Schumer, Gillibrand Demand Probe Into Scam Targeting 9/11 Victims
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are demanding a probe into a scam involving 9/11 victims.
In a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, the Senators pushed for an investigation into a scam targeting ill and injured 9/11 responders. Scammers are contacting the responders, claiming to be with the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund (VCF), and requesting personal and private information.
Additionally, the Senators are claiming that the perpetrators of the scam are also targeting staff at the law firms that helped process VCF applications and want the investigation to track and identify the data source allowing the scammers access VCF applicants.
“Targeting 9/11 families to trick them into stealing their sensitive health and financial information is sick and twisted and demands immediate attention by the Department of Justice. 9/11 families have suffered enough and that is why the DOJ, which oversees the VCF, must move fast and open a formal investigation to identify the perpetrators and their methods. My message to these scammers is simple: you can run but you cannot hide. Any attempts to further inflict pain on 9/11 families will not stand – you will be caught and brought to justice,” said Schumer.
“I am disturbed that predatory scammers have been targeting our 9/11 heroes, and I urge the Justice Department Inspector General to immediately investigate these potential crimes. Our 9/11 responders risked their lives for us after we were attacked, many of them are now sick because of their work at Ground Zero, and we have a duty to get to the bottom of what happened and demand accountability for any wrongdoing,” said Gillibrand.
Cumbo Hosts Rally Against Sexual Violence
Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights) alongside Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, advocates and survivors will host a rally against sexual violence today.
In honor of Denim Day, a global sexual assault awareness campaign, elected officials, anti-violence and youth-serving organizations, high school and college students will gather together across the city to bring attention to sexual violence.
Denim Day was launched in 1999 after an Italian Supreme Court justice overturned a rape conviction on grounds that the victim must have helped her attacker remove her tight jeans, thus implying consent. The wearing of jeans on Denim Day has become an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. Denim Day NYC events are held during national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) by NYC community members dedicated to ending violence and promoting safety and respect.
Participants will symbolically wear jeans on Denim Day, standing in solidarity to end sexual assault. The theme for the rally is #whatyoucando, #whatyoucansay shedding light on the often unheard voices of survivors of sexual violence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 5 women and 1 in 59 men in the United States have been raped in their lifetime. The CDC also finds that LGBT individuals report experiencing sexual violence at levels equal to or higher than heterosexual individuals. Denim Day NYC events are held during national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) by NYC community members dedicated to ending violence and promoting safety and respect.
“Through increased awareness of sexual assault, empowering survivors by putting an end to victim blaming, enacting stronger laws to protect survivor rights, and investing additional resources towards their full recovery, I am hopeful that we will continue to transform the culture around sexual assault and end the criminalization of victims, instead of their perpetrators,” said Cumbo.
The event is slated for 12-noon, today, April 25, at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan.
CM Williams Rallies For Reproductive Rights Bill
City Council member Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) will re-introduce a bill today which prohibits employer discrimination on the basis of reproductive health decisions.
The NYC Boss Bill, similar legislation to the ‘Boss Bill’ currently before the New York State Legislature, would guarantee that New Yorkers can access medical procedures and medicine without fear of repercussion or retaliation in the workplace, achieved by expanding the NYC Human Rights Law.
Specifically, the bill protects against employment discrimination on the basis of ‘sexual and reproductive health decisions,’ which refers to any decision to receive services which are arranged for or offered or provided to individuals relating to the reproductive system and its functions, including, but not limited to, fertility-related medical procedures, family planning services and counseling, including, but not limited to, access to all medically approved birth control drugs and supplies, emergency contraception, sterilization procedures, pregnancy testing, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, abortion procedures and HIV testing and counseling.
The push for the bill’s passage comes four years after the landmark decision in the Supreme Court case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Inc. In 2014, the Court struck down the contraceptive mandate, a regulation adopted by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring employers to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees, by a 5-4 vote.
The bill was previously introduced in October of 2017. Williams at a rally in support of the measure yesterday promised to push for the legislation to become law as quickly as possible.
Carroll Continues Push For Young Voter Act
Assembly member Robert Carroll (D-Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Kensington) welcomed 80 high school students for the second consecutive year to Albany to lobby for the Young Voter Act this week.
In 2017, Carroll introduced A.6839 and A.6840, two bills which would lower the legal voting age to 17 for state and local elections. Aside from lowering the voting age by a year, the bills would require all pupils in the ninth grade or higher to receive at least eight full class periods of civics education and mandate that every New York high school provide each student with a voter registration form in the year that they turn 17.
Last May, 30 High School students came to Albany for the first ever lobby day in support of the Young Voter Act. This year, 80 high school students from high schools across the state made the trek to the state’s capitol. The bill is currently in the Election Law Committee in the Assembly and has 23 co-sponsors.
“We should enable younger citizens to vote while they are still in high school. People who start voting at a young age are likely to vote throughout their lives. Young voters will also familiarize themselves with civic responsibility before college. Lowering the voting age is a good policy. Let’s enact this bill now,” said Assistant Speaker Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) a co-sponsor on the bill.
“It gives me pride to see our state’s future generation of leaders rising up to make change. This youth movement, especially post-Parkland is reverberating across the nation including here in New York State. It’s clearer now than ever that young people feel it is vital they have a say in their future and the best way to have a say is for them to have the right to vote,” added Carroll.
Donovan To Intro Bill Threatening Sanctuary Cities’ Federal Funding
Congressman Dan Donovan (R-South Brooklyn, Staten Island) will introduce the No Enforcement, No Grant for Sanctuary Cities Act this week to combat dangerous sanctuary city policies.
The legislation would hold localities that refuse to comply with federal immigration laws accountable by prohibiting them from receiving certain grant funding related to immigration enforcement. The bill will focus on the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which reimburses states and localities for the cost of correctional officer salaries specifically associated with incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants. More than 600 jurisdictions have policies that prevent law enforcement officials from enforcing immigration laws.
Donovan is hoping to get around the legal challenges and avoid endangering the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) counter-terror efforts that in the past have been endangered by their link to the City’s sanctuary cities policy. Legislation passed last year proposed penalizing sanctuary cities by cutting federal funding for anti-terror initiatives that law enforcement, including the NYPD use to thwart attacks.
Donovan, a former prosecutor, has long opposed sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with or enforce the law. Last year, he voted in support of Kate’s Law, which enhances criminal penalties for deported felons who return to the United States so they’re not free to commit further crimes. He also voted in support of the Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act, which updates immigration law to permit deportation of known members of a criminal gang who are in the country illegally.
“Our government’s greatest responsibility is to protect the American people, and sanctuary city policies prevent us from fulfilling that duty. We are a nation of laws – and cities and politicians can’t pick and choose which rules to follow. It’s common sense that those unwilling to cooperate with federal authorities not be eligible to receive certain federal grant funding. The message this bill sends is clear: no person, state, or locality is above the law,” said Donovan.
