#united states federal low income support

[cleverclovers]

Hey, if you're on the ACP (Affordable connectivity program) in the USA, please read this

I received an email this evening from my broadband provider. Here's screenshots, and I'll copy paste the text, as well. TL;DR at the end of the post.

"Important ACP Update

Dear Valued Astound Broadband Customer: On January 11, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will end in a few months unless the US federal government provides additional funds for the program. The FCC is requiring ACP providers like Astound Broadband (Astound) to inform ACP participants about the potential end of the ACP.¹

What Happens Now

You should begin to review your options.

•  If you are an Astound ACP customer on or before February 7, 2024, you will continue to receive the up-to $30 ACP benefit to your ACP-supported internet services until the end of the ACP so long as you continue to be eligible to participate in ACP and remain an Astound customer.²

•  After February 7, 2024, the ACP will not accept new or re-enrolled ACP participants and you may not be able to transfer your ACP benefit to another ACP provider.³

What Happens if the ACP Ends

If the ACP ends, you will no longer receive the up-to $30 per month ACP benefit and other Astound promotional credits for your internet services and, in the final month of the ACP, you may not receive the full up-to $30 per month ACP benefit and other Astound promotional credits for your internet services. If you continue to receive Astound internet services after the ACP ends, the full undiscounted rate for your service will apply or there may be the option to select an alternate package. Additional information will be coming soon regarding your future package options.

The FCC will provide more information on the status of the ACP in the coming weeks, and Astound will provide you with further updates.

If you have questions about the ACP, please contact the Universal Service Administrative Company ACP Support Center at [phone] or visit www.fcc.gov/acp or https://affordableconnectivity.gov/ for more information. In the meantime, thank you for being a valued customer. We look forward to serving you.

Sincerely,

Astound Broadband Team"

the footnotes I forgot to screen cap are thus:

"¹Astound Broadband refers to the following ACP participating entities operating in separate service areas throughout the US: RCN Telecom Services, LLC; RCN Telecom Services (Lehigh) LLC; RCN Telecom Services of Philadelphia, LLC; RCN Telecom Services of Massachusetts, LLC; ETS Telephone Company, Inc.; Grande Communications Networks, LLC; and WaveDivision Holdings, LLC.

²The ACP is a US federal government benefit program operated by the FCC that reduces one eligible household’s broadband Internet service bill by up to $30 per month. Without incurring a termination fee, at any time, a household may apply the ACP benefit to any broadband Internet service plan available in the area, at the same terms available to households not eligible for ACP, or a household may transfer the ACP benefit to another provider or opt-out of the program. If the ACP benefit does not completely cover the cost of your home and/or mobile internet services, you must make monthly payments to your ACP-supported broadband Internet services. If the ACP benefit covers the full retail rate of your home and/or mobile internet services, you must use your Internet services at least once every 30 days. If the ACP ends, if the household transfers its ACP benefit to another provider but continues to receive Astound Broadband Internet service, or if de-enrolled from the ACP, the full, undiscounted retail rate and general terms and conditions of service apply.

³If the ACP does not receive additional funds, after February 7, 2024, ACP providers are not required to allow ACP households to transfer their ACP benefit from other ACP providers."

This is a link to the PDF fact sheet from the FCC regarding the ACP wind down

TL;DR:

In April, 2024, it's expected that the fund that makes low cost or free access to the internet possible for low income families and individuals, and college students on pell grants, will run out, without federal intervention. People on the program will loose that financial support, and internet may no longer be a thing people with restricted incomes can afford. Pressure needs to be put on the federal government so that people who rely on the internet for work and education, or even just access to friends and family, can continue to have that access.

The pandemic taught us that the internet is a vital resource that people need access to. A lot of us disabled people already knew that, having fought for work from home/school from home options for years, only receiving them finally during lockdown. Access to the internet has greatly improved most of our lives, and we can't lose that now.

If you know you need the financial support to have cheaper internet, you have until the 7th of February to get your application approved by the FCC, and your provider set up with that information, to give you a little relief until April. Take. that. opportunity.

I have not, as yet, received any indication from other low income support programs, like Social Security, utility discount programs, or food stamps, being cut. I'm keeping an eye out.

I'll update this post in reblogs as I get more information going forward.

#affordable connectivity program #internet service #low income #disability #accessibility #poverty #united states federal low income support #united states politics #united states #federal government

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #7

Feb 23-March 1 2024

The White House announced $1.7 Billion in new commitments from local governments, health care systems, charities, business and non-profits as part of the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. The Challenge was launched with 8 billion dollars in 2022 with the goal of ending hunger in America by 2030. The Challenge also seeks to drastically reduce diet-related diseases (like type 2 diabetes). As part of the new commitments 16 city pledged to make plans to end hunger by 2030, the largest insurance company in North Carolina made nutrition coaching and a healthy food delivery program a standard benefit for members, and since the challenge launched the USDA's Summer EBT program has allowed 37 states to feed children over the summer, its expected 21 million low income kids will use the program this summer.

The US House passed a bill on Nuclear energy representing the first update in US nuclear energy policy in decades, it expands the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and reduces reducing licensing fees. Nuclear power represents America's single largest source of clean energy, with almost half of carbon-free electricity coming from it. This bill will boost the industry and make it easier to build new plants

Vice President Harris announced key changes to the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. The CCDBG supports the families of a million American children every month to help afford child care. The new changes include capping the co-pay families pay to no more than 7% of their income. Studies show that high income families pay 6-8% of their income in childcare while low income families pay 31%. The cap will reduce or eliminate fees for 100,000 families saving them an average of over $200 a month. The changes also strength payments to childcare providers insuring prompt payment.

The House passed a bill making changes to the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. The 8(a) is an intensive 9 year program that offers wide ranging training and support to small business owners who are socially and economically disadvantaged, predominantly native owned businesses. Under the current structure once a business reaches over 6.8 million in assets they're kicked off the program, even though the SBA counts anything under $10 million as a small business, many companies try to limit growth to stay on the program. The House also passed a bill to create an Office of Native American Affairs at the SBA, in order to support Native-owned small businesses.

The White House and HUD announced steps to boost the housing supply and lower costs plans include making permanent the Federal Financing Bank Risk Sharing program, the program has created 12,000 affordable housing units since 2021 with $2 billion and plans 38,000 additional units over ten years. As well as support for HUD's HOME program which has spent $4.35 billion since 2021 to build affordable rental homes and make home ownership a reality for Americans. For the first time an administration is making funds available specifically for investments in manufactured housing, $225 million. 20 million Americans live in manufactured housing, the largest form of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country, particularly the rural poor and people in tribal communities.

