As a second Trump administration approaches, we’re running out of time to confirm as many federal judges as possible to provide a check on his presidential power and curb his stated policy priorities.
There are 40 federal judicial vacancies and 16 nominations before the Senate right now—as our civil rights hang in the balance, take action now!
This was a week in which it was impossible to watch the actions of the Trump-Pence administration without despairing. The horrifying pain we heard in the voices of children taken from their parents under this administration’s policy of family separation is unbearable.
At the same time, the White House and Republicans in Congress continued their unrelenting attacks on women and families struggling to make ends meet. Six months after Republicans passed, and the President signed, a tax bill whose benefits go overwhelmingly to the wealthy and big corporations and that will increase the deficit by $1.9 trillion, the House budget committee approved a 2019 budget proposal that would cut funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and programs that allow women and families to meet basic living standards, and lay the groundwork for another attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On Thursday, the Administration released a proposal to consolidate public assistance programs in one agency, to be renamed “Department of Health and Public Welfare,” and to create a “Council on Public Assistance.” This proposal is just one more example of the administration demonizing women and families who receive basic supports, including food, health care and housing. Then, to close out business yesterday, Republicans in the House also approved a disastrous Farm Bill that would take food assistance away from women and their families. And I am sure I missed a couple.
The good news of this week is that people across the country continue to speak out when they see injustice – whether it manifests itself as the inhumane treatment of migrant children, or taking food off families’ tables in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy – wrought by this administration and Republicans in Congress. We’re counting on you to keep raising your voices, and we’ll be right there beside you.
