Public Policy & NGOs
Here's a look at documents from public policy and non-governmental organizations
Featured Stories
Small Business Majority: Section 122 Tariff Decision is a Win for Small Businesses
WASHINGTON, May 9 (TNSrpt) -- Small Business Majority issued the following statement on May 8, 2026:
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Section 122 Tariff Decision is a Win for Small Businesses
Statement from Alexis D'Amato Falvey, Small Business Majority Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, on the importance of the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling in a case brought by small business owners
"Small businesses are breathing a sigh of relief following the U.S. Court of International Trade's decision to strike down tariffs imposed under Section 122. Although this ruling will not be the final word on the
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 (TNSrpt) -- Small Business Majority issued the following statement on May 8, 2026:
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Section 122 Tariff Decision is a Win for Small Businesses
Statement from Alexis D'Amato Falvey, Small Business Majority Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs, on the importance of the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling in a case brought by small business owners
"Small businesses are breathing a sigh of relief following the U.S. Court of International Trade's decision to strike down tariffs imposed under Section 122. Although this ruling will not be the final word on theconstitutionality of Section 122 tariffs, America's entrepreneurs are hopeful that we are nearing an end to the imposition of a disastrous tariff policy regime that has created nothing but uncertainty and higher costs for Main Street.
Over the past year, tariffs have devastated small businesses. Small Business Majority's research found 30% of small businesses say they have paid tariffs on imports for their businesses. Of those impacted directly by tariffs, more than half are facing increased costs from their suppliers, 47% have increased the price of certain materials or products, 24% have delayed importing goods or materials, 26% have delayed business expansion plans, 19% have delayed hiring new employees, 15% have changed their business model and/or product offerings and 7% have laid off workers and/or reduced their hours. These findings track with a recent report by the Joint Economic Committee that found businesses with fewer than 10 employees lost nearly 300,000 jobs since April 2025, and that April 2026 was the 13th consecutive month of job losses for these small businesses.
Given that court after court has objected to the ways in which tariffs have been imposed over the past year, a clear message has been sent that tariffs are not a viable avenue for achieving our nation's trade and manufacturing goals. But it also could not be more apparent that tariffs have done deep and irreparable damage to countless small businesses. In response, policymakers must focus on lowering costs for small firms, leveling the playing field so that Main Street can compete fairly with large corporations and pursuing pro-growth small business policies."
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About Small Business Majority
Small Business Majority is a national small business organization that empowers America's diverse entrepreneurs to build a thriving and equitable economy. We engage our network of more than 85,000 small businesses and 1,500 business and community organizations to advocate for public policy solutions and deliver resources to entrepreneurs that promote equitable small business growth. Our deep connections with the small business community along with our scientific research enable us to educate the public about key issues impacting America's entrepreneurs, with a special focus on advancing the smallest businesses and those facing systemic inequalities. Learn more about us on our website and follow us on Twitter(X), Facebook and Instagram.
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REPORT: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/e8d5d694-0c0f-4078-85e4-16062541d83c/jec-small-manufacturing-report.pdf
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Original text here: https://smallbusinessmajority.org/press-release/section-122-tariff-decision-win-small-businesses
[Category: Business]
STAND UP AMERICA: GOVERNOR LEE SIGNS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP ELIMINATING TENNESSEE'S ONLY MAJORITY BLACK DISTRICT
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- Stand Up America, an organization was born in 2016 as a digital-first grassroots community working to resist what they say is Donald Trump's corruption, racism and his threats to democracy, issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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GOVERNOR LEE SIGNS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP ELIMINATING TENNESSEE'S ONLY MAJORITY BLACK DISTRICT
NASHVILLE, TN-- After the Supreme Court's Callais decision gutted voter protections against racial gerrymandering, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill to redraw the state's congressional districts, eliminating the state's only Democratic
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WASHINGTON, May 9 -- Stand Up America, an organization was born in 2016 as a digital-first grassroots community working to resist what they say is Donald Trump's corruption, racism and his threats to democracy, issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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GOVERNOR LEE SIGNS NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP ELIMINATING TENNESSEE'S ONLY MAJORITY BLACK DISTRICT
NASHVILLE, TN-- After the Supreme Court's Callais decision gutted voter protections against racial gerrymandering, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill to redraw the state's congressional districts, eliminating the state's only Democraticand majority-Black district.