The Department of Energy announced $336 million in investments in rural and remote communities to lower energy costs and improve reliability. The projects represent communities in 20 states and across 30 Native tribes. 21% of Navajo Nation homes and 35% of Hopi Indian Tribe homes remain unelectrified, one of the projects hopes to bring that number to 0. Another project supports replacing a hydroelectric dam in Alaska replacing all the Chignik Bay Tribal Council's diesel power with clear hydro power. The DoE also announced $18 million for Transformative Energy projects lead by tribal or local governments and $25 million for Tribal clean energy projects, this comes on top of $75 million in Tribal clean energy projects in 2023

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg put forward new rules to ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity. Under the planned rules mishandling a wheelchair would be a violation of the ACAA, airlines would be required to immediately notify the passenger of their rights. Airlines would be required to repair or replace the wheelchair at the preferred vendor of the passenger's choice as well as provide a loaner wheelchair that fits the passenger's needs/requirements

The EPA launched a $3 Billion dollar program to help ports become zero-emission. This investment in green tech and zero-emission will help important transportation hubs fight climate change and replace some of the largest concentrations of diesel powered heavy equipment in America.

the EPA announced $1 Billion dollars to help clean up toxic Superfund sites. This is the last of $3.5 billion the Biden administration has invested in cleaning up toxic waste sites known as Superfund sites. This investment will help finish clean up at 85 sites across the country as well as start clean up at 25 new sites. Many Superfund sites are contained and then left not cleaned for years even decades. Thanks to the Biden-Harris team's investment the EPA has been able to do more clean up of Superfund sites in the last 2 years than the 5 years before it. More than 25% of America's black and hispanic population live with-in 5 miles of a Superfund site.

Bonus: Sweden cleared the final major barrier to become NATO's 32nd member. The Swedish Foreign Minster is expected to fly to Washington to deposit the articles of accession at the US State Department. NATO membership for Sweden and its neighbor Finland (joined last year) has been a major foreign policy goal of President Biden in the face of Russian aggressive against Ukraine. Former President Trump has repeatedly attacked NATO and declared he wants to leave the 75 year old Alliance, even going so far as to tell Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" with European NATO allies

#Thanks Biden #Joe Biden #Politics #US politics #Democrats #Climate change #end hunger #hunger #proverty #disability #native Americans #tribal rights #clean energy #child care #housing #housing crisis

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week

🦾 - High-Five for Bionic Hand

1. Houston-area school district announces free breakfast and lunch for students

Pasadena ISD students will be getting free breakfast and lunch for the 2023-24 school year, per an announcement on the district's social media pages.

The 2023-24 free lunch program is thanks to a Community Eligibility Provision grant the district applied for last year. The CEP, which is distributed by the Department of Agriculture, is specially geared toward providing free meals for low-income students.

2. Dolphin and her baby rescued after being trapped in pond for 2 years

A pair of dolphins that spent nearly two years stuck in a Louisiana pond system are back at sea thanks to the help of several agencies and volunteers.

According to the Audubon Nature Institute, wildlife observers believe the mother dolphin and her baby were pushed into the pond system near Grand Isle, Louisiana, during Hurricane Ida in late August 2021.

3. Studies show that putting solar panels over waterways could boost clean energy and conserve water. The first U.S. pilot project is getting underway in California.

Some 8,000 miles of federally owned canals snake across the United States, channeling water to replenish crops, fuel hydropower plants and supply drinking water to rural communities. In the future, these narrow waterways could serve an additional role: as hubs of solar energy generation.

4. Gene therapy eyedrops restored a boy's sight. Similar treatments could help millions

Antonio was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. But his skin improved when he joined a clinical trial to test the world’s first topical gene therapy.

The same therapy was applied to his eyes. Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again.

5. Scientists develop game-changing vaccine against Lyme disease ticks!

A major step in battling Lyme disease and other dangerous tick-borne viruses may have been taken as researchers announced they have developed a vaccine against the ticks themselves.

Rather than combatting the effects of the bacteria or microbe that causes Lyme disease, the vaccine targets the microbiota of the tick, according to a paper published in the journal Microbiota on Monday.

6. HIV Transmission Virtually Eliminated in Inner Sydney, Australia

Sydney may be the first city in the world to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Inner Sydney has reduced new HIV acquisitions by 88%, meaning it may be the first locality in the world to reach the UN target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

7. New bionic hand allows amputees to control each finger with unprecedented accuracy

In a world first, surgeons and engineers have developed a new bionic hand that allows users with arm amputations to effortlessly control each finger as though it was their own body.

Successful testing of the bionic hand has already been conducted on a patient who lost his arm above the elbow.

----

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Support this newsletter ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

#best news of last week #Youtube

[izooks]

Some of Joe Biden’s accomplishments:

**Domestic policy**

* **American Rescue Plan (2021)**: Provided $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief, including direct payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, and funding for vaccines and testing.

* **Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)**: Allocated $1.2 trillion for infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, broadband, and clean energy initiatives.

* **Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022)**: Expanded background checks for gun purchases and provided funding for mental health services.

* **Child Tax Credit Expansion (2021-2022)**: Temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit to provide up to $3,600 per child in monthly payments.

* **Affordable Care Act Expansion (2021)**: Made health insurance more affordable for low- and middle-income Americans by reducing premiums and expanding subsidies.

**Foreign Policy**

* **Withdrawal from Afghanistan (2021)**: Ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

* **Re-joining the Paris Agreement (2021)**: Re-committed the United States to global efforts to address climate change.

* **Strengthening Alliances with NATO and the EU (2021-present)**: Repaired relationships with key European allies after strained relations during the Trump administration.

* **Supporting Ukraine in the Ukraine-Russia War (2022-present)**: Provided military, humanitarian, and diplomatic support to Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion.

* **Nuclear Deal with Iran (2023)**: Revived negotiations with Iran on a comprehensive nuclear deal, aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

**Other Notable Accomplishments**

* **Appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court (2022)**: Made history by being the first Black woman appointed to the nation's highest court.

* **Signing the Respect for Marriage Act (2022)**: Ensured federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages.

* **Establishing the Office of the National Cyber Director (2021)**: Coordinated federal efforts to combat cybersecurity threats.

* **Creating the COVID-19 National Preparedness Plan (2021)**: Developed a comprehensive strategy to respond to future pandemics.

* **Launching the Cancer Moonshot (2022)**: Re-energized the government's efforts to find a cure for cancer.

#gop #democrats #vote blue #republicans #vote biden #democracy #fuck trump #maga 🧠 = 🐶 💩

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jill Tucker

Published: Feb 3, 2024

A Hayward elementary school struggling to boost low test scores and dismal student attendance is spending $250,000 in federal money for an organization called Woke Kindergarten to train teachers to confront white supremacy, disrupt racism and oppression and remove those barriers to learning.

The Woke Kindergarten sessions train teachers on concepts and curriculum that’s available to use in classrooms with any of Glassbrook Elementary’s 474 students. The sessions are funded through a federal program meant to help the country’s lowest-performing schools boost student achievement. 

But two years into the three-year contract with Woke Kindergarten, a for-profit company, student achievement at Glassbrook has fallen, prompting some teachers to question whether the money was well-spent given the needs of the students, who are predominantly low-income. Two-thirds of the students are English learners and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino. 

English and math scores hit new lows last spring, with less than 4% of students proficient in math and just under 12% at grade level in English — a decline of about 4 percentage points in each category.

Efforts to reach the organization were not successful, with an automated response saying the founder, who also provides the training, was recovering from surgery.

District officials defended the program this past week, saying that Woke Kindergarten did what it was hired to do. The district pointed to improvements in attendance and suspension rates, and that the school was no longer on the state watch list, only to learn from the Chronicle that the school was not only still on the list but also had dropped to a lower level.

The decision to bring in Woke Kindergarten, rather than a more traditional literacy or math improvement program, aligns with the belief by some parents and educators that the current education system isn’t working for many disadvantaged children. 

The solution, these advocates say, is for educators to confront legacies of racism and bias in schools, and to talk about historic white supremacy, so that students feel safe and supported. As such anti-racism programs have spread, several more conservative state legislatures have moved to restrict or ban them. 

