Boston Globe: Ranked-choice voting is a better way to vote
Across the country, nearly 1,000 people are dying each day from COVID-19, an infectious disease that should have been under control by now. The economy is being squeezed to its breaking point. The fight for racial justice has reached an inflection point and demands bold action. And from postal sabotage to old-fashioned voter purges, voting — the very foundation of our democracy and an essential instrument for change — is under siege.
To defend our democracy, we need to fortify it. One way is by strengthening the principle of majority rule while defending and protecting the rights of all individuals, including those in the minority. Massachusetts voters have a chance to do just that in November by approving ranked-choice voting on Question 2.
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Read the full article on the Boston Globe website here.
CNBC: Elizabeth Warren and lawyer who sued Uber say gig economy companies deny workers their rights
The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a one-two punch to American workers – a public health emergency paired with a brutal economic crisis. Our country has lost millions of jobs and has already experienced some of the highest unemployment numbers since the Great Depression. Essential workers are risking their safety on the job, often without adequate protections. Senate Republicans have made shielding employers from liability, while dismantling federal labor protections, their top priority for the next relief package. We need to respond to this crisis by putting power in the hands of workers – and a key part of that is ending worker misclassification.
Gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, GrubHub, and Amazon misclassify workers as “independent contractors” rather than employees, enabling them to deny workers collective bargaining rights, health care, a minimum wage, overtime protections and access to unemployment insurance and paid sick leave guaranteed to employees under state and federal law.
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Read the full article on the CNBC website here.
The Washington Post: Families see a looming catastrophe. Private equity firms see dollar signs.
The nation is facing an accelerating housing crisis. Too many people had no stable housing before the pandemic hit, and covid-19 has made the problem even worse. Renters who were already facing an affordable housing shortage (with many spending more than half of their income on rent) now have no federal rental assistance or federal protection from eviction. Homeowners have less than a month left of foreclosure protection. And more than 30 million people receiving unemployment insurance just saw their benefits cut by $600 a week, raising the threat of a wave of defaults that could trigger a double-dip recession.
Families see a looming catastrophe. But private equity firms just see dollar signs.
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Read the full op-ed on the Washington Post website here.
The New York Times: To Fight the Pandemic, Here’s My Must-Do List
Americans stayed at home and sacrificed for months to flatten the curve and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That gave us time to take the steps needed to address the pandemic — but President Trump squandered it, refusing to issue national stay-at-home guidelines, failing to set up a national testing operation and fumbling production […]
The Wall Street Journal: Eugene Scalia Off the Mark on ESG Investing
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia proclaims his department is doing right by retirees by making it harder to invest with environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations in mind (“Retirees’ Security Trumps Other Social Goals,” op-ed, June 24). Mr. Scalia claims retirement advisers shouldn’t consider these factors because “retirees’ security trumps other social goals.” Mr. Scalia […]
Univision: Debemos actuar ahora para poner fin a los devastadores impactos de covid-19
Cuando los grandes bancos y las compañías hipotecarias colapsaron nuestra economía en 2008, los grandes ejecutivos de Wall Street obtuvieron los rescates de los contribuyentes del gobierno federal, mientras que los trabajadores se quedaron estancados con la factura. Y para las comunidades de color ya vulnerables, la recesión fue aún peor. Las comunidades latinas fueron […]
Univision: We Must Act Now to End the Devastating Impacts of Covid-19
The Washington Post: The federal government fiddles as covid-19 ravages Native Americans
For generations, the federal government has failed to honor its promises to Native American people. Now, covid-19 is ravaging Native communities, killing young people and elders alike, and devastating tribal economies. We are fighting in Congress to ensure that sovereign Native nations have the resources needed to protect the health and well-being of their citizens […]
NBC News: Coronavirus contact tracing could stop COVID-19 and reopen America. We have a plan for that.
As states across America try to reopen cities and towns, some people are acting like we have two mutually exclusive options: protect our public health or get our economy up and running. They could not be more wrong. Workers, consumers and businesses need to feel safe in their communities before we can get back to […]
Medium Post: Congress must provide immediate relief for consumers. Here’s how.
The coronavirus outbreak poses a major challenge to public health and to the economy. An unprecedented 22 million Americans filed for unemployment in the last four weeks, yet bills keep coming and debts keep piling up. A part of our policy response to the crisis must include solutions that help those teetering on the edge […]