Biden Seeks to Impose Tightest Gun-Export Restrictions in Decades

The Biden administration is seeking to reduce the use of U.S.-made guns in foreign crimes and human rights violations by tightening oversight and imposing stricter know-your-customer rules governing commercial exports of semiautomatic weapons. The plan follows a Commerce Department review of its support for American gunmakers after a Bloomberg investigation linked skyrocketing civilian gun exports to higher rates of global gun crime. If enacted, the overhaul could amount to the most sweeping restrictions in decades. MORE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Faces a Dilemma: Free the Hostages or Continue the War in Gaza?

As Israel’s war with Hamas drags into its fourth month, some Israelis are becoming increasingly angry at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s inability to free the remaining 136 hostages in the Gaza Strip. Israeli protesters have called for Netanyahu’s resignation, while dozens of family members of the hostages stormed the Israeli parliament on Jan. 22, 2024, demanding a deal for the hostages’ release. Some experts are saying that Netanyahu simply does not want to end the war. MORE

Public Officials Face Surge of Threats Ahead of 2024 Election

Since the 2020 U.S. election, state and local officials have faced a surge of violent threats, harassment, and intimidation. A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice lays out how this abuse is reshaping the way public officials across the U.S. do their jobs, making them less likely to engage with constituents, hold public events, advocate for policies that could lead to blowback, or run for re-election. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Senators and Representative to Advocate for the Elimination of ICBMs

In 2022, more than 60 organizations issued a joint statement warning: “Intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBMS] are uniquely dangerous, greatly increasing the chances that a false alarm or miscalculation will result in nuclear war.” Nonetheless, the U.S. is making plans to upgrade the current ICBM system. However, the program is at risk of exceeding its initial $96 billion cost. United for Peace and Justice urges us to tell our elected officials to advocate for the elimination of ICBMs altogether. TAKE ACTION

IAEA Head Calls for Diplomacy with Iran as Nuclear Activities Advance

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reiterated concerns about Iran’s advancing nuclear program and called for diplomacy with Tehran. During the Jan. 15-19 World Economic Forum in Davos, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Iran is “restricting cooperation in a very unprecedented way” and emphasized that diplomacy is necessary “to prevent the situation deteriorating.”  He also noted that Iran’s nuclear program is “galloping ahead” and that the agency’s visibility into the country’s activities must be commensurate. MORE

Iowa Lawmakers Advance Bills to Bar Undocumented Immigrants from Benefits, In-State Tuition

Over the protests of immigrants and activists who filled Iowa State Capitol committee rooms this week, lawmakers advanced bills that would put stricter limitations on undocumented immigrants. The bills would make undocumented immigrants ineligible for in-state tuition and public assistance programs and create a new penalty for transporting or harboring undocumented immigrants. Immigrants and activists speaking to an Iowa House subcommittee said the bill would deny education to a swath of Iowans who grew up and pay taxes in the state. MORE

Iowa Bill Would Require Use of ‘E-Verify’ to Check Workers’ Immigration Status

Advocates for businesses and immigrants spoke last week in opposition to a bill in the Iowa Senate that would require employers to use the federal E-Verify program to ensure they are not hiring undocumented immigrants. Republican senators on a subcommittee voted to advance Senate File 108, legislation prohibiting Iowa employers from knowingly hiring a worker who is not authorized to live or work in the country. MORE

Texas Is Exploiting a Loophole in a New Supreme Court Ruling to Keep Putting Up Razor-Wire Fencing at the Border

The State of Texas intends to keep installing razor wire along its border with Mexico, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing the U.S. Border Patrol to cut the wire down. On January 22, the Supreme Court responded to an emergency request by the Biden administration, ruling that federal enforcement officials could cut down razor wire installed by the State of Texas to prevent migrants from entering the state. According to Texas' interpretation of the ruling, however, it did not prevent the state from continuing to install it.  MORE

TAKE ACTION: Demand Stronger Protections for Forests, One of Our Most Powerful Climate Solutions

Mature and old-growth forests are also known as “climate forests” because they offer natural climate solutions that remove and absorb large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere while providing vital refuges for many at-risk species and vulnerable wildlife. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed a policy that needs our input to ensure it contains the strongest possible protections for our forests. The Sierra Club urges us to tell the Biden Administration to implement a durable rule to conserve both mature and old-growth forests on federal lands. TAKE ACTION

The Big Question Behind Biden’s Liquefied Natural Gas Pause

Since the fracking boom, gas companies in the U.S. have been transporting natural gas to coastal terminals where the gas is compressed into liquified natural gas (LNG) so it can be loaded onto tanker ships and shipped around the world. Last week, the Biden administration announced it is pausing the approval of several LNG export terminals. The Biden administration will now weigh the climate impacts of exporting LNG before approving new terminals, but the choice is complicated. MORE