At the same time, some education experts say struggling schools need research-based literacy and math interventions that ensure all students have the basic skills to succeed. Examples of success include San Francisco’s John Muir Elementary, which has piloted a math intervention program that has led to a more than 50% proficiency rate, up from 15% prior to adopting the coaching and student-led coursework.

Woke Kindergarten, aimed at elementary-age students, is founded on the relatively new concept of abolitionist education, which advocates for abolition, or “a kind of starting over,” said Zeus Leonardo, UC Berkeley education professor. The idea is that certain things can’t be reformed, tweaked or shifted, because they are inherently problematic or oppressive. It’s not about indoctrinating or imposing politics, “but making politics part of the framework of teaching,” Leonardo said. 

But some Glassbrook teachers have questioned the decision to bring in the program, saying Woke Kindergarten is wrongly rooted in progressive politics and activism with anti-police, anti-capitalism and anti-Israel messages mixed in with the goal of making schools safe, joyful and supportive for all children.

This tension is reflective of the nation’s ongoing culture wars, where the right and the left battle to influence what happens in classrooms. 

The Woke Kindergarten curriculum shared with schools includes “wonderings,” which pose questions for students, including, “If the United States defunded the Israeli military, how could this money be used to rebuild Palestine?”

In addition, the “woke word of the day,” including “strike,” “ceasefire” and “protest,” offers students a “language of the resistance … to introduce children to liberatory vocabulary in a way that they can easily digest, understand and most importantly, use in their critiques of the system.”

Teacher Tiger Craven-Neeley said he supports discussing racism in the classroom, but found the Woke Kindergarten training confusing and rigid. He said he was told a primary objective was to “disrupt whiteness” in the school — and that the sessions were “not a place to express white guilt.” He said he questioned a trainer who used the phrasing “so-called United States,” as well as lessons available on the organization’s web site offering “Lil’ Comrade Convos,” or positing a world without police, money or landlords.

Craven-Neeley, who is white and a self-described “gay moderate,” said he wasn’t trying to be difficult when he asked for clarification about disrupting whiteness. “What does that mean?” he said, adding that such questions got him at least temporarily banned from future training sessions. “I just want to know, what does that mean for a third-grade classroom?”

Another Glassbrook teacher said Woke Kindergarten offered one perspective on issues and that there was no tolerance for questions. “It slowly became very apparent if you were a dissenting voice that it’s not what they wanted to hear,” said the teacher, who requested anonymity for fear of pushback at the school. 

The teacher did not find the training helpful or productive. “Our reading scores are low,” they said. “That could have gotten us a reading interventionist.”

Hayward Superintendent Jason Reimann said the decision to hire Woke Kindergarten, which was approved by the school board, was made by the school community, including parents and teachers, as part of a federal improvement plan to boost student achievement by improving attendance.

The school community, including parents, teachers and staff, identified a provider to help them do that, Reimann said. He noted a subsequent improvement in student attendance, with 44% of students considered chronically absent last year, down from 61% the year prior. A similar improvement  was seen districtwide.

Glassbrook has been on the state’s Comprehensive School Improvement list since 2020, slightly improving in 2022 and then being reassigned to the lowest-performing level this school year.

Reimann said the district didn’t hire Woke Kindergarten for its politics, but rather its work in restorative practices, helping eliminate suspensions and removals from classrooms while luring more students back into seats.

“We are in favor 100% of abolishing systems of oppression where they hold our students back,” he said. “What I do believe is we should pick providers based on their work and how effective they are.”

The superintendent said Woke Kindergarten wasn’t hired to improve literacy and math scores, but that “helping students feel safe and whole is part and parcel of academic achievement.” He added, “I get that it’s more money than we would have liked to have spent.”

Woke Kindergarten was founded by former teacher Akiea “Ki” Gross, who identifies as they/them and describes themselves as “an abolitionist early educator, cultural organizer and creator currently innovating ways to resist, heal, liberate and create with their pedagogy, Woke Kindergarten.”

They established the for-profit company in 2020 in Maryland, although the Woke Kindergarten website says it is “primarily community sustained” and relies “primarily on donations.”

Education policy experts said that while the name of Gross’ organization and the words “abolitionist education” were provocative, many parents, teachers and others are feeling politically empowered after pandemic battles over masking and when to reopen schools.

“It doesn’t feel necessarily new, but more common right now is that some schools and some leaders are being intentionally provocative,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank. It feels, he said, like people are “leaning into these culture battles in schools,” whether on the left or right, although he said he couldn’t speak specifically about Woke Kindergarten.

And to a degree, these battles — whether over book bans, LGBTQ issues or the war in Gaza — are expected given schools are largely under local control, meaning they reflect their communities, said Joseph Kahne, professor of education policy at UC Riverside.

“How loud particular groups have become on the left and right and how organized and commercialized these agendas have become, that seems new,” said Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley education professor. 

Julie Marsh, a professor of education policy at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education, cautioned that it can be “problematic when teaching strays too far into the political ideology realm. It’s just a big distraction from some of the bigger purposes of education and what we should be focusing on.”

Craven-Neeley, the Glassbrook teacher, said he had experienced the pull of the nation’s culture wars from both sides of the political spectrum. As a veteran teacher in Modesto, he sued the school district after it prevented him from talking about his husband, or talking about LGBTQ history, including gay rights icon Harvey Milk. He said he settled out of court.

Woke Kindergarten “had a lot of good things. I think race should be addressed. Children should be aware if they are being discriminated against,” he said. “But as a teacher of Hayward Unified, I shouldn’t have to get on the bandwagon of defunding police or insulting our country.”

==

"Woke Kindergarten"'s website is clear up front: their primary goal is to conduct a revolution. And well educated, well read, language and math-literate students are antithetical to an uprising. What revolutions want and seek is people who are illiterate, uneducated, scared and angry.

The mistake is thinking the decline in scores was a bug or accident. It's not. It's a feature.

#Free Black Thought #Woke Kindergarten #corruption of education #education #indoctrination #child indoctrination #childhood indoctrination #grifters #grifters gonna grift #race grifters #scammers #wokeness #woke #cult of woke #wokeism #wokeness as religion #antiracism #antiracism as religion #antisemitism #defund the police #religion is a mental illness

[strictlyfavorites]

At least 59.4 percent of illegal immigrant-led homes use one or more welfare programs, compared with 39 percent of households headed by people born in the United States, according to the Dec. 19 report.

High rates of welfare use among illegal immigrants “primarily reflect their generally lower education levels and their resulting low-incomes, coupled with the large share who have U.S.-born children who are eligible for all welfare programs from birth,” the report reads.

“More than half of all illegal immigrant households have one or more U.S.-born children.”

Children born to illegal immigrants in the United States, also known as “anchor babies,‘ are considered to have automatic birthright citizenship even though the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t explicitly ruled on the matter. Illegal immigrants can’t access most welfare programs, a restriction that eases for their children who are born in the country.

“The American welfare system is designed in large part to help low-income families with children, which describes a large share of immigrants,” CIS states in the report.

A dozen states offer Medicaid to all low-income children regardless of immigration status. Such children also have access to various government food and meal programs.

Programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, free or subsidized lunch and breakfast for students, and Medicaid for children (Children’s Health Insurance Program) were “explicitly created for minors,” the report states.

