TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Cut Pentagon Spending and Keep Social Programs

The new majority in the House of Representatives wants to cut spending, but what it really means is they’re planning on exempting the Pentagon from cuts and instead cutting back funding for housing, education, nutrition, childcare, environmental protection, and much, much more. Cutting spending while exempting the defense budget means that about $130 billion in cuts would have to come from domestic programs. The Coalition on Human Needs urges us to tell Congress to cut the Pentagon budget, NOT funding for social programs. TAKE ACTION

Blinken Criticizes Settlements but Stresses US Support for Israel

In rare — albeit implicit — criticism of Israel, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called out Israeli policies, including settlement expansion and home demolitions, as detrimental to the two-state solution. Still, at a news conference at the end of his trip to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories this week, Blinken reasserted Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel. Rights advocates have long urged Washington to press Israel to end its abuses against Palestinians. MORE

How to Avoid Nuclear Stand-Offs That Threaten the Entire World

We know it’s possible to move the world toward disarmament because we’ve done it before. Through a series of arms control agreements, Russia and the US reduced their nuclear arsenals by about 87% from a peak of a combined 63,000 warheads in the mid-1980s. As public attention moved away from nuclear weapons, weapons manufacturers fought to maintain and increase their market share in a changing world. Now the United States is investing up to $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years in updating and modernizing its nuclear weapons. MORE

The Ban Treaty, Two Years After: A Ray of Hope for Nuclear Disarmament

Given recent developments, one could conclude that any hope for nuclear disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons is further away than ever. One may wonder about the value and impact of a treaty seeking to ban nuclear weapons when all vectors seem to point in the opposite direction. But according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is more relevant than ever, for two main reasons. MORE

Officials Pledge to Investigate Labor Conditions at Mushroom Farms Targeted in Half Moon Bay Shootings

California and local officials say they plan to investigate potential wage theft and safety violations at the two Half Moon Bay farms where a gunman murdered seven of his co-workers last week. Gov. Gavin Newsom called out the appalling living conditions of the mostly Latino and Asian immigrant agricultural workers on the two farms, some of whom, he said, live in on-site shipping containers and make as little as $9 an hour. MORE

Amid a Severe Shortage of Home Health Aides, Immigrants Help Care for Our Seniors

The United States will need to fill nearly three-quarters of a million open jobs for home health and personal care aides every year through 2031. Currently, immigrant workers fill these jobs in outsized numbers. Without more workers joining the workforce, the drastic shortage of aides could leave millions of seniors without the ability to remain in their homes. MORE

These Activists Are Fighting for Immigrants’ Rights. Will Congress Listen?

Much of the work being done to address immigrant rights is powered by undocumented youth-led organizations. They are pursuing policies that would ensure affordable health care and workplace protections, as well as access to financial aid and in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. But they have their work cut out for them. Despite the youth-led nature of immigration advocacy movements, a recent survey showed that only 11 percent of people under 30 listed immigration as one of their “top 3 concerns.” MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA to Strengthen the Methane Rule

A recently-launched EPA public engagement process is a critical opportunity to ensure strong, comprehensive methane safeguards to protect our health, communities, and our Earth. In November, President Biden and the EPA proposed an updated rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the country. With a public comment period open (through Feb. 13), now is the time to voice support for clean air. Interfaith Power and Light invites us to tell the EPA to strengthen the methane rule. TAKE ACTION

Navigator Withdraws CO2 Pipeline Proposal; Set to File New One with An Expanded Route

Nearly six months after filing an application with the Illinois Commerce Commission for its multi-state pipeline, Navigator CO2 says it would refile with an expanded project to the commission before the end of February. Navigator CO2 withdrew its initial application last month. The original 1,300-mile pipeline — used to capture carbon dioxide emissions — spanned Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota in addition to 13 counties in central Illinois.   MORE

Outdated EPA Standards Allow Oil Refineries to Pollute Waterways

Neighbors of refineries can see the glowing flares and visible plumes of air pollution rising into the sky. But water pollution often happens at ground level, or below, out of sight for both local residents and environmental regulators. In a new report, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project tallied toxic discharges of unregulated pollutants self-reported by refineries and found that seven of the nation’s 10 worst polluters of total dissolved solids operated along the Texas coast. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Stop the Criminalization of Child and Youth Sex Trafficking Survivors