Stand Up America's Executive Director, Christina Harvey, issued the following statement:
"Tennessee Republicans wasted no time in taking advantage of the Supreme Court's decision in Callais v. Louisiana, which opened the door for politicians to dilute the voting power of minority communities. By eliminating Tennessee's only majority-Black congressional district, they are silencing Black voters and undermining representation secured through generations of struggle and sacrifice.
"This is a bald-faced attempt to help Republicans in Washington cling to power by changing the rules instead of earning voters' support. Democratic governors and legislators across the country must do everything in their power to stop this power grab and keep Republicans from rigging the upcoming midterms."
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About Stand Up America
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with 2.8 million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to stand up to corruption and voter suppression and build a more representative democracy, Stand Up America has driven nearly 2 million calls to lawmakers, registered over 100,000 voters, mobilized over 100,000 protestors, and contacted tens of millions of voters.
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Original text here: https://standupamerica.com/2026/05/governor-lee-signs-new-congressional-map-eliminating-tennessees-only-majority-black-district/
[Category: Political]
Progress Virginia: Virginia Supreme Court Overturns Voters' Decision on Redistricting; Advocates Condemn Ruling
EARLYVILLE, Virginia, May 9 -- Progress Virginia, an advocacy organization that combines online organizing and communications with earned media strategies, issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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Virginia Supreme Court Overturns Voters' Decision on Redistricting; Advocates Condemn Ruling
Richmond--Today, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the results of April's statewide referendum on redistricting, ruling that the process used to advance the constitutional amendment was procedurally flawed. The 4-3 decision holds that the General Assembly's October 2025 vote to propose the
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EARLYVILLE, Virginia, May 9 -- Progress Virginia, an advocacy organization that combines online organizing and communications with earned media strategies, issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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Virginia Supreme Court Overturns Voters' Decision on Redistricting; Advocates Condemn Ruling
Richmond--Today, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the results of April's statewide referendum on redistricting, ruling that the process used to advance the constitutional amendment was procedurally flawed. The 4-3 decision holds that the General Assembly's October 2025 vote to propose theamendment violated the state constitution's intervening-election requirement because some Virginians had already cast ballots under early voting before that vote occurred. The ruling reinstates the 2021 congressional maps and blocks implementation of the new maps that voters approved last month. The ruling comes as Republicans across the country continue to exploit redistricting to entrench their power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
"Today's ruling is a disgraceful act of judicial sabotage against the more than 1.6 million ordinary Virginians who voted to restore fairness to our congressional elections," said Ashleigh Crocker, Interim Executive Director of Progress Virginia." Republicans in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri have been allowed to ram through blatant partisan gerrymanders without ever asking the voters whose representation they were distorting. In Virginia, voters were given a choice. The amendment was put on the ballot in a free and fair election, Virginians voted yes, and now a bare partisan majority on the court has decided those votes should be thrown out because they found a procedural excuse to overturn an outcome they did not like. The Supreme Court of Virginia has chosen partisan politics over democracy and handed Trump and his allies an unfair advantage heading into the midterm elections, while the Supreme Court of the United States continues shredding voting rights protections across the country. Overtuning the will of the voters for naked political reasons is not justice. It is an abuse of power."
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Original text here: https://progressva.org/press-release/virginia-supreme-court-overturns-voters-decision-on-redistricting-advocates-condemn-ruling/
[Category: Political]
FRC Files Amicus Brief at SCOTUS in Support of Louisiana's Abortion Drug Lawsuit
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Family Research Council issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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FRC Files Amicus Brief at SCOTUS in Support of Louisiana's Abortion Drug Lawsuit
Earlier this week, Family Research Council (FRC) and Dr. Martha Shuping filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in Danco Laboratories v. State of Louisiana in support of Louisiana's fight to end the flow of mail-order abortion drugs into pro-life states, against state and federal law.
In the brief, FRC and Dr. Shuping argued that "[in] 2022, on the day this Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Family Research Council issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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FRC Files Amicus Brief at SCOTUS in Support of Louisiana's Abortion Drug Lawsuit
Earlier this week, Family Research Council (FRC) and Dr. Martha Shuping filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in Danco Laboratories v. State of Louisiana in support of Louisiana's fight to end the flow of mail-order abortion drugs into pro-life states, against state and federal law.
