Extra! Extra! 2/5
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
Sorry this is a bit late—I’m traveling.
Hope this list of the week’s victories brings you a little peace, and a lot of satisfaction. Despite all of our troubles, a lot went well in the last seven days. Focussing on the wins for a second will strengthen us for the work ahead.
So do that!
Read This 📖
Mike Lux forwarded the below excerpt from Ron Klain’s farewell speech this week. It’s a well-written, concise, and stunning summary of what President Biden and his team have accomplished thus far, and also an admonition for those who continue to underestimate the 46th President:
The most significant economic plan since FDR, while managing the largest land war in Europe since Truman. The biggest infrastructure bill since Ike, the most first-year judges since JFK, the second largest health care bill since LBJ. The most significant gun control bill since Clinton and the largest climate change bill in any country at any time anywhere on the planet. All while managing the worst public health crisis since Wilson, with the narrowest Democratic majority in Congress for a new President in 100 years.
But it doesn’t stop there. Student loan debt relief. Record low black and brown unemployment. The PACT act for veterans. A sweeping marijuana pardon. The Respect for Marriage Act. The most Americans ever with health coverage. Ending the longest war in American history. We’ve seen a dramatic drop in child poverty, the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the deficit cut more than any President. And the most jobs created in any two years in US history.
Not bad for a team and a President that was written off for dead in the winter of 2019, and again in the winter of 2020, the winter of 2021, and again in the first week of November 2022. The President likes to say that it’s never a good bet to bet against the American people – and he is right. But let me add today: it is also never, ever a good bet to bet against Joe Biden and this team – and it never will be.
Celebrate This! 🎉
A CWCW subscriber is running for office! Albert Kaufman, a reader of this newsletter, decided to run for Multnomah County Commissioner in Oregon in a special election this May. He’s stepping up! Let’s celebrate that!
Nearly 1 out of every 10 new cars sold globally last year was an electric vehicle.
Legislation facilitating online voter registration passed out of a Republican-controlled committee in New Hampshire.
Minnesota advanced legislation to protect against election manipulation and expand voting rights for people with past felony convictions.
Two bills that would facilitate voter registration advanced in New York.
Montana advanced legislation designed to protect election workers from harassment.
The new Democratic majority in Minnesota codified abortion rights via the PRO Act. Abortion is already legal in the state, but the legislation adds an extra layer of reproductive rights protections. State-level elections MATTER!
Massachusetts launched a hotline to connect people seeking abortions with legal advice and resources to help them get care;
The Democratic political committee for state-legislature elections is launching a digital ad campaign focusing on abortion in battleground states (see an example below).
The Environmental Protection Agency has blocked development of the Pebble Mine project in a corner of the Bristol Bay watershed, a vast and pristine swath of southwest Alaska that sustains the greatest sockeye salmon runs on the planet.
The Food and Drug Administration will create a senior position to oversee food safety and nutrition after recent foodborne-illness crises, including a baby formula shortage, exposed major flaws in the agency’s structure and culture.
Embattled Rep. George Santos stepped down from his committee assignments amid multiple investigations into his campaign finances.
In an attempt to expand access to birth control under the Affordable Care Act, the Biden administration took aim at moral and religious exemptions in a proposed rule released on Monday.
According to a new analysis from the research firm Bloomberg NEF, global investments in renewable energy technologies surged to $1.1 trillion in 2022, roughly matching investments in coal, oil, and gas for the first time.
Colombia announced it will no longer approve new oil and gas exploration projects. The country wants to move away from fossil fuels toward a more sustainable economy.
Scientists in the U.K. found a way to reduce the carbon emissions of making steel by 90%. This is incredibly good news since the iron and steel industry accounts for 9% of global emissions.
All 49 Democrats in the North Carolina House of Representatives have signed on to co-sponsor a bill to codify Roe-like guarantees for abortion rights in the state.
Representative Ayanna Pressley introduced a resolution that would enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment in the constitution.
The Satanic Temple is opening a health clinic in New Mexico to provide "free religious medication abortion" and will name the facility "The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic" in mockery of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
According to an analysis released this week by the energy and climate policy think tank Energy Innovation, it is now so expensive to keep 99% of the country’s coal-fired power plants online that it would be cheaper to simply replace them with new wind and solar operations.
The five national parks along Lake Superior will be the first in the nation to fully decarbonize. The parks’ “ambitious game plan” will completely decarbonize all buildings and vehicles, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
Ohio Republicans missed a key deadline for their proposal to raise the standards on ballot measures. That means pro-choice groups in the state who want to get abortion rights on the ballot in November can do so without the worry that they’ll need 60% of the vote, as opposed to a simple majority.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to curb excessive credit card-penalty fees today, which could save Americans as much as $9 billion each year.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 517,000 in January, far above the Dow Jones estimate of 187,000. The unemployment rate fell to a historic low of 3.4%, compared with the estimate of 3.6%.
The public health emergency for mpox ends Tuesday in the U.S. as the number of cases drops dramatically. The average number of daily cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) is now in the single digits, after peaking at about 450 cases per day in August.
A new plan in England seeks to ensure that everyone in the country lives within a 15-minute walk to a green space or water.
A man who sprayed police officers with a chemical during the attack on the Capitol was sentenced to more than five years in prison, one of the toughest penalties imposed yet for Jan. 6.
In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson unveiled a package of proposed legislative reforms to protect the freedom to vote and strengthen election infrastructure. Among other proposals, the package would establish in-person early voting in Michigan, prohibit certain practices that deter or mislead voters, give the state more time to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day, and ban the open carrying of firearms within 100 feet of a voting location.
An Arkansas ban that targeted drag as well as well as transgender people was gutted by the Arkansas House City, County, and Local Affairs Committee after vocal protest from citizens.
The LGBTQ+ community in Virginia can breathe a sigh of relief after several bills aimed at them failed to make it out of committee. Six Republican-proposed measures that threatened transgender students' rights were voted down by the Virginia Senate Education Committee on Thursday. Have I mentioned that state-level elections matter, y’all?
Watch This! 👀
This video doesn’t contain good news in and of itself, but the fact that it exists, and that Democrats are finally hitting Republican STATE LEGISLATURES in battleground states on abortion is HUGELY important and encouraging.
Amazing news but even more amazing is you putting this altogether while traveling, not to mention all the other things you do! Do you sleep!?
Love the good news!
Please tell Albert Kaufman that if he reaches out to Postcards to Voters they’ll run a postcarding campaign for him. Every election matters!