Public Policy
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public policy organizations whose goal it is to influence the debate Washington.
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Volunteers Recognized for 2016 Service to the Chicago Botanic Garden
GLENCOE, Ill., July 18 -- The Chicago Botanic Garden issued the following news release:
The Chicago Botanic Garden held the Volunteer Awards Reception for 2016 Service on Wednesday, June 14, in Nichols Hall, to recognize the many hours of work put in by thousands of volunteers last year.
State Senator Julie Morrison, whose district includes the Garden, spoke at the beginning of the ceremony to applaud the volunteers' hard work.
"It is volunteers that make this place go," Morrison said. "Thank you for all you do to make the Chicago Botanic Garden the wonderful place that it is and will always
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GLENCOE, Ill., July 18 -- The Chicago Botanic Garden issued the following news release:
The Chicago Botanic Garden held the Volunteer Awards Reception for 2016 Service on Wednesday, June 14, in Nichols Hall, to recognize the many hours of work put in by thousands of volunteers last year.
State Senator Julie Morrison, whose district includes the Garden, spoke at the beginning of the ceremony to applaud the volunteers' hard work.
"It is volunteers that make this place go," Morrison said. "Thank you for all you do to make the Chicago Botanic Garden the wonderful place that it is and will alwaysbe."
Volunteers who have served 5, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years were honored. Two volunteers, Barbara G. Mahany and Elizabeth Stogner, were specially commended for having worked at the Garden for 40 years.
To honor volunteers with many years of work at the Garden, Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin recognized them with a resolution honoring their service anniversaries. The framed resolution was on hand for volunteers to take home.
Altogether, the time volunteers put in at the Garden in 2016 was 112,000 hours or equivalent to the work of 60 full-time staff members, noted Tom Nissly, executive vice president of finance and administration and CFO, giving a clear picture of their importance to the Garden's operations.
Individual Awards:
Volunteer of the Year
Awarded to Dr. Louis Becker
The highest honor this year went to Dr. Louis Becker, a volunteer who has given more than 4,000 hours since 1993. Fluent in multiple languages, Becker mounts herbarium vouchers and has been instrumental in translating labels from Russian to English. He also recruits translators.
A home gardener, Becker retired from one of his jobs and began volunteering at the Garden with his wife, who already was a volunteer here. The best thing about volunteering at the Garden is the people. Becker said being with Garden staff and volunteers "is something I look forward to every week. I've made some really good friends."
Kris Jarantoski Excellence in Horticulture Volunteer Service Award
Awarded to Sharon Zulkie
For almost 20 years, Zulkie has been volunteering at the Garden. After finishing the University of Illinois Master Gardener course, she started working in the Entry Garden to learn how to prune. She's moved on to working throughout the display gardens, including at the English Walled Garden and the Lakeside Gardens.
This new award was named for Kris Jarantoski, the former Executive Vice President and Director of the Garden who retired after a 40-year career. Zulkie has met and spoken with Jarantoski about gardening and said "it is a tremendous honor to be the first person receiving this award named after him."
Barbara Whitney Carr Excellence in Leadership Award
Awarded to Beth Levy
Levy has been a volunteer at the Garden for more than two decades, having started here in 1994. She lends her time to Plant Health Care, looking for pests before they can damage the Garden's plants, and training new team members. She's an expert in disease and insect identification and is described as "the glue that keeps Plant Health Care going."
Levy grew up in the area and said she can remember when the Garden was first built. She's literally watched the Garden grow from its inception. Levy said she receives satisfaction knowing her behind-the-scenes work helps make the Garden "an inspirational and happy place."
Five-Star Customer Service Award
Awarded to Edie Rowell
Rowell, who volunteers at the Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese Garden's interpretation programs, is described as "approachable, friendly and helpful." A volunteer since 2008, she can often be found at Japanese Garden events like the Children's Festival, making origami cranes.
She said the Garden was a natural fit for two of her interests, gardening and working with people, and she finds both here. Rowell's favorite part of being a Garden volunteer is "the camaraderie and the incredibly supportive staff."