The CIS report is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

“The reality is that illegal immigrants are included in the SIPP, a large share of them are poor, and they or their U.S.-born children have welfare eligibility; and many take advantage of this eligibility,” CIS stated.

“A very large share of immigrants come to America, have children, struggle to provide for them, and so turn to taxpayers for support. This can be seen as especially problematic given that there is already a large number of Americans who are also struggling to provide for their children.”

According to data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the total number of U.S.-born children of illegal aliens in the United States as of June stood at 5.78 million, a population more than two times that of Chicago.

FAIR estimates that “illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children impose a net annual cost of $150.6 billion on American taxpayers as of the beginning of 2023.” Over the past five years, the annual cost has risen by almost $35 billion.

“This burden will only continue to grow as a result of the Biden administration’s open-borders policies,” the organization warns.

Ending Birthright Citizenship

Multiple GOP members have taken a strong stance against birthright citizenship. In 2018, former President Donald Trump said he would remove birthright citizenship via executive order, which didn’t happen.

In his 2024 campaign, President Trump has reiterated his position on the matter. In a May video, President Trump promised to sign an executive order on day one of his second term to solve the issue.

Such an order would end the “unfair practice known as birth tourism, where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat in hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain U.S. citizenship for the child, often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members.”

“At least one parent will have to be a citizen or a legal resident in order to qualify,” President Trump stated.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called for an end to birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants during the second GOP debate, in September.

“Now, the left will howl about the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. The difference between me and them is I’ve actually read the 14th Amendment. And what it says is that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the laws and jurisdiction thereof are citizens,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.

“So nobody believes that the kid of a Mexican diplomat in this country enjoys birthright citizenship—not a judge or legal scholar in this country will disagree with me on that. Well, if the kid of a Mexican diplomat doesn’t enjoy birthright citizenship, then neither does the kid of an illegal migrant who broke the law to come here.”

In July, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a proposal called “End Birthright Citizenship Fraud Act of 2023,” which aims to abolish automatic birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

Under the legislation, at least one parent of the child must be a U.S. national or a refugee, have lawful permanent citizenship, or be an active member of the military.

“My legislation recognizes that American citizenship is a privilege—not an automatic right to be co-opted by illegal aliens,” Mr. Gaetz said in a statement.

“This is an important step in preserving the sanctity of American citizenship and ensures that citizenship is not treated as a loophole to be exploited but rather a privilege to be earned when legally migrating to our country.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has a line about the state of small-scale agriculture in America these days.

It’s drawn from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which shows that as the average size of farms has risen, the nation had lost 544,000 of them since 1981.

“That’s every farm today that exists in North Dakota and South Dakota, added to those in Wisconsin and Minnesota, added to those in Nebraska and Colorado, added to those in Oklahoma and Missouri,” Mr. Vilsack told a conference in Washington this spring. “Are we as a country OK with it?”

Even though the United States continues to produce more food on fewer acres, Mr. Vilsack worries that the loss of small farmers has weakened rural economies, and he wants to stop the bleeding. Unlike his last turn in the same job, under former President Barack Obama, this time his department is able to spend billions of dollars in subsidies and incentives passed under three major laws since 2021 — including the biggest investment in conservation programs in U.S. history.

The plan in a nutshell: Multiply and improve revenue streams to bolster farm balance sheets. Rather than just selling crops and livestock, farms of the future could also sell carbon credits, waste products and renewable energy.

“Instead of the farm getting one check, they potentially could get four checks,” Mr. Vilsack said in an interview. He is also helping schools, hospitals and other institutions to buy food grown locally, and investors to build meatpacking plants and other processing facilities to free farmers from powerful middlemen.

But it’s far from clear whether new policies and a cash infusion will be enough to counteract the forces that have pushed farmers off the land for decades — especially since much of the money is aimed at reducing carbon emissions, and so will also go toward large farming operations because they are the biggest polluters.

The number of farms has been declining since the 1930s, in large part because of migration from rural areas to cities and greater mechanization of agriculture, which allowed operators to cultivate larger tracts with fewer people. Over time, the federal government abandoned a policy of managing production to support prices, prompting growers to become more export-oriented while local distribution networks atrophied.

The last half-decade has been more disruptive than most. First came a trade war against China under former President Donald J. Trump, which drew retaliatory tariffs that cut into U.S. exports of farm products like soybeans and pork. Then came the pandemic, which scrambled supply chains and sapped farm labor, leaving crops to rot in the fields.

After Congress cushioned the blow with relief for farmers hurt by pandemic disruptions, things started to turn around. Even as the cost of supplies like fertilizer and seed rose, so did food prices, and farm incomes increased. In 2023, default rates on farm loans neared record lows.

“Farm balance sheets are the healthiest they’ve ever been in the aggregate,” said Brad Nordholm, the chief executive of Farmer Mac, a large secondary market for agricultural credit. “The tools available to American farmers to have a more predictable return, even when commodity prices change and input prices change, is greater than it’s ever been before.”

But wholesale crop prices are expected to decline over the coming year. Rising interest rates have made it more difficult to finance planting and harvesting, borrow for an expansion or just get into agriculture — especially since land values jumped 29 percent from 2020 to 2023.

That’s especially true for the smallest farmers, who are far less likely to be tapped into Department of Agriculture assistance programs and are more vulnerable to adverse weather, labor shortages and consumer whims.

“I think in some ways they’re in a worse position than before the pandemic,” said Benneth Phelps, executive director of the nonprofit Carrot Project, which advises small farmers in New England. “We see a lot of farmers making hard decisions right now about whether to stay in or get out, because they’ve run out of steam.”

That’s where the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law come in.

The laws have collectively provided about $60 billion to the Agriculture Department, which has parceled it out across a variety of priorities, from relieving farmers’ debt to paying them to reduce their carbon emissions.

The biggest chunk — about $19.5 billion — has breathed new life into subsidies to encourage conservation practices that improve the land, like cutting back on plowing and planting cover crops to sequester carbon in the soil. Some of the programs had shrunk in successive Farm Bills, which are five-year legislative packages that covers most agricultural subsidies, and about two-thirds of farmers who applied each year got nothing.

The new funding has added 16,000 recipients over the past two years. Preliminary data shows the expansion is allowing smaller farms to take part.

#family farms #federal farming subsidies

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Progressive economists and advocates warned that the tentative debt ceiling agreement reached Saturday by the White House and Republican leaders would needlessly gash nutrition aid, rental assistance, education programs, and more—all while making it easier for the wealthy to avoid taxes.

The deal, which now must win the support of both chambers of Congress, reportedly includes two years of caps on non-military federal spending, sparing a Pentagon budget replete with staggering waste and abuse.

The Associated Press reported that the deal "would hold spending flat for 2024 and increase it by 1% for 2025," not keeping pace with inflation.

The agreement would also impose new work requirements on some recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) while scaling back recently approved IRS funding, a gift to rich tax cheats.

In exchange for the spending cuts and work requirements, Republican leaders have agreed to lift the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025—a tradeoff that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is pitching as a victory to his caucus, which includes far-right members who have demanded more aggressive austerity.

President Joe Biden, for his part, called the deal "a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want."

Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement Saturday night that "this is a punishing deal made worse only by the fact that there was no reason for President Biden to negotiate with Speaker McCarthy over whether or not the United States government should pay its bills," alluding to the President's executive authority.