‘Deadliest Outbreak Ever Seen’: Climate Crisis Fuels Bangladesh’s Worst Dengue Epidemic

Climate-driven increases in temperature, rainfall, and humidity allowed the mosquito population in Bangladesh to proliferate last year, driving a 500% increase in cases of dengue fever from around 62,000 in 2022 to over 321,000 last year, with deaths related to the disease jumping from 281 to 1,705. Children make up around 30% of all dengue cases in Bangladesh and are particularly vulnerable to the virus because of underdeveloped immune systems. MORE

‘Slavery Has Not Been Abolished’: How Prison Labor Fuels Hundreds of Popular Food Brands

A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins at an unlikely source—a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison. At Louisiana State Penitentiary men can be sentenced to hard labor and forced to work, for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all. The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products found in most American kitchens, from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, Coca-Cola, and Riceland rice.  MORE  

What is Bonded Labor?

An estimated 15.5 million people in South Asia and around the world are exploited by traffickers through a common form of labor trafficking called bonded labor. Traffickers will target victims in underserved communities without access to education and economic resources who can be manipulated into accepting loans to meet urgent needs. Perpetrators will then manipulate debts by artificially inflating them, forcing victims into working to pay off the debt indefinitely. This is how a $12 loan ended up costing one man the next 30 years of his life. MORE

After Domestic Abuse Ends, the Effects of Brain Injuries Can Persist

At least one in four women — and a much smaller proportion of men — experiences intimate partner violence in their lifetime. The resultant injuries, like brain trauma, can affect people for the rest of their lives. Domestic violence often looks like repeated blows to the head or frequent strangulation, which hurt the brain triggering brain cells to die or depriving it of oxygen. And when those incidents happen again and again, they can trigger a slew of other mental problems: PTSD, memory loss, difficulty thinking, and even dementia. MORE

"Karina's Bill" Supporters Urge Lawmakers to Help Protect Domestic Violence Victims

Gun violence prevention advocates made a plea last week for Illinois lawmakers to pass a bill that would require police to remove firearms from a home under specific orders of protection in domestic violence cases. The bill is named in honor of Karina Gonzalez, who was shot and killed in July by her husband. He also killed Gonzalez's 15-year-old daughter, Daniela. They were shot and killed in Little Village, even though Karina had an order of protection that could have led to the removal of his gun by law enforcement. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Stop the Fiscal Commission Before It Starts

The House Budget Committee has passed their fiscal commission out of committee and now seeks to attach it to must-pass government funding legislation this winter. The Fiscal Commission Act (H.R. 5779) would create a process to fast-track major fiscal policy changes, including cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. What is missing is a plan to make the rich and corporations pay their fair share in taxes. Americans for Tax Fairness urges us to tell Congress to vote no on a fiscal commission. TAKE ACTION

Addressing the Impact of Mental Health & Poverty in America

More than half of all Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness sometime in their life. However, for people living in poverty, struggling with mental health is much more common. For example, people living in poverty are disproportionately impacted by depression: while people living in poverty account for only 11% of the U.S. population, they account for nearly a quarter of people with depression. Poverty USA examines the key elements for addressing mental health and poverty.  MORE

In 41 U.S. States, the Richest 1% Pay Lower Tax Rates Than Everyone Else

Nearly every state and local tax system in the U.S. is fueling the nation's inequality crisis by forcing lower- and middle-class families to contribute a larger share of their incomes than their rich counterparts. According to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 41 states the richest 1% are taxed at a lower rate than any other income group. Forty-six states tax the top 1% at a lower rate than middle-income families. MORE

Death Penalty Debated in Iowa for Murder of Police, Prison Employees

Iowa State senators gave initial approval this week to a bill that would bring back the death penalty in Iowa for first-degree murder cases where a person intentionally murders a police officer or prison employee. The Senate Judiciary Committee will next hear the bill and consider an amendment to the legislation. Last session, a bill that advanced out of the Judiciary Committee proposed allowing the death penalty in cases where a minor is kidnapped, raped, and murdered, and similar measures were introduced in 2021 and 2019. MORE

Ivan Cantu is scheduled to be executed on February 28 by the state of Texas for the murders of James Mosqueda and Amy Kitchen. Please hold Ivan, James, Amy, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION

Thomas Creech is scheduled to be executed on February 28 by the state of Idaho for the murder of David Jensen. Please hold Thomas, David, their families, and the people of Idaho in prayer. TAKE ACTION