Super Senior Award
Awarded to Barbara G. Mahany
Mahany was recognized multiple times at the event, both for this award and for being one of the Garden's longest-standing volunteers. She has been a Garden volunteer for 40 years. She was unfortunately not given her award in person, though for good reason. Mahany was volunteering at a soup kitchen at the time.
She is a regular volunteer in the Lenhardt Library and with young people at the Regenstein Learning Campus. Her co-workers said she is dependable, they thoroughly enjoy her company and "every day with Barbara is a good day."
Each volunteer was given a Coleus Chocolate Covered Cherry (Solenostemon scutellarioides), grown by the Garden's horticultural staff, as a gift. An original poem by Dick Baer, longtime volunteer and Garden poet laureate, titled "Bonanza" was read to cap the event.
U.S. House of Representatives Surrenders Clean Air to Polluters, Ignores Health of Children, People With Heart Conditions
WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The Sierra Club issued the following news release:
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the polluter backed "Smoggy Skies Act" (H.R. 806), marking another attempt by the fossil fuel industry to dismantle the Clean Air Act's science-based health protections. These protections are essential to protecting children with asthma and people with chronic heart conditions from life threatening levels of pollution that can send them to the emergency room on bad air days.
The Smoggy Skies Act would significantly undermine the updated smog pollution standard put in place
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WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The Sierra Club issued the following news release:
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the polluter backed "Smoggy Skies Act" (H.R. 806), marking another attempt by the fossil fuel industry to dismantle the Clean Air Act's science-based health protections. These protections are essential to protecting children with asthma and people with chronic heart conditions from life threatening levels of pollution that can send them to the emergency room on bad air days.
The Smoggy Skies Act would significantly undermine the updated smog pollution standard put in placein 2015 by delaying its implementation and compliance timeline by a staggering 8 years -- enabling polluters to pollute at higher levels and dismantle compliance requirements for the areas with the dirtiest air. In addition to threatening federal protections against smog pollution, it would also stifle the development of future protections against air pollution. It would diminish lifesaving protections for not only smog, but also carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and even toxic lead pollution - pollutants linked to a range of health serious problems including heart attacks, strokes, and asthma attacks.
In response, Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, released the following statement:
"Representatives in the U.S. House just voted to surrender clean air to the fossil fuel industry and abandon millions of children across the country with asthma, and people with heart conditions, to fend for themselves during the most dangerous time of year. Summer is high season for bad air days and spikes in smog pollution, but instead of working to hold polluters accountable to protect families from the worst health problems triggered by dirty air, these representatives voted to give them free rein to pollute for a jaw-dropping eight years.
"This blatant disregard for public health is as shocking as it is dangerous. No parent should have to watch their child struggle to breathe, but that's exactly will happen to more families if this legislation passes Congress. As a mother, I am stunned that representatives can ignore the plight of millions of children and instead side with helping polluters fatten their bottom lines at our kids' expense. All who voted for this bill should be ashamed."
Tobacco Industry Accused of Murder: Criminal Case Against Tobacco Industry, ASH Reports
WASHINGTON, July 18 -- Action on Smoking & Health issued the following news release:
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released a new video to draw attention to a Dutch criminal complaint against the tobacco industry for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, inflicting and attempting severe physical harm and deliberately harming health.
Watch the video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q01O73u-iYc).
And click here to tweet (https://ctt.ec/Cn9Pf).
"I cannot understand that when you hit someone with a hammer, you are being prosecuted for serious harm. Or when you
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WASHINGTON, July 18 -- Action on Smoking & Health issued the following news release:
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) released a new video to draw attention to a Dutch criminal complaint against the tobacco industry for murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, inflicting and attempting severe physical harm and deliberately harming health.
Watch the video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q01O73u-iYc).
And click here to tweet (https://ctt.ec/Cn9Pf).