"After inflation eats its share, flat funding will result in fewer households accessing rental assistance, fewer kids in Head Start, and fewer services for seniors," said Owens. "The deal represents the worst of conservative budget ideology; it cuts investments in workers and families, adds onerous and wasteful new hurdles for families in need of support, and protects the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations from paying their fair share in taxes."

The agreement comes days before the U.S. is, according to the Treasury Department, set to run out of money to pay its obligations, imperiling Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid payments and potentially hurling the entire global economy into chaos.

House Republicans have leveraged those alarming possibilities to secure painful federal spending cuts and aid program changes that could leave more people hungry, sick, and unable to afford housing, critics said.

"For no real reason at all, hungry people are set to lose food while tax cheats get a free pass," wrote Angela Hanks, chief of programs at Demos.

While legislative text has not yet been released, the deal would reportedly impose work requirements on adult SNAP recipients without dependents up to the age of 54, increasing the current age limit of 49. Policy analysts and anti-hunger activists have long decried SNAP time limits and work requirements as cruel and ineffective at boosting employment. (Most adult SNAP recipients already work.)

"The SNAP changes are nominally extending work requirements to ages 50 to 54. In reality, especially as the new rule is implemented, this is just an indiscriminate cull of a bunch of 50- to 54-year-olds from SNAP who won't realize there are new forms they need to fill out," said Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project.

Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, wrote on Twitter that the agreement is "cruel and shortsighted," pointing to the work requirements and real-term cuts to rental assistance "during an already worsening homelessness crisis."

"House Rs held our nation's lowest-income people hostage in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling," Yentel continued. "The debt ceiling 'deal' could lead to tens of thousands of families losing rental assistance... Expanding ineffective work requirements and putting time limits on food assistance adds salt to the wound, further harming some of the lowest-income and most marginalized people in our country."

The White House and Republican leaders also reportedly agreed to some permitting reforms that climate groups have slammed as a boon for the fossil fuel industry. According to The New York Times, the agreement "includes measures meant to speed environmental reviews of certain energy projects," though the scope of the changes is not yet clear.

And while the deal doesn't appear to include a repeal of Biden's student debt cancellation plan—which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court—it does contain a provision that would cement the end of the student loan repayment pause, drawing fury from debt relief campaigners.

The deal must now get through Congress, a difficult task given likely opposition from progressive lawmakers who oppose attacks on aid programs and Republicans who want steeper cuts.

As the Times reported, "Lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus were privately pillorying the deal on Saturday night, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus had already begun to fume about it even before negotiators finalized the agreement."

Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said Sunday that "it's a relief to see that congressional leaders and the President have come to an agreement to raise the debt limit and avert an economic disaster."

"But by instituting work requirements for critical assistance programs and rescinding important funding to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, this deal will rig the economy even more in favor of the most well-off Americans while failing to fix the real structural problems that led to the current debt crisis in the first place," said Hanauer. "The deal avoids the elephant in the room: it includes no new revenues even though tax cuts of the past few decades were a primary driver of deficit growth."

"And next up, many Republican lawmakers want to double down on tax cuts by pushing through many more tax cuts that would most help wealthy families and corporations," Hanauer added. "They should do the opposite."

#us politics #news #republicans #conservatives #Democrats #progressives #congressional progressive caucus #house freedom caucus #2023 #president joe biden #biden administration #national debt #debt ceiling #raise the debt ceiling #the associated press #work requirements #snap benefits #Temporary Assistance for Needy Families #Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program #irs funding #irs #department of treasury #rental assistance #fossil fuel industry #common dreams #student debt cancellation #student debt #student debt forgiveness #tax cuts #tax the 1%

[presidentialchampionstournment]

Monroe (from ChatGPT): The Monroe administration refers to the presidency of James Monroe, who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. His administration is often characterized by a period of relative national harmony and stability known as the "Era of Good Feelings." One of the most significant events of Monroe's administration was the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. This policy declared that European powers should not interfere in the affairs of the newly independent nations of Latin America and warned against any further colonization efforts in the Western Hemisphere. The doctrine had a lasting impact on U.S. foreign policy.

LBJ (from ChatGPT): Johnson played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights, signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. He also signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to overcome legal barriers preventing African Americans from exercising their right to vote. Johnson's administration initiated the "Great Society" programs, which aimed to combat poverty and inequality. These programs included the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid to provide healthcare for the elderly and low-income individuals, respectively, as well as the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the expansion of federal aid to education. Johnson declared a "War on Poverty," launching various initiatives such as Head Start, Job Corps, and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to address issues of poverty and unemployment. Johnson's presidency was overshadowed by the Vietnam War. While initially supporting limited involvement, Johnson escalated U.S. military involvement significantly, leading to widespread protests and social unrest domestically.

#polls #random polls #tumblr polls #tumblr poll #my polls #hyperspecific poll #poll time #random poll #us history #usa #america #politics #american history #us politics #usa politics #american politics #history

[mariacallous]

This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moore v. United States, a case that centers on the mandatory repatriation tax (MRT). The MRT was enacted as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and required corporations to a pay a one-time tax on deferred foreign profits. These are profits that were earned by foreign subsidiaries of American businesses, but not returned home and therefore not yet subjected to U.S. taxation.

The plaintiffs, Charles and Kathleen Moore, argue that a ruling in their favor would ensure Congress could never impose a wealth tax. Many on the right oppose such a tax, most famously proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and thus organizations like Americans for Tax Reform, the Cato Institute, FreedomWorks, and the Manhattan Institute have filed amicus briefs in support of the plaintiffs. In reality, the case has little to do with such a tax.

Rather, a ruling in favor of the Moores risks upending key elements of the current federal income tax and wreaking havoc on parts of the U.S. economy. As we detail with additional colleagues in an amicus brief in support of the respondent, the federal government, the Court should rule against the Moores and affirm the lower court ruling.

The Moores, shareholders in a manufacturing business based in India, were subject to the MRT on the business’s profits that had not yet been distributed to shareholders. The MRT rate is 15.5 percent if such profits were held in liquid assets such as cash or 8 percent if such profits were illiquid (invested in a factory abroad, for example). The TCJA allows taxpayers to pay the MRT in installments over eight years. The Moores’ MRT liability was approximately $15,000.

At enactment, the MTR was estimated to raise $338.8 billion and was used, in part, to finance the transition to a new system of taxing foreign profits of U.S. multinational corporations. To give a sense of the magnitude involved here: the entire TCJA was estimated to reduce revenue by $1.456 trillion, or just about four times the amount involved here.

Prior to the TCJA, the United States had a “worldwide” corporate income tax with deferred taxation of foreign profits. This meant that profits earned in a foreign country by U.S.-based multinational corporations first faced that jurisdiction’s corporate income tax. If and when those profits were repatriated to the United States, they were subject to additional taxation: the U.S. corporate tax minus a tax credit for any foreign income taxes paid. Because the U.S. corporate tax rate was among the highest in the world (35 percent), any foreign tax credit was almost never sufficient to fully offset additional U.S. tax.

This system created several perverse incentives. Corporations could avoid the additional U.S. tax by holding foreign profits overseas, which led to a significant accumulation of overseas profits. Prior to the TCJA, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that there were more than $3 trillion in retained foreign profits. The system also encouraged corporations to shift profits, mobile assets, and their headquarters overseas as strategies to minimize their tax liability.

