Archives: Voices

Omnibus appropriations bill marks progress, but promises remain unfulfilled

Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Friday, March 23 in response to passage of the Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill: “After years of shrinking services, Congress approved final spending levels that will reduce the erosion that has occurred in many human…

Six months after Maria

Tuesday, March 20 marks six months since Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, killing more than 1,000 people, destroying tens of thousands of homes, darkening much of the island for months, cutting access to clean water and uprooting the lives of millions of U.S. citizens. Today protesters will gather…

Left behind after Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico’s Children

Even before Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico with historic, sustained, 155-mile-per-hour winds, the U.S. island was facing an economic catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude. For more than a decade, following a disastrous, U.S.-enforced tax policy that took effect around 2006, Puerto Rico shed jobs, suffered a loss of economic vitality, and…

Honor people lost to gun violence by seeing them and taking action

Today students around the nation walked out of class for 17 minutes to commemorate the lives of those killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It is the one-month anniversary of their deaths, and participants are shining a spotlight on Congress’ failure to act to curb…

“Dear National Rifle Association: We Won’t Let You Win. From, Teenagers.”

Students from coast to coast walked out of school today, with many observing 17 minutes of silence in memory of the 17 victims of the most recent mass school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The National School Walkout was loosely organized by EMPOWER, the youth…

The real reasoning behind Medicaid work requirements

Back in January, I wrote a piece for this blog about a move by the Trump administration to allow states to impose work requirements for Medicaid recipients. Since then, three states – Kentucky, Indiana, and Arkansas – have received federal approval to allow them to establish work requirements for adult…

Rallying for the Dreamers

Dreamers and their advocates gathered Monday in at least a dozen communities throughout the U.S. as a Trump-imposed six-month deadline for resolving their immigration status came and went with no action from Congress. In Washington, D.C., advocates flooded Capitol Hill to pressure lawmakers to reach a deal – and it…

A bit of good news for some Dreamers, but a real solution is needed

Dreamers, whose lives have been turned upside down in the past few months, received a small amount of good news on Monday. That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to speed up the legal fight over ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The notice came just one…