"I cannot understand that when you hit someone with a hammer, you are being prosecuted for serious harm. Or when youadminister poison, you are prosecuted for poisoning. But the tobacco industry is left untouched while ultimately doing the same," said the filing Dutch Criminal Lawyer Benedicte Ficq.
Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills its consumers when used as intended. Cigarettes are also highly addictive, trapping users in a deadly addiction that many struggle to overcome.
The Oregon Supreme Court has said that the deceptive promotion of tobacco products could "constitute at least second-degree manslaughter." The lethal consequences of smoking have been known to tobacco corporations for decades, yet they continue these activities, with full knowledge that millions of deaths will be caused by the ordinary use of cigarettes.
The tobacco industry has repeatedly been held civilly liable, but there has not been any movement in criminal court, yet.
"A U.S. State Attorney General or a District Attorney could decide to file criminal charges against a tobacco company for deaths the tobacco companies have caused. At this point, we are just lacking the political courage to see a criminal case through," said ASH Executive Director Laurent Huber.
ASH has been researching the criminal liability and potential human rights violations of the tobacco industry for years. Criminal charges are feasible and legally sound. The Dutch case can pave the way for other countries to take similar action.
Health Insurance, Pharmaceutical Industries Blamed for Stalled Health Care Reform
WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The National Center for Public Policy Research issued the following news release:
America's leading conservative shareholder activist organization is blaming the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries for the failure of the U.S. Senate to reach a consensus on ObamaCare repeal and replacement. The National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) points out that those industries worked to promote and craft ObamaCare to benefit their bottom lines but - with it now on the verge of collapse - they can't be bothered to promote policies that would
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WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The National Center for Public Policy Research issued the following news release:
America's leading conservative shareholder activist organization is blaming the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries for the failure of the U.S. Senate to reach a consensus on ObamaCare repeal and replacement. The National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) points out that those industries worked to promote and craft ObamaCare to benefit their bottom lines but - with it now on the verge of collapse - they can't be bothered to promote policies that wouldbenefit the American people.
"The American health care system was far from perfect prior to ObamaCare, but at least it was operational. ObamaCare was written to benefit large insurers and pharmaceutical companies, but it placed undue burdens on the American people and regional markets," said National Center General Counsel and FEP Director Justin Danhof, Esq. "When many markets were no longer profitable, insurers left those ObamaCare exchanges altogether to not burden their bottom lines. While some may view this as smart business, it ignores the fact that these same companies were involved in the creation of the law and were warned by conservatives about issues such as the coverage death spiral."
"Now that the system created with the blessings of corporations such as Cigna, Aetna and Johnson & Johnson is falling apart, those companies have a moral responsibility to fix the mess they created," Danhof added. "After all, the American people never got a bailout, but many large health insurers did as beneficiaries of massive taxpayer-funded provisions such as the risk corridors created by ObamaCare."
Last Friday, the health insurance industry's primary trade association, the America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), came out strongly against an amendment from Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would have allowed Americans to buy health insurance plans that fit their needs and not the artificial list of coverages required by ObamaCare.
"ObamaCare was not an easy sell, but the likes of Obama, Pelosi and Jarrett counted on money and influence from top pharmaceutical companies, health insurers and even pharmaceutical retail chains to bring the message of ObamaCare to the public. The Senate will surely revive its effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare with an affordable, sustainable system. When they do, corporate leaders need to step up and do their part to fix the mess that they helped create," noted Danhof.
This year, Danhof attended the annual shareholder meetings of numerous health care companies including Walgreens, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and CVS Health. He urged those companies to work with the Trump Administration and Congress towards ObamaCare's repeal and replacement. Danhof also appeared on Newsmax TV earlier this year to explain the importance of corporate involvement in repealing ObamaCare.
FEP has been at the forefront of the nation's health care debate since ObamaCare's inception. Most notably, in 2014, FEP leaders pressured the CEOs of many major health insurance companies not to take massive taxpayer bailouts under ObamaCare's risk corridor provisions. After FEP put a spotlight on these bailouts, congressional conservatives moved to limit the amount of taxpayer funds available for such programs.