The TCJA addressed these issues by moving to a “quasi-territorial” system. Under this system, U.S. corporations no longer face an additional U.S. tax when they repatriate earnings. At the same time, the TCJA enacted a minimum tax, without deferral, on foreign profits as a backstop. U.S. corporations now either pay a low-rate U.S. tax immediately on their foreign profits or not at all.

For foreign profits that were earned under the previous system but had yet to face U.S. tax, lawmakers decided that it would be an unfair windfall to completely excuse them from U.S. taxation. These profits had, after all, been earned with the expectation that they would eventually be subject to U.S. tax. And it would have been too complex to require corporations to track two stocks of profits for years or decades: pre-TCJA profits that would face tax when repatriated and post-TCJA profits that face no tax. It was far simpler and fairer to immediately wipe the slate clean with a one-time low tax on all existing unrepatriated profits.

The Moores disagree. They argue that the MRT is “an unapportioned direct tax in violation of the Constitution’s apportionment requirements.” There is an exception to this requirement: the 16th Amendment, which authorizes income taxation without apportionment among the states. But that amendment, they argue, only applies to taxes on realized income, while the MRT taxes unrealized income.

There is, however, no reason to think the MRT is unconstitutional. In fact, the Court need not even consider whether the 16th Amendment applies only to realized income for the simple reason that the MRT is not a direct tax. As an indirect tax, the MRT does not need to be apportioned among the states.

Court precedent clearly does not support the argument that a tax on foreign commerce is a direct tax. Historical sources are clear that all direct taxes are internal. In addition, the MRT is not a direct tax because it is a tax on the use of a certain business entity. Indeed, the Court cited similar grounds when, prior to the adoption of the 16th Amendment, it upheld the corporate income tax as an indirect tax.

Leaving aside any question of constitutionality, a ruling in favor of the Moores risks upending key elements of the income tax. A constitutional requirement that income be realized in order to be subject to tax would increase economic distortions, create policy uncertainty, and reduce federal revenue.

A realization requirement is undesirable because a realization-based tax system is economically incoherent. Economists generally favor one of two coherent tax bases: income or consumption. A realization-based income tax is neither. As a result, it creates economic distortions, such as an incentive to hold on to assets that have gone up in value, as well as unfairness, as equally well-off individuals are taxed differently based on when they buy and sell, and opportunities to avoid paying tax altogether.

A realization requirement would also introduce significant economic uncertainty by calling into question numerous provisions of the income tax that currently deviate from the realization principle. For example, partners in Subchapter K partnerships are taxed on their share of business profits whether or not those profits are distributed. This provision and many more could be subject to years of litigation. During this time, businesses could delay or forgo important investments.

A ruling in favor of the Moores could also put important pro-growth tax policy at risk. The current income tax system deviates from the realization principle by providing depreciation deductions. These provisions allow businesses to deduct the value of an asset prior to its disposal. Under a strict realization requirement, a taxpayer would need to wait until they sold or otherwise disposed of a fixed asset to deduct its cost, similar to how a corporate stock is treated under current law. Many proponents of pro-growth tax reform advocate for the immediate write-off (expensing) of some or all of the cost of these assets as an effective means of lowering the marginal effective tax rate on new investment. In fact, a key provision of the TCJA significantly strengthened this policy. A strict realization rule would risk upending this policy and would raise the effective tax burden on new investment.

A Moore victory could also reintroduce many of the problems with the taxation of multinational corporations that the TCJA sought to address. A realization requirement could undo elements known as Subpart F and GILTI, or global intangible low-taxed income, which tax foreign profits of U.S. multinational corporations without realization. Without these backstops, corporations would have a much greater incentive to shift profits and intellectual property into low-tax jurisdictions.

Besides introducing new economic distortions, a realization requirement could threaten a significant amount of federal revenue. The direct effect of a ruling would be a loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue due to invalidation of the MRT. On top of that, the federal government also risks losing much more depending on the breadth of the ruling. Economist Eric Toder at the Tax Policy Center estimates that the federal government could lose more than $87 billion in 2024 and more than $124 billion by 2028 and every year thereafter. Congress may respond to this lost revenue by enacting taxes that are even more distortionary or by incurring even larger, and less sustainable, budget deficits.

Economists have long understood that whether or not income is realized, it is still income. Nevertheless, it is reasonable and prudent for administrative and other reasons for Congress to distinguish between realized and unrealized income in some situations. For example, measuring income from the appreciation of certain closely held businesses or other illiquid assets is difficult and Congress has reasonably decided not to subject those gains to tax until they are realized. On the other hand, the current tax treatment of partnerships is appropriate to avoid obvious tax avoidance: Such taxpayers could otherwise park their income in their business to avoid tax. It could also be reasonable for Congress to design a system to tax unrealized gains that are easy to measure, such as those that arise from the appreciation of publicly traded assets.

Finally, there is an additional, and somewhat peculiar, aspect to this case. The Moores and several amici argue that the realization requirement they believe is inherent to the 16th Amendment means that a wealth tax, unless apportioned, would also be unconstitutional. It appears as if this logic has served to motivate much of the support behind them.

While we agree that any plausible wealth tax would likely be unconstitutional, there are obvious problems with the Moores’ claim that the MRT is nothing like a wealth tax. A wealth tax applies to the full value of an asset each year. As such, it would not matter whether an asset appreciates or not: A taxpayer would be subject to tax as long as the asset had positive value. In contrast, the MRT applies to earnings and profits of a foreign enterprise, not the value of the foreign enterprise. If the Moores’ foreign business earned no profit or if prior profits had already been repatriated, they would have owed no additional tax.

Given the risks and economic shortcomings of a realization requirement, the Supreme Court should not enshrine it in the Constitution. Instead, Congress should be free to decide whether and how to tax unrealized income.

[fandomtrumpshate]

FTH 2023 Supported Organization: Citizens’ Climate Education

In August of 2017, then-president Trump removed the United States from the Paris Agreement. Although President Biden reinstated the US’s participation on his first day in office, this event was a caution that the government can’t be relied on as a force to curtail the devastating effects of climate change. Bringing with it an increased risk of natural disasters, loss of habitable land, and crop failures, there is no person nor creature on Earth who would not be affected in some way by climate change.

Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) is a nonpartisan grassroots advocacy organization that empowers people from diverse backgrounds to educate key stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public about effective solutions to climate change. This powerful corps of climate advocates builds political will for long-lasting climate solutions at the federal and state level. CCE provides opportunities for grassroots supporters to take individual actions, as well as collective actions through local chapters and national action teams, with robust tools, training, and support to ensure volunteers are successful in their advocacy.

Their primary focus is on reducing carbon emissions, with an expanded policy agenda that includes a healthy forest initiative and neighborhoods that suffer from tree equity, building electrification and efficiency accelerating the transition to clean energy, with attention to supporting low-income households, and clean energy permitting reform.

Citizens’ Climate Education exists to build political will for a livable world. They envision a diverse, well-informed citizenry so actively engaged in the legislative process that effective and equitable climate change policies have the momentum to be enacted, regardless of the political party in power.

You can support Citizens’ Climate Education as a creator in the 2023 FTH auction (or as a bidder, when the time comes to donate for the auctions you’ve won.)  

Signups are open!