In the brief, FRC and Dr. Shuping argued that "[in] 2022, on the day this Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women's HealthOrganization, President Biden 'directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to identify all ways to ensure that mifepristone is as widely accessible as possible,' 'including when prescribed through telehealth and sent by mail.' On the same day, the HHS Secretary 'directed every part of my Department to do any and everything we can' to promote 'access' to 'medication abortion,' In a speech calling Dobbs 'despicable,' the Secretary pledged that 'HHS will take steps to increase access to medication abortion.' 'We will leave no stone unturned,' the Secretary said, and '[a]ll options are on the table.' Then President Biden issued an executive order formally requiring HHS to seek ways 'to protect and expand access to abortion care, including medication abortion.' Strangely, the JAMA article purporting to showthat FDA's actions had nothing to do with politics omitted all this.
"...What's more, none of the authors appears to have an expertise in interpreting FDA regulatory documents to assess its decision-making. The lead author, for instance, appears to be a program manager who received a master's in public health in 2024 and has no FDA experience. Unsurprisingly, the authors' 'qualitative review' aligned with their ideological support for abortion: one author said in 2023 that claims against FDA's mifepristone action were 'just not credible,' while another wrote that 'it is wrong for [courts] to override the highly specialized expertise, methodologies, and mandates of public health agencies and expert groups,' Of course, the authors are entitled to their opinions, and good research can be conducted by people with a viewpoint. But when the 'research' is just 'relate your feelings about documents,' it is hardly surprising that FDA defenders approve of whatever FDA documents they happened to see."
FRC president Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state representative, commented:
"Not every woman taking the abortion drug has a choice. I saw this first-hand while I served as a police officer. Intimate partner violence is a growing problem in our country; this violence has many victims, not just women, but often their unborn children, who are wanted by their mothers. It has been deeply disturbing to see the Biden, and now unfortunately, Trump, administrations carry on this policy of allowing the abortion drug to be prescribed without an in-person doctor's visit. I pray the Supreme Court will recognize Louisiana's standing to protect mothers and the unborn," concluded Perkins.
To read the amicus brief, please see: https://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=LK26E40&f=LK26E40
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Original text here: https://www.frc.org/newsroom/frc-files-amicus-brief-at-scotus-in-support-of-louisianas-abortion-drug-lawsuit#gsc.tab=0
[Category: Sociological]
Deforestation Lessens Amazon Rainfall, and Climate Change Hastens That Process
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The American Geophysical Union issued the following news release:
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Deforestation lessens Amazon rainfall, and climate change hastens that process
As climate change intensifies, deforestation from agriculture may leave crops with too little rainfall to thrive
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Climate change makes the southern Amazon's rain increasingly sensitive to deforestation, a new study finds. Clearing large areas of forest can trigger severe and lasting reductions in rainfall regardless of climate, but as the Amazon warms and dries, that "tipping point" arrives at ever lower levels of deforestation.
This
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The American Geophysical Union issued the following news release:
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Deforestation lessens Amazon rainfall, and climate change hastens that process
As climate change intensifies, deforestation from agriculture may leave crops with too little rainfall to thrive
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Climate change makes the southern Amazon's rain increasingly sensitive to deforestation, a new study finds. Clearing large areas of forest can trigger severe and lasting reductions in rainfall regardless of climate, but as the Amazon warms and dries, that "tipping point" arrives at ever lower levels of deforestation.
Thispresents a conundrum for the expansion of Amazonian agriculture, which has cleared about a fifth of the region's forests in the past 50 years but also depends on consistent rainfall. In the context of climate change, the authors write, deforestation limits once thought sufficient to maintain hydrological stability may no longer be enough. Warming is predicted to make the Amazon drier.
"The way I see this is like the snake eating its own tail," said Eduardo Maeda, an Earth system scientist at the University of Helsinki and senior author on the study. "Our results demonstrate to producers in the south of the Amazon that their activities are impacting their profits and their future."
The study appears in Geophysical Research Letters, AGU's journal for high-impact, innovative, and timely articles on major advances across the geosciences.
For rainforests, size matters
Currently, Maeda said, laws prohibit landowners in Amazon forest areas from deforesting more than 20% of their land. "That is not enough," he said. "We need to do more." In a worst-case warming scenario, his team estimates, maintaining current annual rainfall in areas larger than 210 square kilometers would require limiting deforestation to no more than 10% of that area.