Launched in 2007, the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project is the nation's preeminent free-market activist group - focusing on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. Since 2014, its representatives have participated in around 100 shareholder meetings to advance free-market ideals in health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers' rights and other important public policy issues. FEP's Employee Conscience Protection Project strengthened protections for the political beliefs and activities of over five million workers at 13 major U.S. corporations. FEP's questioning of Boeing's and General Electric's support for the Clinton Foundation helped trigger an FBI investigation into the Foundation's activities. Executives put on the spot by FEP at ABC News (Disney), the Washington Post and CNN (Time Warner) meetings acknowledged media bias.
FEP activity this year has been covered by media outlets such as theA New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Drudge Report, Business Insider, National Public Radio and SiriusXM. FEP's work was also featured in Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel's 2016 book The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (Hachette Book Group).
The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors. Sign up for email updates here. Follow us on Twitter at @NationalCenter for general announcements. To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by National Center staff, follow our media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia.
Greenstein: Harsh House GOP Budget Resolution Asks Most From Those Who Have Least
WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities issued the following news release:
House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black's new proposed House budget resolution, which provides both a framework for budget and tax legislation to follow this year and a broader fiscal policy blueprint for the next ten years, lays out an exceedingly harsh vision for the nation. It would cause pain to tens of millions of Americans, especially struggling families and others who have fallen on hard times, and would cut deeply into areas important to future economic growth, from education to basic scientific
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WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities issued the following news release:
House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black's new proposed House budget resolution, which provides both a framework for budget and tax legislation to follow this year and a broader fiscal policy blueprint for the next ten years, lays out an exceedingly harsh vision for the nation. It would cause pain to tens of millions of Americans, especially struggling families and others who have fallen on hard times, and would cut deeply into areas important to future economic growth, from education to basic scientificresearch. It would do so while opening the door for tax cuts geared toward those who already are the most well off.
While some details remain unclear, the budget plan would:
* Cut $4.4 trillion over ten years from entitlement programs, including cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, income assistance for working-poor and other struggling families, basic food assistance, and assistance for students to go to college. These cuts would make it harder for millions of Americans to afford food, housing, health care, and a college education.
* Cut $1.3 trillion over the next decade from non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs, a number of which promote opportunity, provide building blocks for economic growth, or fund basic public services. NDD includes programs such as job training and education, scientific and medical research, environmental protection, basic operations of the Social Security system, and efforts to protect public health. Overall funding for this part of the budget has already fallen significantly since 2010, due to the Budget Control Act's (BCA's) caps on discretionary programs and sequestration cuts. But this budget would slash it much further. By 2027, total NDD funding would be 44 percent below its 2010 level, after adjusting for inflation, and -- measured as a share of the economy -- spending on this area of the budget would fall to its lowest level since before the Great Depression.
* Increase defense funding by $72 billion in 2018 and $929 billion over the next decade, as compared to BCA levels, and provide $19 billion more in 2018 than the already hefty defense increase the Trump budget seeks. (The budget resolution also provides $10 billion in additional Overseas Contingency Operations funding for defense beyond what the Trump Administration requested in 2018; these funds don't count toward the defense cap.)
* Use the budget reconciliation process both to fast-track at least $203 billion in entitlement cuts over the next ten years and to pave the way for large-scale tax legislation that features substantial tax cuts. In addition, the Budget Committee documents make clear that the congressional committees charged with producing savings in entitlement programs should strive to cut more than the amount required, and it calls for deficit-neutral tax reform -- not revenue-neutral tax reform -- which would permit deeper cuts in entitlement programs serving low- and middle-income families to be used to finance tax cuts.