#fth 2023 #fanworks charity auction #supported organization #citizens' climate education

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #12

March 29-April 5 2024

President Biden united with Senator Bernie Sanders at the White House to review Democratic efforts to bring down drug prices. President Biden touted his Administration’s capping the price of insulin for seniors at $35 a month and capping the price of  prescription drugs for seniors at $2,000 a year. Biden hopes to expand both to all Americans through legislation next year with a Democratic congress. The President also praised Senator Sanders' efforts as chair of the Senate Health Committee which has lead to major drug manufacturers capping the price of inhalers at $35 a month. “Bernie, you and I have been fighting this for 25 years,” Biden said “Finally, finally we beat Big Pharma. Finally.”

The White House gave an update on its actions around the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster. The federal government working with state and local governments hope to have enough of the remains of the bridge cleared to partially reopen the Port of Baltimore by the end of the month and have the port working normally by May. The Administration has already released $60 million in emergency money toward rebuilding and promises the federal government will cover the cost. The Department of Labor has released $3.5 million for Dislocated Worker Grants and plans up to $25 million to cover lost wages. The Small Business Administration is offering $2 million in emergency loans to affected small businesses. The Administration is working with business and labor unions to keep workers at work and cover lost wages.

Vice-President Harris and EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced $20 billion to help finance tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across the country. The kinds of projects that will be financed through this project include distributed clean power generation and storage, net-zero retrofits of homes and small businesses, and zero-emission transportation. 70% of the funds, $14 billion, will be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The project is part of a public private partnership so for every 1 dollar of federal money, private companies have promised 7 dollars of investment, bring the total to $150 billion for ongoing financing of climate and clean energy projects for years to come.

The Department of Transportation announced $20.5 billion in investments in public transportation. This represents the largest single investment in public transit by the federal government in history. The money will go to improving and expanding subways, light rail, buses, and ferry systems across America. The DoT hopes to use the funds to in particular expand and improve options for public transport for people with disabilities and seniors.

The Departments of Energy and The Treasury announced $4 billion in tax credits for businesses investing in clean energy, critical materials recycling, and Industrial decarbonization. The credits till go toward 100 projects across 35 states. 67% of the credits ($2.7 billion) will go to clean energy, wind, solar, nuclear, clean hydrogen, as well as updates to grids, better batter storage, and investments in electric vehicles. 20% ($800 million) will go to to recycling things like lithium-ion batteries, and 13% ($500 million) to decarbonization in industries like automotive manufacturing, and iron and steel.

The Department of Agriculture announced $1.5 Billion in investments in climate-smart agriculture. USDA plans to support over 180,000 farms representing 225 million acres in the next 5 years move toward more climate friendly agriculture. 40% of the project is reserved for disadvantaged communities, in line with the Biden Administrations standard for climate investment. $100 million has been reserved for projects in Tribal Communities.

The Department of the Interior approved the New England Wind offshore wind project. To be located off Martha’s Vineyard the New England project represents the 8th such off shore wind project approved by the Biden administration. Taken together these projects will generate 10 gigawatts of totally clean energy that can power 4 million homes. The Administration's climate goals call for 30 gigawatts of off shore wind power by 2030. The New England Wind project itself is expected to generate 2,600 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes in the New England area.

The Department of the Interior announced $320 Million for tribal water infrastructure. Interior also announced $244 million to deal with legacy pollution from mining in the State of Pennsylvania, as well as $25 million to protect wetlands in Arizona and $19 million to put solar panels over irrigation canals in California, Oregon and Utah. While the Department of Energy announced $27 million for 40 projects by state, local and tribal governments to combat climate change

#Thanks Biden #Joe Biden #Bernie Sanders #political #american politics #Democrats #health care #climate change #drug prices #clean energy

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Over the past several years, each state has taken action to expand access to reproductive health care in preparation for just such a decision:

Oregon led the nation by passing the most comprehensive reproductive health legislation at the time. Governor Brown signed Oregon’s Reproductive Health Equity Act into law in 2017 — a first of its kind bill that expanded access to reproductive health services for all Oregonians and codified the right to an abortion into state law. Adding to that work, Oregon invested $15 million for community-based organizations to expand access to abortion across the state and provide immediate support to patients, health care providers, and community advocates, with a focus on rural communities, communities of color, and low-income communities to overcome barriers to access.

Governor Newsom has proposed a $125 million Reproductive Health Package to expand access for women and help prepare for the influx of women seeking reproductive health care from other states. The California Legislature has introduced a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, Governor Newsom recently signed legislation eliminating copays for abortion care services and has signed into law a legislative package to further strengthen access and protect patients and providers. Additional proposals are being considered with the Legislature.

In 2018 Governor Inslee signed the Reproductive Parity Act that requires all health plans that include maternity care services to also cover abortion and contraception. In 2021 he signed the Protecting Pregnancy Act that allows doctors who practice in Catholic-run hospitals to bypass ethical-religious directives and provide medically necessary abortion when a woman’s life is in danger. Earlier this year Inslee signed the Affirm Washington Abortion Access Act that better ensures the ability of Washington abortion care providers to serve any person who comes in Washington state seeking an abortion. Washington law also protects patients and clinic personnel from harassment outside of clinics. Further, when federal changes were made to the Title X program to not allow family planning clinics to reference abortion as an option, Washington state stepped up to fund the Title X clinics instead of having to comply. While the federal funding has been restored, the state will continue to provide needed funding to support access to abortion.

#west coast #west coast pact #healthcare #washington state #oregon #california #abortion

[ciyapaofficial]

How Unisex Clothing Supports Gender Equality: The Theme For International Women's Day 2023

Cracking the Code: Innovation for a Gender-Equal Future is the International Women's Day Theme for 2023.

"DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality" is the topic the United Nations has chosen for International Women's Day 2023. This theme fits the priority theme of the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67). 

The theme says, "Innovation, technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls." International Women's Day 2023 will also check how women and girls are treated unfairly because of this. 

This year's theme is based on the premise that by embracing new technologies and promoting women's STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills and knowledge, we can accelerate our progress toward gender equality.

The United Nations estimates that women's lack of access to the online world will cause a loss of $1.5 trillion to the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries by 2025 if the UN does not act. 

If the UN and other concerned authorities take action, IWD will explore the impact of the digital gender gap on inequality for women and girls. The International Women's Day website states that it would provide a platform to help forge positive change for women.

It has chosen the theme "EmbraceEquity," with organizers and events seeking to "challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion." #EmbraceEquity is the hashtag assigned to this year's celebration.

Why Is Gender Equality Needed?

Throughout the past year, women in Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, and the US have fought for their rights amid war, bloodshed, and legislative changes. All these have aggravated gender gaps in food insecurity, hunger, poverty, and gender-based violence worldwide.

The Taliban's ascendancy in Afghanistan has prevented women and girls from attending higher education, working most occupations outside the home, traveling long distances without a male chaperone, and covering their faces in public.

Iranian police disputed eyewitness accusations that Mahsa Amini was beaten. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was seized by Tehran morality police on September 13, 2022, for allegedly breaching Iran's severe hair-covering laws, provoked demonstrations in Iran.

Since then, Iranians have protested for women's rights and political change. Authorities have called them "riots" and used force. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the UN reported war-induced price spikes and shortages.

The US Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, triggering widespread outrage and protests. Mexicans have helped US women seek abortions after a 2021 court ruling decriminalized abortion.

The Gender Equality subject emphasizes the significance of transformative ideas, inclusive technologies, and accessible education in overcoming global prejudice and the marginalization of women. Despite the ability of innovation to alter lives, many barriers to equality remain. 

What Changes Have Been Made In The Recent Years To Improve Women’s Position In Society?