Doing so would not only conserve the Amazon's biodiversity and carbon-sequestering capacity and help prevent wildfires, all of which take cues from rain and temperature -- it would also protect the agricultural livelihoods driving deforestation in the first place. If annual rainfall fell even 4%, it could cut Amazonian soybean yields by up to 8%.
Those consequences owe to the delicate relationship between forests and rain, which doesn't follow the same playbook in every instance. In small doses, deforestation can actually bring more rain. Clearing trees from a patch of land makes the air hotter, Maeda explained. That heat, rising, pumps moisture emitted from the surrounding forest into the sky over the deforested area, where it condenses and falls as rain.
Clear a massive swath, however, and you'll get the opposite: if not enough forest remains to supply moisture, rainfall over the deforested area will decline.
"[Different] sizes of deforested area affect rainfall differently," Maeda said. "If you deforest 80% of a small farm, but it's surrounded by forest, it's not a big deal. But if you deforest 80% of the whole state, then it will have a huge [impact]."
What remained uncertain, however, was how climate change might alter the link between deforestation and rainfall in the future. To find out, the authors used a weather simulation model to estimate the effects of different climate change and deforestation scenarios on rainfall. They focused their analysis on a hotspot of agricultural growth in the southern Amazon where forest cover continues to dwindle while croplands and pasturelands expand.
Saving the rain
In all land area sizes the team considered, climate change caused rainfall to become more sensitive to deforestation. In a 90-by-90-kilometer area fixed at the climate conditions of 2005 to 2014, for instance, they found that rainfall starts to decline once half the land has no forest. In this case, projected deforestation by 2050 cuts annual rainfall by 1.7%.
Add the warming of a low-emissions future into the mix, however, and things start drying up once 45% of the land lies bare, with up to almost 14% less rainfall by 2050. In a high-emissions scenario, only 10% of the land need be treeless before annual rainfall starts to dwindle, potentially declining almost 11% by mid-century.
"As climate changes in the region, we expect the air to become warmer and drier. The moisture we had before that could be recycled [as] rainfall starts to become less and less," Maeda explained. With less moisture available to begin with, cutting down the trees that pump that moisture into the sky to become rain takes an additional toll. Even the initial rainfall boost from small-scale deforestation gets weaker as climate change progresses, the team wrote.
"We now have strong arguments to show that we need to increase [forest] protection," Maeda said. "Producers need to understand the ecosystems that are supporting their activities, and to learn how to preserve them so all of us can benefit from [them]."
Protecting the rain in a changing climate might involve alternative approaches to agriculture, such as agroforestry systems that intersperse native trees among the crops to minimize rainfall loss and heat buildup. "We already have a lot of deforested areas, so the argument is that we don't need any more," Maeda said. "We just need to make these areas more productive and to produce things in a way that is better integrated into the ecosystem."
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Notes for journalists:
This study is published in Geophysical Research Letters, an open access AGU journal. View and download a PDF of the study here (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL119000) (NOTE: We are currently experiencing intermittent technical difficulties with the open access feature for papers in Geophysical Research Letters. If you find yourself unable to view the full study, please email news@agu.org for a PDF). Neither this press release nor the study is under embargo.
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Paper title:
"Climate change amplifies rainfall sensitivity to deforestation in the Southern Amazon"
Authors:
* Jie Zhang, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
* Alice Catherine Hughes, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China; School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
* Britado Silveira Soares-Filho, Centre for Remote Sensing, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
* Jose Antonio Marengo, National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters/CEMADEN, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Post Graduate program in Natural Disastees, UNESP/CEMADEN, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Graduate School of International Studies, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
* Eduardo Eiji Maeda, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Gustaf Hallstromin katu 2, 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Finnish Meteorological Institute, FMI, Finland
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AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million professionals and advocates in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.