* Use both rosy economic assumptions and massive "magic asterisks" (i.e., unspecified savings) to mask the plan's true fiscal impacts. These include (1) assumptions that the tax plan will be largely offset despite the failure to provide any concrete plan for doing so -- the past House "Better Way" tax plan would cost about $3 trillion over the next decade while the details of the Trump tax plan released so far suggest a cost about double that; (2) an assumption that the budget plan would result in significantly higher economic growth than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects, and then appears to allow $300 billion of the resulting $1.8 trillion "economic bonus" to be used to offset the cost of tax cuts; and (3) an assumption that Congress would achieve $700 billion in savings from reducing improper payments, again with no concrete plan for how these savings would be achieved and despite strong evidence that savings of that magnitude have almost no chance of being identified and secured.
While the budget claims to achieve balance in 2027, this is an artifact of these gimmicks. Absent just the unrealistic economic growth assumptions, the budget would produce a $351 billion deficit that year, instead of the purported surplus of $9 billion.
The budget plan is broadly similar in direction and theme to President Trump's budget: cutting trillions of dollars from basic assistance, health programs, and core investments in our economy; promising both big tax cuts and so-called deficit-neutral "tax reform" without providing any specifics for how those tax cuts would be paid for; and relying on rosy economic assumptions to show a balanced budget by 2027 on paper.
As a statement of a fiscal vision for the nation, the plan is exceptionally harsh: its steep cuts in entitlement and non-defense discretionary programs would hit low- and moderate-income families hard and disinvest in areas important for long-term economic growth. This vision is broadly similar to that reflected in House Republican budgets put forward since 2011.
Those budgets, however, were essentially messaging documents. Those who voted for them knew that President Obama would prevent that vision from being turned into law. But as Rep. Black acknowledges in her materials, this budget plan is a governing document -- because with Republican control of the House, Senate, and White House, they now can enact legislation to implement it.
In short, this is not a fiscal blueprint that will aid struggling families, bolster communities left behind, or help more Americans have a shot at the American dream. It's a blueprint that asks the most from those who have the least and would leave us a coarser nation and one less prepared for future economic challenges.
Entitlement Cuts Would Be Severe
The budget resolution calls for a total of $4.4 trillion in cuts to entitlement programs over the next decade. While the plan lacks sufficient detail to determine the precise level of cuts in particular programs, it's clear that the plan includes large cuts in many areas, including the following:
* Health care, including both Medicaid and Medicare despite prior commitments by Rep. Black that Medicare would not be cut. Overall funding for "Medicaid & other programs" -- as the category is listed in the budget materials -- would be cut by $1.5 trillion over the decade, while Medicare would be cut by $487 billion over the decade. The cuts in Medicaid and other health programs appear to be larger than those in the House-passed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
* Income assistance, which could include cuts to programs such as SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), Supplemental Security Income (which provides aid to poor seniors and people with serious disabilities), the Earned Income Tax Credit, the component of the Child Tax Credit for working-poor families, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (which provides funding to states for cash assistance to very poor families, employment programs, and child care).
* Student aid, which appears to include deep cuts in the Pell Grant program and student loans.
The budget plan also puts in place a fast-track reconciliation process to achieve the first tranche of these cuts through legislation this year. The budget calls for congressional committees to produce at least $203 billion in "reconciled" entitlement cuts in the months ahead (this is a floor, not a ceiling). These cuts would be "fast-tracked," with Congress able to pass them with only a simple majority in the Senate -- i.e., without any Democratic votes -- using the same process that GOP leaders have been using to try to undo the ACA.
The budget plan requires a number of committees to come up with these cuts, including committees with jurisdiction over programs important to low- and moderate-income families, such as the Ways and Means Committee (which has jurisdiction over a number of income-assistance programs as well as a portion of Medicare), the Agriculture Committee (with jurisdiction over SNAP), the Energy and Commerce Committee (with jurisdiction over Medicaid and part of Medicare), and the Education and the Workforce Committee (with jurisdiction over Pell Grants and student loans).
NDD Programs Hard Hit
The budget resolution calls for severe cuts in NDD programs, which would grow extraordinarily deep over the course of the decade.
