a free pass for companies to break the law.” The decision allows corporations to require workers—as a condition of employment—to sign away their right to a day in court. This makes it nearly impossible for employees with these forced arbitration agreements to file complaints as a group, severely limiting their ability to pursue claims of systematic wage theft, sexual harassment and other discrimination claims for workplace violations. Justice Ginsburg—joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Breyer—dissented, reading her decision from the bench and calling the majority opinion “egregiously wrong.”
Teachers, Not the 1%, Deserve Raises. As of 2016, weekly teacher pay in the U.S. was 17% lower than comparable workers. In a 2018 survey, 18% of U.S. teachers reported working additional jobs to pay the bills. In the wake of teacher strikes and demonstrations across the country, Congressional minority leaders are calling for slashing Trump’s tax cuts for millionaires to pay for increased school funding, raises for teachers, and protection for teachers negotiating pay and conditions nationwide.
UNDER THE RADAR: OVERCOMING CENSORSHIP
Quiet Warnings Of Climate Change. In its first days of existence, the Trump Administration—comprised in large part by climate skeptics—erased nearly all mentions of climate change from government websites. So it came as a surprise yesterday when the National Park Service released an uncensored report on the dangers of sea level rise. The report admits that “anthropogenic climate change has significantly increased the rate of global sea level rise,” a fact much of Trump’s Cabinet vehemently disputes, and stresses the risks climate change poses to 118 coastal national park sites.