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Original text here: https://news.agu.org/press-release/deforestation-lessens-amazon-rainfall-and-climate-change-hastens-that-process/
[Category: Science]
ALG Praises Virginia Supreme Court For Striking Down Unconstitutional Redistricting
FAIRFAX, Virginia, May 9 -- Americans for Limited Government issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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ALG Praises Virginia Supreme Court For Striking Down Unconstitutional Redistricting
Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement praising the Virginia Supreme Court's decision to strike down the redistricting referendum:
"The Virginia Supreme Court has done the right thing by reverting Virginia's Congressional District map to its prior version after voters were denied the opportunity to fully weigh in on the map as the
... Show Full Article
FAIRFAX, Virginia, May 9 -- Americans for Limited Government issued the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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ALG Praises Virginia Supreme Court For Striking Down Unconstitutional Redistricting
Americans for Limited Government Executive Director Robert Romano today issued the following statement praising the Virginia Supreme Court's decision to strike down the redistricting referendum:
"The Virginia Supreme Court has done the right thing by reverting Virginia's Congressional District map to its prior version after voters were denied the opportunity to fully weigh in on the map as theproposal was approved after voting had already started in the 2025 election. There was no intervening general election between the legislature's mandatory first and second approvals giving voters the opportunity to evaluate candidates based on the proposal, denying voters the chance to weigh in on the proposal. Those constitutional provisions are in place for good reason, and we applaud the court for upholding what the Virginia Constitution plainly states. Nothing precludes the Virginia legislature from trying the same thing again later, but they must follow the constitutional process and give voters a chance to weigh in."
Attachments:
Scott v. McDougle, May 8, 2026 at https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1260127.pdf : "The General Assembly must twice vote in favor of a proposed amendment at two separate legislative sessions with an intervening election of the House of Delegates. This gives voters two opportunities -- one indirect, the other direct -- to voice their views on the proposed amendment. The first is during the intervening-election period between the two legislative sessions. Voters can support or defeat candidates for the House of Delegates who either endorse or oppose the proposed amendment. If the General Assembly votes against it at the next legislative session, the process ends there. If the General Assembly votes in favor of the proposal, voters get a second direct opportunity to vote the proposed amendment up or down at the ballot box. The efficacy of the second popular vote depends in part upon the reliability of the first."
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Original text here: https://getliberty.org/2026/05/alg-praises-virginia-supreme-court-for-striking-down-unconstitutional-redistricting/
[Category: Government/Public Administration]
ADL Statement on Guilty Plea and Sentencing of Man Responsible for Antisemitic Boulder Firebombing Attack
NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization that aims to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all, posted the following statement on May 7, 2026:
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ADL Statement on Guilty Plea and Sentencing of Man Responsible for Antisemitic Boulder Firebombing Attack
ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today released the following statement on the guilty plea and sentencing of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the individual responsible for the antisemitic firebombing in Boulder, Colorado, at a peaceful Run for Their Lives walk to bring attention
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, May 9 -- The Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization that aims to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all, posted the following statement on May 7, 2026:
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ADL Statement on Guilty Plea and Sentencing of Man Responsible for Antisemitic Boulder Firebombing Attack
ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today released the following statement on the guilty plea and sentencing of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the individual responsible for the antisemitic firebombing in Boulder, Colorado, at a peaceful Run for Their Lives walk to bring attentionto the hostages being held by Hamas.
We welcome today's guilty plea and sentencing of the man responsible for taking the life of Karen Diamond and injuring 28 others in one of the most shocking antisemitic acts in American history. This attack deeply traumatized the entire Jewish community and served as a reminder of what can happen when antisemitism is normalized in society.
No act of justice will bring back the life of Ms. Diamond, nor will it heal the wounds of those who suffered as a result of this horrific attack on a peaceful group of Americans.
We are deeply grateful for the work of law enforcement and District Attorney Michael Dougherty and his staff for pursuing justice in this case.
This firebombing was not a random act. The perpetrator planned this attack for over a year, targeting Jewish community members who were peacefully and publicly expressing their values. This demands a serious response, but the resolution of the state charges is just the beginning of the long road to justice for the victims. As ADL's latest data reveals, 2025 was the most violent year on record for American Jews since we started tracking this data in the 1970s, and last year saw the murder of three people in antisemitic attacks, including in Boulder. We are grateful to Gov. Polis for his partnership in securing additional Non-Profit Security Grant funding to help keep our communities safe, and we are working with individuals, families, schools and elected officials to confront antisemitism every single day.
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ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all." Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all.
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Original text here: https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/adl-statement-guilty-plea-and-sentencing-man-responsible-antisemitic
[Category: Political]