* The resolution would cut funding for NDD by $1.3 trillion over the next decade -- that is, $1.3 trillion below the already austere BCA levels (including the sequestration cuts) through 2021, and with those levels adjusted only for inflation in years after that.
* Funding for NDD in 2018 would be 17 percent below the 2010 levels adjusted for inflation.
* By 2027, funding for NDD would be a remarkable 44 percent below the 2010 levels adjusted for inflation.
The budget resolution puts NDD on a path to be a lower share of GDP than at any time since before the Great Depression. At these funding levels, many core public services would be severely impaired or eliminated.
Fast-Track Process on Taxes
The budget resolution would create a fast-track process to enact a tax bill that the resolution indicates should prioritize policies such as cutting individual and corporate tax rates, providing a special lower tax rate for "pass-through" businesses, and repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax -- changes that would produce disproportionate tax cuts for the top of the income scale and large, profitable corporations.
These changes are consistent with the House GOP's "Better Way" tax plan released in June 2016. Once that plan was phased in fully, 96 percent of its tax cuts would go to households with incomes above $1 million a year, the Tax Policy Center estimates.
The budget also includes a highly unrealistic assumption that economic growth will average 2.6 percent a year over the decade, producing an assumed $1.8 trillion in lower deficits (largely from higher revenues and lower interest costs), with $1.5 trillion of that amount applied to the budget plan's deficit reduction on paper and the remaining $300 billion assumed to be available to help pay for the tax cuts.
The plan thereby gives the tax bill a $300 billion "head start" that wouldn't need to be offset, while (as noted) allowing harsh spending cuts to be used to offset part or all of the remainder of the tax bill's potentially large cost.
Program Integrity Savings Unlikely to Materialize
The budget resolution assumes $700 billion in highly questionable savings from reducing improper payments. These savings are unlikely to materialize, and the budget resolution puts forward no plan for securing them. Claiming savings by reducing "waste, fraud, and abuse" is one of the oldest budget gimmicks in the books. CBO concluded that President Trump's less ambitious, but still unrealistic (and wholly undefined) plan to reduce improper payments by $139 billion over the next decade could not be counted on to produce any savings at all.
Securing very large savings by reducing improper payments is extremely difficult for a number of reasons. A large number of improper payments actually are proper payments that lack sufficient documentation; in these cases, improving compliance though more documentation doesn't result in savings. In addition, improper payments are generally hard to identify before the fact, and doing so usually requires devoting substantial administrative resources to such efforts -- resources that under the House budget plan likely would be cut, rather than augmented. Furthermore, programmatic changes necessary to root out improper payments can be difficult to design without risking adverse effects on honest individuals and families or on companies that do business with the government. These factors limit the savings that can be achieved, a reality to which CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation estimates have long attested.
Gertrude 'Gertie' Brown
CHICAGO, July 18 -- The Rainbow PUSH Coalition issued the following news release:
Never give up. Never lose hope. Never stop dreaming - and learning. That is how our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother- our heart and soul-made her transition, Thursday. Gertrude Davis Brown, age 90, was received by God the evening of July 13, 2017.
She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Chief Petty Officer Julius Francis Brown and two children, Cynthia Violet Dancy and Julius Francis Brown, Jr.
Mrs. Brown is survived by her two daughters, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson, and Constance Delores
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CHICAGO, July 18 -- The Rainbow PUSH Coalition issued the following news release:
Never give up. Never lose hope. Never stop dreaming - and learning. That is how our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother- our heart and soul-made her transition, Thursday. Gertrude Davis Brown, age 90, was received by God the evening of July 13, 2017.
She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Chief Petty Officer Julius Francis Brown and two children, Cynthia Violet Dancy and Julius Francis Brown, Jr.
Mrs. Brown is survived by her two daughters, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson, and Constance DeloresWard. Mrs. Brown, "Gertie", her name of love, was born at home, "on the muck", to Algertha Davis, in Pahokee, Florida on March 7, 1927, sixty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
She was born poor and black in the Jim Crow South. She was orphaned when she was 12. She began her family at age 16. Her early life of work began in the fields of Fort Pierce, FL, picking beans and tomatoes and sometimes as a migrant worker.
