Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, October 25, 2021
We can build a better Maryland with grassroots supporters like you! We need to push local, state and federal officials to address the investments we need in our communities and to make positive changes to our social and economic systems. Weāll all do better when our public policies put people first.Ā Thatās what the Build Back Better ActĀ does andĀ why weāre laser focused on getting it across the finish line in Congress. This Thursday weāre hosting a Town Hall conversation with Senator Van Hollen to discuss the impact of BBB on Maryland and our nation. Our national affiliate Peopleās Action is supporting this timely event, too, and has been helping to lead the fight to expand Medicare, lower child care and housing costs, reduce prescription drug costs and to invest in green jobs and solutions to the climate crisis, all of which are currently contained in the Build Back Better Act.
Ā So we need to keep the pressure on!
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Tuesday, October 12, 2021
The Fight for Justice and More: Ā PM Weekly Memo for Tuesday, October 12, 2021
As we marked another Indigenous Peopleās Day yesterday around the state and around the nation, we were moved by the Native elders, activists and faith leaders who came to Washington, D.C. to demand that President Biden declare a Climate Emergency. Weāre inspired by the courage, vision, and determination of these front line activists who are raising awareness about the need toĀ save our waterways and restore our ecosystems. For decades, their communities have witnessed first hand the environmental destruction caused by the fossil fuel and other extractive industries. We should heed their call to ābuild back fossil freeā and institute public policies that put the planet and people first. Congress can take a major step forward by keepingĀ the climate provisions in Build Back Better and then getting to work on a robust Green New Deal.Ā
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Federal action is needed now to address the existential threat of human induced climate change. Such measures will help all of our communities, particularly those that have suffered environmental degradation, like many areas of Baltimore. Read the post in todayās Maryland Matters by PMās Executive Director about this topic: Build Back Better has the pieces for a better Baltimore
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Thanks for reading our update and for being part of this movement.
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In Solidarity,
The Progressive Maryland Team
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Read moreBuild Back Better has the pieces for a better Baltimore
Progressive Maryland's Executive Director Larry Stafford Jr. sees the pro-urban and pro-Baltimore elements embedded in President Biden's Build Back Better plan. It's important to keep it intact as GOP indifference and some neolib Democrats want to dismantle it. Protecting it is vital, for Baltimore, for Maryland and for democracy. This piece first appeared as a guest commentary in Maryland Matters on Monday, Oct. 11.
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, October 4, 2021
āWhat do we want? A Caring Economy! Medicare expansion and lower Rx prices! More good jobs! Climate Action! A Pathway to Citizenship! Corporate accountability and tax fairness! When do we want it? Now!āĀ
Weāre marching in the streets, contacting Members of Congress, mobilizing our base, and lifting up progressive messages and progressive champions to counter the tired old Joe Manchin and mainstream narrative.
"We" of course means you, all of you ready for change from your neighborhood to Annapolis to DC, and holding elected officials accountable to work to improve your lives, not those of lobbyists and corporate CEOs. Read on to see how.
Read moreMedia discourse keeps the "both sides" illusion alive
As the full horror of Donald Trump's attempt to seize power and dump democracy fades in the public mind, the mainstream media -- which collectively had been pointing out the difference between facts and lies -- have slumped back into he said-she said vanilla coverage. Take the word "strict," analyst Sean Dobson suggests -- a word with a lot of positive connotations for most readers. Does it make sense to describe as "strict" scuh recent state-level atrocities as Mississippi's or Texas's draconian new abortion laws, or the blatant voter-suppression laws being passed by Republican legislators in a dozen-plus states where they have control? Or is the press slipping back to its old duck-and-cover strategy to avoid being tagged as "liberal"?
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Statement Against Corporate Meddling Following DÄmos and Peopleās Action Report
A new report from People's Action and Demos details the avalanche of corporate spending to stop or trim important measures that would expand Medicare, childcare, paid family leave, community health programs, green jobs and critical climate initiatives.
āItās not surprising that these businesses that represent billionaire and multi-millionaire CEOs and stockholders are lobbying hard to keep the status quo in place -- big tax breaks for them, higher prices and lower wages for us -- and that they are spending tens of millions of dollars to vocalize their demands and to drown out the peoplesā voicesā said Larry Stafford, Executive Director of Progressive Maryland.
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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, September 27, 2021
Congress is back and we are stepping up theĀ Build Back Better campaign! We canāt let a few conservative Democrats stand in the way of a plan that willĀ enact $3.5 trillion dollars of funding for much needed investments in Medicare expansion, community health programs, green jobs, paid family leave, and the framework that will create a path to citizenship for those who need it. Letās remind Congress as we did last week at the Welcome Back rally that they work for us, not for Big Pharma, the U.S.Chamber of Commerce and Big Oil. Join the fight!Ā More on this in our updates and news sections below.
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, September 13, 2021
The overdose crisis has reached new levels of harm and devastation in our country and communities. Last year more thanĀ 93,000 people in the United States died of preventable overdose. Sadly but not surprisingly theĀ number of people struggling and dying has increased during the pandemic. Itās long past time to end the overdose crisis and to invest in public health solutions like treatment and harm reduction. Progressive MarylandāsĀ Drug Policy Task Force is meeting with lawmakers, gathering stories, working with allies and holding a specialĀ event this Wednesday evening, Stories From the Overdose Crisis (see below for more details) in order to sound the alarm. We need a new approach, one that prioritizes policies and programs that offer people help. Letās come together now to do something about this crisis and to demand accountability from Big Pharma and to demand that drug policies be overhauled and updated. Letās turn our concern into action.
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