Armenia and Colombia revised parental leave legislation. Spain passed menstrual health leave and abortion regulations. After a 10-year fight, the European Parliament passed a bill in 2022 to increase the number of women on publicly traded company boards by July 2026.

"There are plenty of women eligible for top jobs, and with our new European regulation, we will make sure that they have a real shot," the EU added. The International Olympic Committee reported the most gender-balanced Winter Games, with 45% women, in Beijing in 2022. 

With 36 teams, the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is extended. The US Soccer Federation became the first to pay its men's and women's teams equally before the competition. For almost five years, female athletes made equal pay claims and litigation.

How Can Ciyapa's Unisex T-Shirts Signify Gender Equality?

Unisex t-shirts can signify gender equality because they are designed to be worn by people of any gender identity. Creating clothing that is not restricted to a particular gender, promotes the idea that clothing does not have to be restricted by societal norms.

When people wear unisex t-shirts, they are making a statement that they reject the idea that clothing should be gendered. It helps to break down gender stereotypes and norms that can be limiting and harmful to individuals who do not fit into traditional gender roles.

Also, if we support the idea of unisex clothing, we can move toward a more accepting society where people are not judged based on how they identify or show their gender. It allows for more freedom of expression and can help reduce discrimination and inequality based on gender.

According to the International Women's Day official website, purple, green, and white represent IWD. "The color purple is associated with a sense of dignity and justice. Green signifies hope. White is associated with cleanliness.

See, even these colors do not discriminate. Ciyapa highly supports and executes this International Women's Day 2023 theme. And we promise to deliver more t-shirts promoting this IWD 2023 theme. Visit our store to see our collection!!

Conclusion

Throughout the last decade, there has been incremental progress toward a gender-equal world. We have seen the difference that equal work opportunities, equal healthcare and education, equal decision-making authority, and freedom from violence can make. 

Despite this, there is still a great deal of unfairness and inequality around the globe. To achieve gender equality, we must ensure equitable access to education for women and girls and clear pathways to inclusive workplaces for women in STEM.

We at Ciyapa find new ways to help women and girls reach their full human capital potential and become leaders, business owners, and agents of change. It is to support environmentally sustainable, socially and economically fair development. 

Women's economic empowerment, in conjunction with girls' education, family planning, and reproductive and sexual health, can facilitate the transition to low-carbon economies, help improve resource use and assist in lowering environmental damage.

We support women employees and help them grow potentially. There is still a lot of work to do, so why don't we all work together to speed up the process of gender equality and empowerment today so that tomorrow will be more sustainable?

Original Source :

#International Women's Day #unisex clothing #gender equality #women's rights #Women's Day 2023 #unisex t-shirts

[brandenlupinacci]

Is a COVID-19 vaccination required to fly inside the US?

It is not generally acknowledged that children under the age of 18 are exempt from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for domestic travel inside the US, despite the fact that there are certain exceptions. Numerous vaccination studies that are exempt from the new restriction have been noted by the CDC. There is no exception for religious or moral convictions, according to the CDC's frequently asked questions. Additionally, the CDC has issued a directive requiring airlines to save contact details for incoming passengers.

Before allowing customers to board their flights, several airlines demand confirmation of immunization. Despite the fact that COVID-19 immunization is not required by U.S. airlines, the CDC advises using a face mask before flying. If you are a youngster or under the age of 18, this regulation won't apply to you since international travel is based on public health.

The updated guidelines for visitors from abroad are still in force. Adults must take a COVID-19 test before flying, however children under the age of two are exempt. Children under 18 will not be obliged to submit to a negative test, but they will still need to provide documentation of vaccination. Additionally, visitors must demonstrate that they have the vaccination.

A US court invalidated a federal rule requiring passengers to wear face masks on airplanes earlier this month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised people to keep using face masks while flying after the decision. Many airlines have subsequently abandoned the mask requirement, but even Disney has discontinued maintaining security at its parks. The CDC now advises all passengers to protect their faces while on the road.

Face masks assist in safeguarding the most vulnerable members of communities in addition to preventing the spread of illness. The most susceptible are unvaccinated kids and people with weakened immune systems. To travel inside the US, the CDC advises all visitors to put on a face mask. This is also required by law while using railroads, buses, and airplanes. The most recent research serves as the foundation for the CDC's advice.

A uniform international air travel policy that supports public health is implemented by the Biden administration. Travel restrictions have been put in place to stop the spread of sickness. However, these constraints have had a variety of results. For instance, during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, there was a modest decline in air travel from the impacted nations. However, the limits would have caused at least a two-week delay in travel times. To stop the spread of illness, tougher testing protocols must be implemented in addition to restrictions.

Quarantine implementation is difficult and is depending on a variety of variables, such as evolving understanding, epidemiology, and governmental directives. Things may change very quickly. There are quarantine laws in several nations. While the US is a leading example, other countries have put similar laws into place to lessen the likelihood of the illness spreading. More stringent quarantine laws have been passed in the US, UK, and Canada.

In the US, airline personnel, passengers, and crew must all have the COVID-19 vaccination. People who have taken part in research studies, had life-threatening allergic reactions, or are from nations with low immunization rates are all eligible for exemptions. If they get a letter from the government, those who satisfy these requirements may be admitted to the United States. There are at least 50 such nations as of this writing.

The exemption for transporting goods on seats in aircraft cabins was recently clarified by the FAA in Information for Operators (InFO) 20005. Critical impediments to the flow of freight will be less likely thanks to this new exception for airplanes. Airlines must submit a statement of intent and get special FAA approval to use the exemption, which is valid through December 31, 2020. The following are the current exclusions for American airlines:

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CACFP: A Lifeline for Low-Income Families

In the intricate web of social welfare programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) stands out as a critical support system for low-income families across the United States. This program, often overshadowed by its more well-known counterparts like SNAP or WIC, plays a pivotal role in ensuring that children and adults in care settings receive nutritious meals and snacks. This blog delves into the essence of CACFP, its impact on communities, and the potential paths it may tread in the future.

Introduction: Understanding CACFP

At its core, **CACFP** is a federal program designed to provide nutritional support to children and adults in child care, adult care, and emergency shelter facilities. Its primary goals are to improve and maintain the health and nutritional status of participants, promote the development of good eating habits, and integrate nutritious food service with organized child and adult care. The roots of CACFP trace back to the 1960s, with its formal establishment under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The program was a response to the growing awareness of the critical link between nutrition, cognitive development, and educational achievement.

The Role of CACFP in Supporting Low-Income Communities

CACFP serves as a cornerstone for nutritional education and resources, ensuring that participants have access to healthy meals. This is particularly crucial in low-income communities where food insecurity can be a pervasive issue. By offering financial assistance to eligible child and adult care institutions, CACFP alleviates some of the economic pressures faced by low-income families, ensuring that their loved ones receive nutritious meals without further straining the family budget.

Key Benefits:

– **Nutritional Education:** Provides resources and guidance on healthy eating habits.

– **Financial Assistance:** Reduces the economic burden on families by subsidizing meal costs.

CACFP in Action: Success Stories and Impact

Across the nation, numerous communities and care centers have reaped the benefits of CACFP. For instance, a child care center in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago reported a significant improvement in children’s attentiveness and overall health after joining CACFP. The program’s emphasis on balanced meals contributed to a noticeable decrease in sickness among the children, which in turn, improved attendance rates.

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