She was born in the pits of poverty with low expectations. She soon married and moved to Newport News, VA, and began anew.
Gertrude Brown was married for fifty-five years with a record of service of more than thirty years at the Veterans Administration Hospital. "Gertie" was an advocate of self-improvement and famously remarked "that poverty is the cruelest of all social and economic diseases," and "wherever and whatever it takes to be the very best you can be, take it". To this end, she wholly devoted herself to encouraging whomever she encountered to never stop learning.
Each of her children was sent to college before she pursued her life-long dream of an education. While working full-time, "Gertie" attended school in the afternoon and evenings at Thomas Nelson Jr. College, from where she received her high school diploma at the age of 51. She then entered Hampton University and received her bachelor's degree in social work at 61, still while employed. Her love for and dedication to Hampton University was so profound that she felt a degree from Hampton University was equivalent to Harvard, Yale or Princeton.
In 1988, she was quoted by The New York Times as saying "this is such an exciting time in my life and finally my dream has come true. I'm never going to stop going to school".
She was so proud in 1988 about receiving her bachelor's and the words of her son-in-law, presidential candidate Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., who delivered the keynote address during her commencement and led the cheers when he said, "never surrender". It didn't stop there. "Gertie" continued her education and completed her master's degree at 63.
The people impacted by her presence on earth are far too numerous to list. She leaves to mourn in addition to her children, Son-in-law Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. daughter-in-law Brenda Brown, eight grandsons, two granddaughters, 22 great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews and special friends.
In her later years she'd ask every child who passed our porch in Washington, "What are you doing? What do you want to be? Who's your mama? I know she wants to be proud of you."
ACLU Comment on Ruling in President Trump Election Commission Challenge
NEW YORK, July 18 -- The American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)3 non-profit that works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the U.S., issued the following news release:
A federal court denied emergency relief compelling the release of additional documents and requiring in person access at the July 19th meeting of President Trump's election commission.
The ruling stems from an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the commission's failure to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which is designed to ensure
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NEW YORK, July 18 -- The American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)3 non-profit that works to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the U.S., issued the following news release:
A federal court denied emergency relief compelling the release of additional documents and requiring in person access at the July 19th meeting of President Trump's election commission.
The ruling stems from an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the commission's failure to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which is designed to ensurepublic accountability of advisory committees.
Only after the ACLU filed its lawsuit on July 10, the commission took steps toward course correction by creating a website, disclosing the introductory email and agenda from its telephonic meeting, and pledging to make documents available. It created websites to store released documents, public comments, and state responses in regards to its original data request.
"Ahead of this ruling, the commission acquiesced to several of the demands in our lawsuit, including releasing a number of documents and creating a website," said Theresa Lee, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "The standard for emergency relief is high. Today's decision does not mark the end of our fight for transparency and public accountability."
While the court concluded that extraordinary emergency relief was not available at this time, it noted that should circumstances change, as they have a number of times already, so too could the ruling on emergency relief.
"Although it has promised to comply with federal law, the commission has thus far made only some, but not all of its documents available," said Sophia Lin Lakin, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "The court's decision today does not exempt the commission from its responsibilities to the American people. Public pressure is now all the more important. We will continue to press for transparency from the commission in the courts and streets."
President Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes, yet he promotes the lie that voter fraud is to blame. He then created the commission via executive order. It is led by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, whom the ACLU has successfully sued many times over his voter suppression policies. Kobach has been widely criticized for attempting to solicit detailed information on every registered voter in the country. He has not divulged how the commission would use or protect that sensitive voter information.
The case, American Civil Liberties Union v. Donald Trump, was brought by ACLU National and the ACLU of the District of Columbia. It was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
The ruling is at: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/aclu-v-trump-memorandum-opinion
More information is at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/american-civil-liberties-union-v-donald-trump.