Many victims of sex trafficking are charged and prosecuted with sex trafficking offenses that are directly linked to their victimization. This phenomenon ignores the realities of sex trafficking victimization and related trauma, and both reflect and result in the misidentification and unjust treatment of survivors. Shared Hope asks us to urge our governors to support critical criminal and juvenile justice reform efforts to ensure a just, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered response to children and youth impacted by sex trafficking victimization. TAKE ACTION

Sold An American Dream, These Workers from India Wound Up Living a Nightmare

Squalid work camps, 24-hour shifts, and withheld wages: these were the conditions that 500 Indian workers became trapped in after they were lured to the U.S. to repair oil rigs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  The men had been convinced to pay $20,000 each to come to the U.S. to rebuild storm-damaged oil rigs.  But instead of receiving green cards, they were issued temporary visas that bound them to a single employer and forced to work round-the-clock shifts and live in squalid work camps, where they were fed frozen rice and moldy bread. MORE

‘We Have No One’: The Women and Girls Sold as Brides in Kashmir

Human traffickers in India are enticing poor women and girls with the promise of employment and a better life and then selling them as brides for as little as $35 to men in Kashmir, where poverty leaves many men unable to afford the elements required for a traditional marriage. Some agents who arrange marriages dispute the idea that brides are coerced, arguing that some poor families sell their daughters into marriage while other women enter marriages to escape grinding poverty in their home regions. MORE

‘Ignored, Angry, Helpless’: Workers Allege Sexual Harassment at US Country Club

Sexual harassment is pervasive in the restaurant service and hospitality industries in the US and more claims of this kind are reported in the industry than in any other sector of the American economy. A 2021 survey by One Fair Wage found over 70% of female restaurant employees have been sexually harassed at least once while working in the industry, with 44% reporting they experienced sexual harassment from someone in a management or ownership role. MORE

Addressing Teen Dating Violence in Schools

Relationships are a core part of everyday life, especially for young people. As they move through their teens, some students begin to explore romantic relationships. While this can be an exciting and happy time, risks are also involved. About 16 million women and 11 million men who report experiencing intimate partner violence say it first happened before they were 18. These include instances of physical violence, sexual violence, and stalking. While most schools offer some form of sex ed, lessons specifically around healthy relationships are harder to find. MORE

How the Getty and Walton Families Use Trusts to Dodge Taxes

We are now living through the “golden age of tax avoidance,” thanks to both the increasing concentration of wealth and the expansion of the “wealth defense industry,” a class that focuses on aggressive tax avoidance and dynastic wealth succession. It is estimated that more than $30 trillion globally is sequestered by the wealthiest people on the planet, money that societies could be taxing and investing to broaden opportunity for everyone else. MORE

Federal Lobbying Spending Reaches $4.1 Billion In 2022 — The Highest Since 2010

Total federal lobbying skyrocketed to $4.1 billion in 2022. That’s the highest lobbying spending since 2010 when adjusted for inflation. At least 13,784 organizations deployed 12,609 federal lobbyists throughout 2022. Last year’s most-lobbied congressional bill was the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which authorized, among other provisions, federal spending to reduce carbon emissions, lower healthcare costs and prescription drug prices, and expand tax assistance and enforcement at the Internal Revenue Service. MORE

It’s Official: The U.S. Tax Code Worsens Racial Disparity in America

For some time, human needs advocates and many economists have maintained that the U.S. tax code discriminates on the basis of race and ethnicity by increasing disparities between families with wealth – more often White families – and families without wealth. Now, for the first time ever, a U.S. Treasury Department study has confirmed these suspicions: White Americans disproportionately benefit from a variety of tax breaks, including those focused on investors. MORE

Leonard Taylor is scheduled to be executed on February 7 by the state of Missouri for the murders of Angela Rowe, Alexus Conley, AcQreya Conley, and Tyrese Conley. Please hold Leonard, Angela, Alexus, AcQreya, Tyrese, their families, and the people of Missouri in prayer. TAKE ACTION

John Ballentine is scheduled to be executed on February 8 by the state of Texas for the murders of Edward Mark Caylor, Kai Brooke Geyer and Steven Brady Watson. Please hold John, Edward, Kai, Steven, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION