National Issues 165 , CD3 DFL

Sen. John Hoffman (SD36) Update: April 12, 2021

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Once again, our community is in a state of shock at the death of an unarmed black man in an encounter with law enforcement. Daunte Wright should be alive today, but instead his life was cut tragically short in a matter of seconds. My condolences and heart goes out to his family, his friends, and our entire community as we grieve over his death.

It has not even been a full year since the murder of George Floyd, and with the eyes of the world on Minnesota, another black man has been killed by a system that is not working. It is up to each of us to play a role in taking the steps necessary to achieve true accountability and reform, and to ensure that justice comes.

Rep. Phillips on the Shooting of Daunte Wright

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) released the following statement:

“Yesterday, our community suffered another horrific tragedy when Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic and bench warrant stop in Brooklyn Center, just next door to the district I represent in Congress.

At a press conference today, the Brooklyn Center Police Chief asserted that his officer had confused her gun for her Taser, and fired the fatal shot by mistake – which appears to be corroborated by body cam footage. I’m as horrified as I am incredulous that such a mistake is even possible, and this news comes as little comfort to a community that has lived in fear for far too long.

UBLC statement on killing of Daunte Wright

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – The United Black Legislative Caucus issued the following statement after the death of Daunte Wright at the hands of a Brooklyn Center Police Officer on Sunday:

“Our community has been forced to withstand unthinkable trauma over the past year, and we’re angry that another young Black man has been taken from us by law enforcement. This is unacceptable and the constant cycle of police officers killing Black Minnesotans must end. The outcome Daunte Wright faced is an outcome we – as Black parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members – constantly worry about for our loved ones and ourselves. This shouldn’t be the norm, it can’t be the norm, and as lawmakers, it’s all of our responsibility to do whatever we can to ensure it no longer is the norm.

“We need accountability and we need it now. The Minnesota House is advancing much-needed solutions to identify bad officers and keep them off the streets, strengthen community oversight, and ban white supremacists from serving as officers. Daunte Wright should still be with us. His family deserves justice, and our community deserves changes to our laws that will ensure officers can be held accountable and trust can be built within our communities and those charged to protect and serve.

GOP leaders in ‘a state of confusion’ after Trump’s loss leaves them with almost no policy agenda: NYT

While President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress were pushing through a massive pandemic relief package earlier this year, the leaders of the Republican Party seemed obsessed with talking about Dr. Seuss.

As the New York Times reports, this is a marked difference in how Republicans in 2009 were relentlessly focused on attacking former President Barack Obama’s “socialist” economic and health care plans, and it marks a shift in the party toward non-stop culture war grievance above all else.

The Times notes that the all-culture-war-all-the-time focus of the GOP has left party leaders in “a state of confusion over what they stand for,” with many of them now going so far as to say they want corporate America to stay out of politics. Continue reading.

GOP congressmen are upset that airlines are training pilots who aren’t white men

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) accused United Airlines of engaging in ‘progressive fascism.’

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) unleashed a racist and sexist attack on United Airlines on Thursday, demanding to know which pilots receive training as part of the company’s new effort to diversify its workforce.

“Airlines should advertise the exact flights flown by pilots who were chosen as part of their new diversity programs rather than the outdated programs based solely on skill, experience, and qualifications,” Massie tweeted.

Massie was apparently upset about an announcement by United on Tuesday of its plans to launch a pilot training academy: “Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color.” Continue reading.

The GOP’s anti-trans bills are ignorance in action

Under a newly proposed bill targeting transgender youths in North Carolina, government employees would be required to notify the parents of any minors they witnessed “exhibiting symptoms of gender dysphoria” or “gender nonconformity.” The Youth Health Protection Act specifies that the notification should come in writing, describing “relevant circumstances” with “reasonable specificity.”

It’s good for laws to be as specific as possible, and so it’s worth pointing out that this proposed wording is vague. What, precisely, does the bill consider “a desire to be treated in a manner incongruent with the minor’s sex”? Is it when a student known as Samantha asks to now be called Sam and happens to have primarily male friends? Is it when a girl signs up for shop class instead of home ec? If a bunch of boys flout a rule about warm-weather school uniforms by showing up to class in skirts — as several teens did in England a few years ago — are they exercising their right to protest, or are they now gender incongruent? What should a reasonably specific note to their parents say?

This bill is bad. This bill is bad for many moral reasons, not the least of which because it puts random government bureaucrats in charge of personally deciding who is gender appropriate, and because outing transgender kids to their guardians could actively put them in danger. Continue reading.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn: Taking care of our elders is a waste of taxpayer dollars

She’s also voted to strip health care from Americans with preexisting conditions and deny parental leave to federal employees.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Wednesday criticized President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan — specifically because it includes funding for caretaking of the elderly.

“President Biden’s proposal is about anything but infrastructure,” she tweeted, alongside an image superimposed with large text reading, “400 BILLION TOWARDS ELDER CARE.”

Biden’s plan proposes to allot approximately $400 billion, disbursed over an eight-year time period, toward care for the elderly and those with disabilities. The funding is specifically intended to bolster “home- or community- based care” for these groups, and would extend Money Follows the Person, a Medicaid program which aims to move elderly nursing home residents back into home-based care. Continue reading.

Biden announces commission to study expanding the Supreme Court

President Biden will sign an executive order Friday that creates a bipartisan commission to study a number of Supreme Court reforms, including expanding the number of seats on the court, the White House said.

Why it matters: The six-month commission, promised by Biden throughout the 2020 election, will provide an analysis of the principal arguments surrounding the divisive subject. Progressives are pushing for more seats after former President Trump appointed three justices to the court.

Context: Biden has not said definitively whether he supports adding seats to the court, though his congressional allies — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — have advocated for additional seats as a response to Republicans quickly filling former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat during an election year. Continue reading.

Rep. Phillips: Economic Impact Payments

Hi Neighbors,

The American Rescue Plan recently authorized a third round of stimulus checks, or Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) to aid our economic recovery. No action is needed by the vast majority of taxpayers to receive their EIP, but I also recognize that the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) distribution of EIPs has not come without challenges. This has resulted in some eligible individuals missing one, two, or all three rounds of payments. That is why I want to provide you with accurate information about EIPs and the IRS’s solution to obtaining those missing payments:

What Is An Economic Impact Payment?

The bipartisan law that passed in March 2021 authorized a new round of $1,400 economic impact payments (EIP). While millions of payments have already been sent, I am hearing from folks that may have not received theirs.

If you didn’t receive your earlier $1,200 or $600 payment from 2020, or have not yet received the $1,400 from 2021, you may still be eligible. Below you will find information about how you can get yours, and what kind of help may be available.

Biden $1.5T budget proposes major hike in social programs

President Biden on Friday proposed a $1.5 trillion annual budget for fiscal 2022, $118 billion higher than the regular 2020 appropriations, featuring a significant 16 percent boost in nondefense spending.

The $769 billion nondefense budget, which covers government departments such as Transportation, Health and Human Services, Justice and Education, is a $105.7 billion increase from the current level.

Administration officials, who say that the government has underinvested in domestic spending for years, noted that it would be roughly in line with the 30-year nondefense average of 3.3 percent of gross domestic product. Continue reading.

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What Is An Economic Impact Payment?

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